Photo: Completion of Killington’s new K-1 base lodge has been delayed because of the pandemic. The opening is now scheduled for the 2021 ski season. Courtesy photo.
by Bruce Edwards, Vermont Business Magazine The state’s largest ski resort is used to dealing with the vagaries of the weather but a pandemic presented a whole different set of challenges.
“It’s tough because we obviously make a lot of snow and a lot of our season is in the spring,” said Mike Solimano, president and general manager of Killington Resort and Pico Mountain. “We were kind of kicking into some of our core season where some of the smaller resorts are getting ready to close down,” Solimano said.
Photo: Mike Solimano is president and general manager of Killington/Pico Resorts. Courtesy photo.
There was a lot of lost business when the resort closed in mid-March. It’s also the time of year when Killington sells a lot of spring passes.
“We typically sell a few thousand, at least, spring passes,” Solimano said. He said the resort turned around and refunded the money.
“For us it’s hard because from a cost standpoint we basically incurred most of our costs in getting the mountain ready and everything,” Solimano said. “And the end of the season is some of the more profitable parts of the season.”
With 1,500 employees during the peak ski season, seasonal workers were sent home while the 230 year-round employees are either working at home or off the mountain, he said.
“We had a lot of international staff that we worked hard to get them back on planes and back home because a lot of countries were closing down their borders,” Solimano said.
Moving forward, Solimano said the resort hopes to open this summer but on a limited basis once the governor gives the green light.
Golf is one activity that has already gotten the go-ahead.
Killington also plans on running one lift for mountain biking.
No indoor facilities will be open which means weddings and conferences have been cancelled, Solimano said.
“The world is changing every day so it’s a little hard to know exactly what the plan would be but we would plan by July 4 to open up a little more of our summer activities and maybe a little more mountain biking,” he said.
Construction on the new 50,000-square-foot K-1 base lodge was already underway but its completion has been delayed, pushing back the opening until the 2021 season, Solimano said.
For next season, Killington extended its season pass purchase deadline to mid-July.
“The biggest thing we did was we added basically a new no-questions asked refund policy through November 20,” he said.
Skiers who buy their passes before the deadline and change their mind for whatever reason can get a refund, Solimano said.
The resort operates a number of food courts, restaurants, bars, rental shops etc. What restrictions are put in place by the state that governs capacity and other safety measures will impact how those venues operate in the future, he said.
When the resort suddenly closed in March there was a large inventory of food left and no skiers.
“We sat around and said what can we do with this,” Solimano said. “We packed up grocery bags and did about 700-800 bags and gave that away to staff and that was gone in a couple of hours,” Solimano said.
After that, the resort did a second food giveaway because there was such a need in the community at large.
“I think we gave away about 700 bags of groceries,” he said.
The resort also partnered with Thomas Dairy and purchased surplus milk that was donated to the community. “They didn’t have to dump a bunch or milk,” Solimano said.
With restaurants closed, local cheesemakers also found themselves with a surplus of cheese. Killington stepped up and purchased some excess cheese and donated it to the community.
The resort also helped out with a Go Fund Me food drive started by one of their ski instructors.
Bruce Edwards is a freelance writer from Southern Vermont.