Killington Bike Park Best of

stb222

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Headed to killington this week and want some recommendations. Any info would help just looking for the top 3. My son is capable of the blue jumps at creek and can clear some of the ones on tempest
@Ryan.P @UtahJoe @Norm @whateverthehellBillsnameis

blue flow
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black flow
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3.
blue tech
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Black tech
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3.
Do not miss this trail
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my input may not matter but my favorite black tech trails are Cable, Steel Panther, Snakebite and Scarecrow.
 
We always start on green. Just the way we start any bike park. Here is how I would go:

Snowshed Lift (the left side)
1. Easy street to Roller (green) - warmup
2. Step It Up (blue flow) to Coaster (blue flow) - Coaster is 100% the right way to end this run
3. Jump Start (blue jump trail)
4. Rabbit Hole (black tech) - just gives yo a break from the balls-out adrenaline

Ramshead Lift (right side)
1. Blue Magic (blue jump line) - this was closed as of 2 weeks ago
2. Krusty (blue tech) - I love this trail. This is where I crashed and destroyed my GPS screen but it's still awesome
3. Steel Panther (black tech) - harder than Rabbit Hole but nothing insane
4. Black Magic (black jump) - this is above my pay grade
5. Goat Skull (black/red tech) - eh, there are 2 drops here that are surely advanced but otherwise this is a decent black tech trail
* Sideshow Bob (blue identity crisis) - I guess you need to do this for completeness but this is the most overrated trail there

The Big Lift (to the top)
* note that this is a long round trip
I think the way you need to do it is as follows:
1. Down the crappy gravel road
(?) I see Scarecrow on the map but we missed this last year
2. The Light
3. Cable Trail
4. Solitude
5. Shreddie
6. Snake Bite Upper
7. Snake Bite Lower
-> then into Easy Street on that side

I do not advise spending too much time at the top. It may or may not be fixed up at this point. And it's sort of not the focus of the park's efforts. I think a round trip is typically 45 minutes. But you know you're there, so you should try it.

On the bottom 2 lifts - I would bounce back & forth depending on the lines.
 
Norm said:
We always start on green. Just the way we start any bike park. Here is how I would go:

Snowshed Lift (the left side)
1. Easy street to Roller (green) - warmup
2. Step It Up (blue flow) to Coaster (blue flow) - Coaster is 100% the right way to end this run
3. Jump Start (blue jump trail)
4. Rabbit Hole (black tech) - just gives yo a break from the balls-out adrenaline

Ramshead Lift (right side)
1. Blue Magic (blue jump line) - this was closed as of 2 weeks ago
2. Krusty (blue tech) - I love this trail. This is where I crashed and destroyed my GPS screen but it's still awesome
3. Steel Panther (black tech) - harder than Rabbit Hole but nothing insane
4. Black Magic (black jump) - this is above my pay grade
5. Goat Skull (black/red tech) - eh, there are 2 drops here that are surely advanced but otherwise this is a decent black tech trail
* Sideshow Bob (blue identity crisis) - I guess you need to do this for completeness but this is the most overrated trail there

The Big Lift (to the top)
* note that this is a long round trip
I think the way you need to do it is as follows:
1. Down the crappy gravel road
(?) I see Scarecrow on the map but we missed this last year
2. The Light
3. Cable Trail
4. Solitude
5. Shreddie
6. Snake Bite Upper
7. Snake Bite Lower
-> then into Easy Street on that side

I do not advise spending too much time at the top. It may or may not be fixed up at this point. And it's sort of not the focus of the park's efforts. I think a round trip is typically 45 minutes. But you know you're there, so you should try it.

On the bottom 2 lifts - I would bounce back & forth depending on the lines.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the note about the summit and the length of time. The remainder of the family is come so my son and I do not have the entire day to waste away at the park.
 
