COVERAGE: 2017 Killington Women's World Cup

[Tricia]

Tricia, thanks! this is very much a credit to you and Phil as well. It is a key management skill, using resources where they can fit best and make the most impact. And for killington turned out even better with true "crowdsourcing"!

WRT credibility, I noticed similar at the Squaw WC where we were equally recognized as a legitimate media source and quite a few of the organizing committee and other media had actually heard of the site previously . A great achievement to get to that level in just 2 years

Lets keep doing what we're doing at the highest level possible.
or

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Back to Killington? Anybody have any insight from the Killington crowd, the Organizing Committee, etc. as to whether they hope to convince FIS to make this a permanent WC stop?

If they eventually get that kind of commitment, I would imagine you'd see some more permanent infrastructure at the base. More investment. Good stuff. You might see formal deals with teams to come train for a couple of weeks before {if the weather complies}. Or deals with other areas for other teams to do the same. From what I see at other permanent venues, while it's still a lot of work, the process gets refined and in some ways it gets easier each year.

It could be great. I have the feeling that some folks in Aspen sort of assumed that with their history, they could just notify the USST, and in turn FIS, that they wanted to be hosting the fall tech races again......once they get the base of Ajax and the lift situation straightened out.

With Killington "killing it", and drawing these huge crowds, logic would say "No chance, Aspen. You could have built the lift and figured out the base."

BTW, Aspen would be very challenged to hold it with the snow right now. Though they do have justenough snow made on Highlands for the Norwegian men to be training there right now.

I know that Killington has the commitment for next year. Wonder if they are working on extending that as we speak?

While lacking any specific intel Killington has made a very compelling case for keeping the race. Shared a gondola with a guy from Colorado who came back East for the event. Turns out he works for Aspen now but was a Killington skier years back. Said the 13 gates of GS skiing you can watch from the bottom of Superstar is better for the fans than 5 gates seen from the base of the Aspen course. The idea of Aspen coming around kicking the tires is very appealing.

 

[Philpug]

Tricia, thanks! this is very much a credit to you and Phil as well. It is a key management skill, using resources where they can fit best and make the most impact. And for killington turned out even better with true "crowdsourcing"!

WRT credibility, I noticed similar at the Squaw WC where we were equally recognized as a legitimate media source and quite a few of the organizing committee and other media had actually heard of the site previously . A great achievement to get to that level in just 2 years

I like how you say "we", it means a lot to us that our members and contributors take ownership of the site.

 

[K2 Rat]

While lacking any specific intel Killington has made a very compelling case for keeping the race. Shared a gondola with a guy from Colorado who came back East for the event. Turns out he works for Aspen now but was a Killington skier years back. Said the 13 gates of GS skiing you can watch from the bottom of Superstar is better for the fans than 5 gates seen from the base of the Aspen course. The idea of Aspen coming around kicking the tires is very appealing.

I really think the Killington venue is one of the best on the WC for viewing from the finish. So much better than Birds of Prey . Way better than Soelden. Kitzbühel SL is different, but ok from the finish. The pitch at the bottom of Killington is awesome and you can really see a lot. I typically like to watch a race from up on the course, but I don't feel shortchanged at Killington where you can't hike up.

 

[Marker]

The shuttle ran up East Mountain Road from the Skyeship. No stops. Don't know if there was a separate smaller one that went to the condo area. You could drive down there or drive to Snowshed/Ramshead or the hotel and park.

The condo shuttles run about every 10-15 minutes and drop you at Snowshed, which isn't open yet. So not sure if they ran them there where you could jump the shuttle to the viewing area at Superstar base.

 

[James]

Well Snowshed was open and a major shuttle point. Parking lot was full. I took the shuttle down from K1 lodge at Superstar to Snowshed for lunch. People were skiing. There were lessons. Very quick to get back- no wait. Wait to get down was maybe 5 minutes.

 

[QueueCT]

Well Snowshed was open and a major shuttle point. Parking lot was full. I took the shuttle down from K1 lodge at Superstar to Snowshed for lunch. People were skiing. There were lessons. Very quick to get back- no wait. Wait to get down was maybe 5 minutes.

That was a good idea. I know many pass holders who took a trip up the gondola to the Peak Lodge for lunch to avoid the crush at K-1.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

This may be of interest.

http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_rep...cle_925ca10e-d5e8-11e7-b1b3-8728bbc8e12c.html

 

[James]

This may be of interest.

http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_rep...cle_925ca10e-d5e8-11e7-b1b3-8728bbc8e12c.html

Awww PJ !...

That was an excellent article. They went to the right source! (Except the first photo made him look like he's going on set in Lord of the Rings. He's not that short.)

From the article:
A.H.: So, you shut down your shop at what is your busiest time of the year to basically not get paid. Why?

P.J.: The butterflies. That’s why I go. The adrenaline is another level. Everything is intense. Gets the heart racing. And just to watch those ladies go by you. They just make it look so easy. And it is not. Side-slipping the slalom was scary. It locked up so hard it was basically like a bowling ball.

 

[Muleski]

This may be of interest.

http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_rep...cle_925ca10e-d5e8-11e7-b1b3-8728bbc8e12c.html

Awww PJ !...

That was an excellent article. They went to the right source! (Except the first photo made him look like he's going on set in Lord of the Rings. He's not that short.)

Thanks for posting this. Great stuff. Great comment about the pic!

Points out that pulling this off takes a TON of knowledgeable, hardworking volunteers. New England, VT in particular, is FULL of them. And yes, PJD spent a bunch of years hanging around WC venues.

Continue to hear nothing but raves about the weekend. From folks who know. So many great things to say about the crowd, and the fans!

 

[James]

Here's some cool videos on the set up of the event and the race. It's from last year posted online this summer. There's some overlap on Killington in the first two, but they're different.

"Bringing a World Cup Race to Life"


"Women's World Cup Comes to Killington"


"World Cup Ladies Slalom at Killington"

And here's a spectator's view of this year's GS Race. Very well done until the last 30 secs:

 

[Muleski]

We discussed this one yesterday, Mitch Gagnon's crash in the DH training run at LL.

Turns out that she tore her ACL in the knee. The shoulder has had a lot of injuries over the years.

Reconstructive surgery to happen on both. Obviously out for the season.

Best of luck with the surgery and the rehab!

 

[James]

And if you want some Italian coverage of this year's slalom. Not the greatest video quality. Top 3 finishers 2nd run. Petra Vlhova, Bernadette Schlid, Mikaela.