Killington Resort’s Superstar trail is famous for hosting women’s world cup ski races. Audiences around the world have watched Olympic champions like Mikaela Shiffrin and Lara Gut Behrami hurl down the run’s icy headwalls.
There was a different kind of excitement playing out at Superstar on Wednesday. Construction crews from both Killington and the company Doppelmayr worked with a helicopter pilot to install chairlift towers and other heavy components needed for a new six-seat chairlift that resort officials hope to begin operating in November.
Workers called the event "steel fly day," and it's a critical step in what will ultimately be a $12 million upgrade to the resort's lift system.
“Steel fly day is one of our most anticipated days of an install,” said Jess Hebert, east coast project manager for Doppelmayr, the company that manufactured the lift. “The energy this morning was awesome. The guys were really stoked to get up on the hill. Climbing towers is one of their favorite activities, even if it is a little nerve wracking.”
As she talked, a Black Hawk helicopter whirred past, dangling one of the 6,500-pound towers from its tether. The pilot starts each run in a loading area where a rigging crew attaches the various steel components. The pilot then flies up the mountain.
Seen from the air, the heavy components appear tiny. But Hebert says it takes a lot of skill to land them. “It's a lot of guys up there. They have big tools to torque these bolts. They're climbing the towers. Some of them are splice towers, so two components where they have to, you know, climb halfway up the tower to be able to install the second half.”
Once the helicopter releases its cargo, it heads back for another load, potentially making about 50 trips today. "This project has been a little bit like a dance, putting all the pieces together and working around each other, " explained Tait Germon, vice president of operations for Killington. "Our crews are leapfrogging down the trail, one crew in front of the other, to stay ahead of that helicopter.”
“I mean, the helicopter pilots are just incredible, to watch these guys hold those machines so steady, so rock solid,” Germon said. “And to maintain a good sight line of the team below, and communicate. I think you gotta have nerves of steel,” he said, watching the pilot bring up another tower, which grew tiny as it flew up the mountain. "I wouldn't want to do it."
If all goes well and the weather cooperates, Germon said the pilot should be able to deliver all 11 towers in one day. "Tomorrow is a safety backup, though, in case something comes up," he added.
Resort officials worried the installation might be delayed because the original helicopter contractor was needed in Canada to help put out wildfires burning there. But the company brought in replacement helicopters to keep the project on track.
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Lynn Kapusta, a summer resident at Killington, was watching the action closely. "I just timed him and that was a 5-minute, 44-second round trip," said Kapusta. "Awesome, just awesome. I could watch this all day."
But getting to this point has taken months.
Once Superstar closed for the season in April, crews began dismantling the original chairlift, a first-generation detachable quad built in 1987. Each of the 95 chairs had to be taken down and moved to Pico Mountain, where they will be repurposed for lifts there.
Workers then had to remove the 20-ton metal cable known as the “haul line." It's what carries the chairs. Once it was off the towers, the cable was cut into pieces, brought down the mountain and disposed of.
The sheave trains came off next. They’re the round metal wheels that spin and support the weight of the cable over the towers. Resort officials said they’ll be reused on other lifts.
Electrical components removed from the top lift shack will also be reused, as will the old towers, parts of which will serve as terrain park features and culverts.
Elsewhere around the mountain, work has already begun on the Northbrook barn, where the resort will store the 116 new Skyeship Gondola cabins. The old building is being renovated.
Killington Resort and nearby Pico Mountain were purchased by a group of independent investors in September 2024. The new owners said the upgrades are part of a multi-year transformation, which includes $38 million in capital improvements.