UtahJoe said:
I was going to make a long write up but Norm nailed everything I was thinking
Click to expand...
4. Black Magic (black jump) - this is above my pay grade

Since you have been to creek, how big are the jumps on black magic? Like upper dominion level or more like lower dominion?
 
stb222 said:
4. Black Magic (black jump) - this is above my pay grade

Since you have been to creek, how big are the jumps on black magic? Like upper dominion level or more like lower dominion?
Click to expand...
Big/tall... But perfectly rollable.... Above my pay grade.... I did maybe 30% of them... but some of them were pretty big

Steel panther was way more my speed
 
I've only been there once and only rode off the Ramshead lift. Sessioned the hell out of Blue Magic - so much fun. If you have ridden Gronk at Thunder you'll feel right at home. I did one run down Black Magic and maybe it was a combination of how much jumping I'd been doing and the confidence after so many runs down Blue Magic, but I cleared every jump on the trail on the first run - except for the very last one - which is BIG and needs a LOT of speed to clear. Cased the hell out of it and nose-wheelied down the landing. I'm sure the long-ass wheelbase of the Megatower saved my ass.
 
Norm said:
We always start on green. Just the way we start any bike park. Here is how I would go:

Snowshed Lift (the left side)
1. Easy street to Roller (green) - warmup
2. Step It Up (blue flow) to Coaster (blue flow) - Coaster is 100% the right way to end this run
3. Jump Start (blue jump trail)
4. Rabbit Hole (black tech) - just gives yo a break from the balls-out adrenaline

Ramshead Lift (right side)
1. Blue Magic (blue jump line) - this was closed as of 2 weeks ago
2. Krusty (blue tech) - I love this trail. This is where I crashed and destroyed my GPS screen but it's still awesome
3. Steel Panther (black tech) - harder than Rabbit Hole but nothing insane
4. Black Magic (black jump) - this is above my pay grade
5. Goat Skull (black/red tech) - eh, there are 2 drops here that are surely advanced but otherwise this is a decent black tech trail
* Sideshow Bob (blue identity crisis) - I guess you need to do this for completeness but this is the most overrated trail there

The Big Lift (to the top)
* note that this is a long round trip
I think the way you need to do it is as follows:
1. Down the crappy gravel road
(?) I see Scarecrow on the map but we missed this last year
2. The Light
3. Cable Trail
4. Solitude
5. Shreddie
6. Snake Bite Upper
7. Snake Bite Lower
-> then into Easy Street on that side

I do not advise spending too much time at the top. It may or may not be fixed up at this point. And it's sort of not the focus of the park's efforts. I think a round trip is typically 45 minutes. But you know you're there, so you should try it.

On the bottom 2 lifts - I would bounce back & forth depending on the lines.
Click to expand...
For the most part I think these were pretty spot on. The immediate thing I realized is that the trail rating system is one level down from creek, green is gravel bike, blue is green, single black is blue, etc..
My comments in bold:

Snowshed Lift (the left side)
1. Easy street to Roller (green) - warmup 100% can be skipped, suitable for a gravel bike. Step it up is perfect for a warm up. Maybe Roller if you need a green.
2. Step It Up (blue flow) to Coaster (blue flow) - Coaster is 100% the right way to end this run. Coaster is great. We hit it a ton. You can add a variation with wiggle in the middle of this run. It is a green trail but super fast and flowy.

I would throw in the Stinky flow progression area in here, easy drops with some tables.

3. Jump Start (blue jump trail), the last 1/4 of this could be a black as some of those tables were big and even had a double in there
4. Rabbit Hole (black tech) - just gives yo a break from the balls-out adrenaline This was sorta just meh for me, rode it once and was done with it.

Ramshead Lift (right side)
1. Blue Magic (blue jump line) - this was closed as of 2 weeks ago. Top half was open and good, the bottom was still closed at Escape Route. Escape route was fun and my son went OTB there.
2. Krusty (blue tech) - I love this trail. This is where I crashed and destroyed my GPS screen but it's still awesome. Some ok sections, but kinda meh otherwise.
3. Steel Panther (black tech) - harder than Rabbit Hole but nothing insane. I didnt realize this was off side showbob, missed it.
4. Black Magic (black jump) - this is above my pay grade. This is my number one trail on that side, 100% Those last few jumps are above my grade. I cleared most of the other stuff but not all. Some of the tables were mis-sized.
5. Goat Skull (black/red tech) - eh, there are 2 drops here that are surely advanced but otherwise this is a decent black tech trail. We didnt do the top because it was slick the second day, but the bottom was great.
* Sideshow Bob (blue identity crisis) - I guess you need to do this for completeness but this is the most overrated trail there. 100% could be skipped. Hit it once and that was enough. Not sure how this is the highest rated trail there.

