November Magic!

It was called “White Saturday.” With the early season snow, Magic Mountain in Southern Vermont chose to spin the legendary Red Chair for one day only. The unprecedented event would be news for beating last year’s opening. Even bigger, it was still only November.

Prime Friday

Friday night is Prime at the Black Line Tavern, and we grabbed some of Vermont’s finest nourishment in preparation for the next morning.

On that day after Thanksgiving, we were thankful to have many Magic families show up for the occasion, including, of course, the family of our leader.

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Killington: Let’s Get Going

Killington isn’t called The Beast of the East for nothing. The place is big with lots of vertical; it has a great variety of terrain and tons of lift capacity.

K1 Lodge

But where they really earn the respect of diehard fans is in the snowmaking department. Killington has a robust snowmaking system and a skillful, dedicated crew that allows them to open early in the fall, stay open late into spring and persevere in low-snow years.

I’m a bit partial since I worked in Killington’s snowmaking department one season but I would argue that the snow they make is better too, as close to the real thing as is possible using pond water and compressed air.

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Interview: Killington’s Mike Solimano

Killington is important to New York skiers. It’s accessible, it’s huge, it gets a lot of snow and it’s seems like it’s almost always open. The mountain’s all-in return to the extended season and their total commitment to skiing deserves respect.

But for us, it goes beyond that. Somehow The Beast — from the top of the heap — projects an openness and a focus on the customer that is inspiring.

No one represents this customer first approach more than Killington’s top gun Mike Solimano. Visible and approachable, in many ways he’s become the face of Big K. Our interview with Mike follows.

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