bousquet19;d-2661 wroteI'm thinking of venturing north to Killington after our family's Thanksgiving Day festivities a year or two from now with my adult son to see the World Cup. Despite spending a lot of time on the snow, I've never seen a big-time ski event. Have no idea what I'm getting myself into, except mildly raised eyebrows from my wife :wink:

Does anyone have any pointers about:

getting a good spot to watch the race (e.g., are the bleachers worth the cost of a ticket?)

lodging?

parking?

trying to ski at Killington or nearby during World Cup weekend?

availability of food and restrooms during the events?

keeping comfortable (like bringing a seat cushion)?

how early to arrive?

anything else?

Thanks for whatever advice you can offer a newbie spectator.

Woody

Here's my 2 cents on this, and I have been to all 4 of the 1st day GS Worldcup races that Killington has held the last 4 years.

first 2 years we didn't get bleacher tickets, the last 2 years we did. Much more enjoyable with the bleacher tickets, and I prefer the bleacher closer to the K1 lodge over the bleacher closer to the Superstar lift (it's general admission for both) based on when the sun hits the bleachers during run 1 and also I prefer that sight line just a bit. And you can walk up to the netting near the finish area to get closer to the athletes if you want

Lodging - My condo is about an hour and 15 minutes away, so we've never needed lodging near Killington

Parking - They have come so far in handling the parking situation over year 1 for sure! The shuttle service they have, be it from the lots near the K1 lodge, Snowshed or Ramshead Lodge, the lots down at Skye Ship Base or Pico or along the access road, are numerous and reliable. We have had the preferred parking pass the last 3 years and will get it again next year. *If* the new K1 lodge is done on time for next season, this will let you park in the K1 lot - this year it had me parking along the access road between the Snowshed and K1 lodge, maybe 250 yards down from the bottom terminal of the Superstar Chair. Due to my kids having been participants in the pre race junior racer ski clubs parade, my wife and I have had to be at Killington by 6:45 (and we're not the only ones there then) - for example this past Saturday, I had to drop my kids off at Pico for a shuttle for them to take their ski club up to the K1 base area for the parade. My wife and I then drove up to the K1 base area - the non preferred parking lots at Snowshed and Ramshead were between 1/2 and 2/3rds full as it looked to me when we drove by them just about 7. The parking pass is worth it in my mind

Skiing during that weekend: The day before the race - no issues at all - it will likely be early season trail count and acreage. If you want to watch both runs of the race, and ski that day, it's not always easy to do, and frankly having trued it the 1st year, it's much more comfortable watching the race in your snow boots and not your ski boots. Run 1 is crowded in the spectator area, Run 2 is PACKED in the spectator area! My wife and I were going to try and get 1 run in on the Snowdon bubble chair this year before the race (we have IKON passes and were willing to burn one of our 5 killington days to get a run or 2 in before the race) until I ended up being parking on the access road, and not in the K1 lots as preferred parking usually is when they're not trying to build a new base lodge), but the schlep in out ski boots over and back to the lift and then our car to degear before the race from where they parked me this year wasn't worth the novelty of taking a run or 2 before the race. I know some people ski most of the day and just go to the 2nd run of the race and are happy with that and the crowds on the hill tend to be reasonable. Other areas in the region tend to be open and manageable for early season holiday weekend conditions and quantity of terrain open.

Food and restrooms -

Should be OK. The variable for next year is how will the new, bigger lodge at K1 handle the crowds. The current, old lodge gets crowded, but with patience you can get food and to the restrooms. They also have a slew of porta-potties on site around the lodge during the event

Keeping comfortable -

Dress for the cold. Dress for sitting in the cold is a better way to put it. It was COLD in the stands last Saturday. I was very happy to be near the KIllington Ambassadors who were handing out a limited number of seat cushions and got 1 and that helped put an extra layer between those aluminum bleachers and my ski pants! You can bring your own seat cushions and/or blankets in to sit on. I will be doing this next year

Arrival time -

If you want to watch the 1st run, and the start time is 9:45 as it has been, you probably want to be in the finish area by 9:15. The 2nd run crowd just tends to build continuously from not long after the 1st run ends, especially if Mikaela is in the hunt. As for onsite arrival time, as I mentioned before, because my kids race for a VARA (Vermont Alpine Racing Association) ski club, and have been part of the pre-race VARA athlete parade, I have always had to be at the mountain by 7AM at the latest. If I didn't have that requirement, I would plan on being there by 7:30 for parking purposes

Other things:

The atmosphere is electric for sure. The video screens and Doug Lewis doing the announcing are great. Can't wait until next year, its a really cool event for sure!