Improvements planned for successful Killington World Cup

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On Thursday, 8 June, FIS officials joined members of the Killington World Cup Organizing Committee and representatives from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and Killington Resort under blue skies at a site inspection to plan ahead for the next two years of ladies’ tech racing at the Vermont (USA) venue. With patches of snow still covering the Superstar trail, everyone in attendance was enthusiastic for the return to Killington this coming November.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Killington World Cup LOC Chair Herwig Demschar is planning several improvements over the inaugural race last year with even more spectacles on tap for the 2017 edition.

“What you see compared to last year is I think people are really confident about their roles now. In the team we had a picture of what it was going to be, and even myself – to be honest – I didn’t expect that many spectators either. I thought if we had 10,000 we were going to be good," Demschar said with a chuckle. "But being confident doesn’t mean that we are going to grow complacent. Anything we can do better we want to do better, and it’s great to work with a team like this. It’s humbling for me, and it’s really fun.”

Both the giant slalom and slalom race starts will be moved further up the hill, making the run times slightly longer. In GS, the start will begin 10 vertical meters higher than in 2016 on a plateau at the top of the Superstar lift which will add one turning gate prior to Upper Headwall. The slalom start is approximately 70 meters higher up than last season which will add more than a handful of additional turns to the beginning of the course.

Killington’s Director of Mountain Operations Jeff Temple noted that his team has made further snowmaking improvements already, swapping out the nozzles on the tower guns lining Superstar to enable production in even more marginal temperatures heading into the fall of 2017. With favorable snowmaking conditions, Killington also hopes to offer extended training opportunities to visiting teams which plan to arrive in advance of the ladies’ GS and slalom races scheduled for 25-26 November.