From: mwallace@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mark Wallace)
Subject: The Great Killington-Keystone Shootout
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 01:17:35 GMT

Following is an article I'm posting which was written by a 
co-worker of mine who's hobby is ski area trivia.  The main
motivation for these postings is feedback, so if there is 
anything you can add please do.  I'll pass along any 
feedback you may have, but don't question this 
information without consideration, I've seen some of his 
resources.

Mark Wallace, Castle Rock, CO
mwallace@nyx.cs.du.edu

***********************************************************************


SUBJECT:  THE GREAT KILLINGTON - KEYSTONE SHOOTOUT


Howdy from THE COLORADO SKIER


1.  We closed our last Colorado Ski Area update with the exclamation
"Keystone opens in 8 weeks!".  It was a statement of fact meant to
inspire all aspiring Colorado skiers.  It wasn't bragging.

However, Tom, of Brookline, MA wrote back with the tag: "with
Killington opening in 6 or 7 weeks".  Was that - gasp - meant to be
a challenge?  Is someone from New England seriously challenging a
Colorado ski area?  Does he realize what he is in for?  He'll be
sorry!  (If any Bay-Staters read on we hope you have a sense of
humor - spose you have to if you ski in New England!)  


2.  First of all, what would anyone from Massachusetts know about
real skiing?  Do you ski Boxboro Hills or the big mountain at
Nashoba Valley?  The Colorado Skiers headquarters building has a
driveway that is higher (and steeper) than any run at Nashoba.  Or -
maybe you actually do ski at Killington.  If you do than you're not
really from Brookline.  Nobody from Brookline would ski at
Killington.  Sun Valley maybe, or Aspen.  Or maybe Waterville
Valley.  (Do you remember when the Kennedy family rented the entire
SNOW'S MOUNTAIN ski area just for the clan?  You don't?  Do you
remember Snow's Mountain?  You don't?  Do you remember the Kennedys? 
You don't?  You say you are too young?  Drat!  (We hate it when they
say that!)


3.  Wait a minute, why are we picking on New England?  Could it be? 
Is it possible?  Why yes, we remember it now.  A few years back THE
COLORADO SKIER was actually THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SKIER  (ah, those
glorious days at Mittersill).  Come to think of it, we actually
lived in Massachusetts.  In preppy, snobby Andover, of course. 
(Nobody from Andover skis Killington, either.)  We vaguely remember
actually occasionally enjoying skiing in NH and Vermont.  So, forget
about our opening remarks.  We never meant to say anything bad about
Massachusetts.  (Why without Mass, we wouldn't have had Dukakis! -
or Charles Stewart - star of the Rescue 911 series!)  

So we were just kidding, Tom, just kidding.


4.  Now where were we?  Oh yes, second of all, Tom's remark sounded
like maybe he thought that Killington would actually open before
Keystone.  Well, maybe so.  It could happen.  It is entirely within
the realm of POSSIBILITY.  But let's look at PROBABILITY.  That is,
let's look at the facts:  Keystone frequently (at least sometimes)
opens before Killington.  And Keystone stays open!  Those are
factual statements.  On the other hand Killington loads up one ski
run with man-made ice cubes in mid-October, sells two $5.00 lift
tickets and calls in the press.  All for the nation-wide publicity. 
(Pretty smart on their part;  We'd do it too - unless of course we
lived in Colorado)  Then of course, "an unexpected heat wave" hits
Vermont - in the middle of fall foliage season - and poor Killington
has to close until November.  

So what does it all mean?  Here are the facts.  Here is the
carefully manufactured, er, uh, massaged data for opening dates at
the two areas.  Ta Da!  The average opening dates for the last eight
ski seasons (1984 to 1991):

           Ski Area           Average Opening Date

          Keystone               21 October
          Loveland               25 October
          Killington              1 November

Any questions?  Keystone opens before Killington by an average of 11
days a year.  Oh, did we mention that Loveland Basin also opens
before Killington?  (Gee, maybe we should have looked up Copper Mtn
and Winter Park too, but no, why rub it in)

Incidentally, during that eight years Killington only had one
legitimate earlier opening than Keystone - beat 'em by one day. 
Last year Killington opened for a few days (before Keystone) but
then closed down again - gaining automatic disqualification.  By now
you have probably figured out that we are not using Killington's
original phony opening date but rather an estimate of their "real"
opening date.  Oh yes, Keystone has never had to close once they
have opened even in the "drought" year of 1976.  Had enuff?


5.  Anyone interested in early opening contenders from the rest of
the country?  We don't have any data from Boyne Highlands or Beech
Mtn but that probably doesn't matter.  West coast?  Utah?  From a
quick data scan the best in Calif (e.g., Mammoth, Kirkwood) seems to
be 15 Nov for short bursts (i.e., until the inevitable drought
year).  Same with Utah.  Sun Valley and Taos do not choose to be
contenders.  We suspect that Mt. Bachelor is the best of the rest in
the west (cute, eh?).  If there is a groundswell of enthusiasm from
the Network, we can come up with some fairly good data on Mammoth,
Mt. Bachelor, et al.


6.  Before we forget:  Regardless of which ski area anywhere manages
to open first, you folks have a good time and enjoy, ya hear? 

Actually we don't care much for skiing one icy run in October when
we could be enjoying a good big-time football game (say UMass at
Northeastern).  A poll of our staff indicates that only one skis
in Oct. and most not until Thanksgiving.  (due to the
extremely heavy snowfall in Colorado Springs, the last Air Force
Academy football game is played on 14 Nov.  It's true.  Ya could
look it up.)


7.  And now for base depths.  Did we ever mention that New England
ski areas, unlike those in the West, are afraid to publish base
depths.  Did we?  We did?  Oh, that's right, we covered that in the
"Closings" post.  Never mind.


8.  While we are ranking things, how about snowmaking?  Last season
Killington claimed to have the most snowmaking of any ski area in
the world.  Probably so.  They certainly need it.  But, once again,
let's look at the facts (91/92 season):

            Ski Area          Snowmaking Acres

          Keystone                 850
          Killington               517
          Ski Incline              491
          Sun Valley               435
          Breckenridge             430


              KEYSTONE WINS AGAIN!      


Note:  Not all ski areas report snowmaking acreage.  We suspect that
Hunter Mtn, NY and Heavenly Valley, CA would rank quite high if the
data were available.


9.  To close on a friendlier note, The Colorado Skier believes that
Killington is the biggest and best ski area east of the Rockies, bar
none.  We don't think there is a second place (any nominations?). 
Of course there at least 10 ski areas in Colorado that are better. 
Whoops, sorry.

Hope all you Easterners don't take this post too seriously.  We was
just funnin'.  And remember, The Colorado Skier just reports the
facts.  He, she, or it, doesn't make them up (oh, maybe once in
awhile - our driveway really has a vertical drop of only 200 feet.)


              *** KEYSTONE opens in 7 weeks! ***      


Cheers from THE COLORADO SKIER

          "He who laughs, lasts."

 

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