KILLINGTON, Vermont ??” With the groundbreaking anticipated on the new Killington Resort Village next spring, resort infrastructure upgrades continue this summer as the new Killington continues to evolve.

Last summer Killington Resort embarked on more than $2 million in snowmaking upgrades, renovation of the award-winning Snowshed Lodge food court, a new customer service training program for its seasonal staff of more than 1,800 employees, plus new resort branding and logos for the largest resort in the East.

“Our guests will continue to notice a new look and feel around the resort next season,” said Gillis Lynn, vice president of brand management for Killington Resort. “The continuation of these improvements, especially with snowmaking, will greatly enhance our skiing and snowboarding product as we anticipate groundbreaking of the planned resort village development.”

For this summer, Killington Resort’s improvement plans include:

• More than $1 million in snowmaking upgrades, including the replacement of more than 15,000 feet of snowmaking infrastructure at both Killington and Pico Mountain
• New carpet at the K-1 and Ramshead lodges
• Painting of the Bear Mountain and Ramshead lodges
• Replacement of the lift drive of Pico Mountain Summit High-Speed Quad
• New tower-mounted Low Energy snowguns
• Six new Bombardier grooming machines

The addition of new Low Energy snowguns will allow the world’s largest snowmaking system ??“ covering more than 700 acres with 1,800 snow guns – to provide a more energy-efficient snowmaking operation. The snowmaking upgrades will also improve the quality of our freeride parks and 430-foot long Superpipe at Bear Mountain by allowing the resort to harness the vast power of its snowmaking operation, and, weather permitting, have our parks and pipe open earlier in the season.

The addition of six new Bombardier grooming machines brings Killington’s total grooming fleet to 18, which includes three winch-cats for grooming steeper terrain. Killington still boasts the largest fleet of grooming machines in the east and one of the largest in the country.

“These new machines will improve the quality and efficiency of our grooming operations,” said Jeff Temple, Killington’s vice-president of mountain operations. “Combined with the largest snowmaking system in the world, our guests will notice continued improvement in the quality of the snow surface at Killington next season.”

To enhance the look and feel of the new Killington while incorporating the resort’s logo, branding and color standards, a number of base lodges will see new paint and carpet. Tricorn Black and Spatial White are two of the new “Killington colors” to coat the Bear Mountain and Ramshead Lodges this summer. Both the K-1 and Snowshed Lodges were painted last summer. Also, a number of lift towers receive new Tricorn Black paint, providing a uniformed look at the resort with all structures. These cosmetic improvements will complement the additions made last summer, including the more than 500 new trail directional signs and mountain maps located at the top of major lift signs throughout the resort.

Development plans are also underway for the construction of single-family, townhome, condominium units and commercial space, as the resort prepares for the new village groundbreaking next spring. The first phase of development will include commercial and residential construction in the Snowshed and Ramshead areas, plus select single-family home sites. Build-out is planned for 8-10 years with the first phase of pre-sales expected to begin this winter.