Killington Confirms Superstar Six-Pack, New Skyeship Gondola Cabins for 2025-26

As part of its ownership change, Killington has a lot of investments in the works for the next two years.

Earlier this week, Killington’s sale to an independent group of local investors officially went through. As part of their deal announcement, the new owners released a slate of capital improvements that are expected to debut over the next two seasons.

First off, the resort is planning to replace its Superstar Express Quad, which dates back to 1987, with a brand new high-speed six-pack. The new lift will likely run slightly faster than the existing one, and while the alignment hasn’t been finalized, it should be relatively similar to the existing lift. The installation is expected to take place this upcoming spring and summer, with the new lift ready for the 2025-26 season. Due to construction work, the Superstar Express lift is expected to close earlier than usual for spring skiing, with the North Ridge and Canyon Quads operating later into the spring to make up for the circumstance.

In addition, Killington is planning to replace the cabins on the Skyeship Gondola. This lift has been using its original cabins since its debut in 1994, and the new cabins are designed to bring reliability enhancements for the lift. The cabins will debut for the 2025-26 season, with an overhauled cabin barn expected to follow later on.

Finally, Killington is continuing to invest in its snowmaking network over the next two seasons. About 1,000 new snow guns are expected to be installed, with about half coming online this season and the other half debuting in 2025-26.

A few other operational changes will occur starting this season. Killington is ending its partnership with Woodward and rebranding its terrain parks back to the old “Kparks” branding, though the resort says it will continue to focus on the progression-oriented setups that have made it so compelling in recent years.

More information on Killington’s upcoming capital improvements can be found here.

Killington's current Superstar Express dates back to 1987, with multiple retrofitted parts after the original manufacturer, Yan, was found to have developed faulty detachable grips.

Our Take

When we first covered Killington's acquisition by a new group of local owners a few weeks back, we mentioned that the resort intended to pursue a significant slate of upgrades over the next few years. The Superstar Express is one of Killington's oldest lifts, so it's not surprising to see it as the first to receive an upgrade as part of this initiative.

At this point, we don't know much about the new Superstar lift, other than it's going to be a six-pack. The biggest benefit is likely to be its reliability. The current Superstar is over three decades old with various parts built by multiple manufacturers, and while it has had a good run, it’s clear that the lift is nearing the end of its useful life. A new lift in this area should provide reliable service for decades to come, serving some of Killington’s best and most-favorably-aspected intermediate and advanced terrain.

One potential short-term casualty of this new lift installation, specifically for this season, may be the spring skiing experience at Killington. The Superstar Express quad historically remains open well into spring to serve the Superstar trail, which receives so much snowmaking that it often stays open until late May or early June. While the Canyon and North Ridge Quads are expected to hold down spring skiing this year, it’s unclear whether Killington will revert to a more traditional closing date this year, or if they will pump as much snow in those areas as they can to keep the opening as late as possible.

Perhaps in the more immediate term, we’re curious to see how Killington’s terrain park setup changes this year with the exit from the Woodward partnership. While the resort is retaining the terrain park staff from years’ past and says they will be focusing on maintaining the same types of parks, we’ll have to wait until the start of this season to understand what major changes, if any, have been made. We’d argue that Killington has taken the reins from Mount Snow as the top resort for freestyle terrain in Vermont, so any notable rollback in the terrain park experience could have significant implications for park rats all over the East Coast.

Considering a ski trip to Killington this year? Check out our full Vermont ski resort rankings, as well as our comprehensive Killington mountain review. You can also check out our Killington review in video form below.