Huge Crowds Swarm World Cup at Killington

Vermont Standard

Staff Report
12/1/16

The U.S. Ski Team started looking 10 years ago for a place to host the World Cup in the East.

“Putting an event on is a big business risk so we wanted to partnership with someone we knew,” said U.S. Ski Team Vice President of Communications Tom Kelly. “You have to find that right combination, that right resort.”

He said Killington’s ability to make snow and its historical early season opening contributed to the decision to name Killington the host of the World Cup last weekend — the first time the event was hosted on the East Coast in 25 years. It was held in New Hampshire in 1991.

It’s unclear if the World Cup will return to Killington next year. A November World Cup date hasn’t been assigned to a resort yet.

Kelly said officials were pleased with Killington’s ability to pull it off this year.

It was a gamble to take on an event of this magnitude in the early season. Temperatures hovered in the 60s the weekend before the event, then dropped cold enough to make snow just in time.

“Our team would have been a little less stressed out in January,” said Killington President Mike Solimano.

Killington blasted 140 guns on the Superstar trail, dumping 16 million gallons of water. Killington officials haven’t said how much the event cost. Kelly estimated a few million dollars go into putting on a World Cup.

“It’s a big financial commitment,” he said, acknowledging that the estimates could be higher with Killington being a new host.

Killington resort officials haven’t yet given a cost estimate. Killingtonspokesperson Michael Joseph said the mountain is “above and beyond” its typical snowmaking and marketing budget this year.

He expects there to be long-term payoff and added marketing value. Killington would welcome another World Cup, despite the challenges.

“We overcame pretty much everything that was thrown at us,” said Joseph.

Killington has put on a number of large events.

“This one is a whole other level,” Solimano said on Friday before the race. “It’s been incredible, the com- plexity.”

Killington drew one of the largest crowds the women’s World Cup has ever seen. There were 16,000 at the resort on Saturday and an estimated 30,000 the entire weekend.

It was the first resort to ever sell tickets at a World Cup. Killington sold 500 VIP tickets each day for $350 each and sold 2,500 bleacher seats each day for $20 each in addition to welcoming free admission.

“This is a really successful endeavor so far,” Kelly said on Saturday.

Chris Caproni, from Massachusetts, booked his hotel room a year ago, when he first heard the World Cup was coming to Killington.

His 14-year-old daughter is a ski racer.

“It was a great feeling when Mikaela (Shiffrin) came down,” he said after the first run on Saturday as he stood in line for autographs.

Alice Merryweather, an East Coast skier who grew up in Massachusetts, fell down after her first run, but she didn’t stop smiling after her race on Saturday.

She posed for pictures with every single person who came up to her.

The poor weather wasn’t getting Shriffin down on Friday.

“We say it’s easy to love skiing in the West,” said Shriffin, who won the slalom on Sunday. She practiced in classic New England weather on Friday.

“It’s raining, snowing, sleeting; everything in an afternoon in one day,” she said. “You’re wiping off your goggles and it’s wet and it’s soggy and I was like, ‘This is amazing!’”

A crowd of about 16,000 people on Saturday came to watch the World Cup in Killington.

Rick Russell Photo