The Big Lift (to the top):
* note that this is a long round trip
I think the way you need to do it is as follows:
1. Down the crappy gravel road
(?) I see Scarecrow on the map but we missed this last year
2. The Light
3. Cable Trail
4. Solitude
5. Shreddie
6. Snake Bite Upper
7. Snake Bite Lower
-> then into Easy Street on that side

We only did the top once and I should have come down scarecrow or steel panther. Otherwise the trails were kinda meh.

One thing I noticed is that you have some big stuff like that drop on upper cable, that just seem out of place. Maybe the plan is to have big stuff like that all the way down. Otherwise, great time, less aggro than creek, which was great for my sons progression.
 
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stb222 said:
* Sideshow Bob (blue identity crisis) - I guess you need to do this for completeness but this is the most overrated trail there. 100% could be skipped. Hit it once and that was enough. Not sure how this is the highest rated trail there.
Click to expand...

I kinda want to fight you for that opinion. I would ride Sideshow Bob for 8 hours a day every day for the rest of my life and not get bored.
 
cassinonorth said:
I kinda want to fight you for that opinion. I would ride Sideshow Bob for 8 hours a day every day for the rest of my life and not get bored.
Click to expand...
I really don't feel that strongly about it, I will concede on the it can be skipped.

My son after we rode it "well we dont need to do that one again"

I kept thinking there was going to be some jumps, a fast berm, something. But instead it was just long sections of straight trail
 
I thought sideshow was ok, but highest rated trail there? ok thats surprising....there were no jumps on it...other than that one bridge where you could jump the whole thing....that was fun...we hit it more than once, but certainly not a favorite.

Krusty at full speed top to bottom was one of my favorites....but I liked steel panther better.
 
From this weekend - after some heavy rains the blue flow trails were in good shape despite some significant brake bumps and loose rocks on many of the berms. Black Magic was in perfect shape, the berms are bigger and smoother and while the jumps are definitely steeper the overall experience is less rough than the blue ones. Rabbit Hole was a lot of fun, Krusty too but all the tech trails were wet. Snakebite was a sloppy mess, as was the cable trail. Steel Panther was perfect and imo the best run of the day. Sideshow Bob was rutted, rocky and frankly not as fun as it used to be.
 
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stb222 said:
Since you have been to creek, how big are the jumps on black magic? Like upper dominion level or more like lower dominion
Click to expand...
Different would be the best description. Creek has steep dirt jump style take offs and landings on dominion . The gravity logic built stuff like black magic is more mellow with bigger gradual landings so going deep you still get some downside compared to going deep at creek results in harsh flat landings usually. Bummed that only the top section of black magic was open I'd love to rip it top to bottom . I'd say black magic is slightly bigger than dominion but less lipy and faster speed so it doesn't feel bigger and rides incredibly smooth like even how the berms are shaped you don't need to brake they just set you up perfectly for the next section .
 
Ryan.P said:
Different would be the best description. Creek has steep dirt jump style take offs and landings on dominion . The gravity logic built stuff like black magic is more mellow with bigger gradual landings so going deep you still get some downside compared to going deep at creek results in harsh flat landings usually. Bummed that only the top section of black magic was open I'd love to rip it top to bottom . I'd say black magic is slightly bigger than dominion but less lipy and faster speed so it doesn't feel bigger and rides incredibly smooth like even how the berms are shaped you don't need to brake they just set you up perfectly for the next section .
Click to expand...
100% agree on the difference in the lips and landings.
 
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From Kton FB.... looks pretty freaking buff

Trail Crew is hitting all the angles on Section 1 of Cable Trail. This section will have a delayed opening today while they finish up.

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I was gonna start a new thread but hopping in here with this question, hopefully with positive results.
Looking for an actual RV park that has minimum of water/electric hookups near killington. Seems VT is not very RV park friendly looking quickly in my Google searches.
Or a RV park locator site with good reviews.
 
mattybfat said:
I was gonna start a new thread but hopping in here with this question, hopefully with positive results.
Looking for an actual RV park that has minimum of water/electric hookups near killington. Seems VT is not very RV park friendly looking quickly in my Google searches.
Or a RV park locator site with good reviews.
Click to expand...
This looks like the closest to Killington with water/elec. http://www.irocamp.com/index.html
I've found most of VT state parks don't have water/elec. You could also look on https://www.hipcamp.com and https://www.boondockerswelcome.com. Basically people offering an RV site on their private property.
 
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