Killington Race Camp - 2024 - Dec 8 - 13

Killington Race Camp Info

• For blue level skiers and above. Groups form with others of similar ability.
  
• Dec 8 - 13, 2024
  
• 6 day lift pass for Sunday through Friday.
  
• 5 full days of instruction - Mon - Fri including video analysis and an electronically timed GS race on Thursday.
  
• 5 nights at Killington Mountain Lodge, Killington Access Rd, Killington, VT (KML is part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton)
• Breakfast each morning, Mon-Fri, 6:30 - 8 am
  
• Catered, buffet dinner for our TCSC group on Monday night in the hotel dining room
• Amenities include mini-fridge and microwave in each room, ice machine, hot tub and pool table. There are common areas where people can gather and socialize.
  
• Fun evening activities, including Sushi-Yoshi night, a boot fitting clinic and a ski tuning clinic.
  
• "Awards Banquet" w/door prizes at our hotel, Killington Mountain Lodge, on Thursday night.
• The cost of the race camp trip is in two parts ...
  1. You pay Killington, directly, for the instructional part of the camp, the Thursday awards banquet and the 6-day lift-pass.
  2. You pay the ski club (TCSC) for the lodging, which includes the breakfasts and our buffet dinner on Monday night. 
• For most people, the Killington part will be $628 and the TCSC part will be $406. (That's for 2-in-a-room.) If you want a single room, the $406 becomes $760. If 3 people want to share a room, the cost is $302 per person. Check-in on Sunday afternoon (starting at 3 pm) and check out on Friday morning.
• A deposit of $100 to TCSC towards your lodging and digitally signed trip form reserves your spot. (Checks Payable to "TCSC")
• Final payment for lodging is due at the November meeting, 11/7.
  
• Choose your rooming preference when you register online. (Click the Register button on this page. You must be logged in for the register button to appear.)
• Each participant needs to go on Killington.com and purchase the "GS Race Camp package," which includes a 6 day lift pass, 5 days of lessons and the awards banquet. Our group rate for this is $628. (If you already have a Killington season pass or are 80 or older, subtract $170.) You will need a coupon code to get the group rate for the camp. Tim will send an email to all race camp participants sometime in October with all the information necessary to purchase your race camp package on Killington.com.
  
• Regarding Sunday skiing, check with Killington Mountain Lodge for vacancies, Saturday night. Other options include "Turn of River Lodge" on Rt 4. It's 10 min from Killington and reasonably priced. There will be other TCSC members there. Mountain Sports Inn is also good. You can also drive up Sunday morning and just ski a few hours in the afternoon. Lifts stop at 4 pm. Note that the trails can be crowded on Sunday, early season at Killington, so please be aware of that before venturing out on that day.
  
• Thursday night Awards Banquet at our hotel, Killington Mountain Lodge. Celebrate your week on the mountain with a delicious dinner and great door prizes! (This is also the time we tip our instructors and the class gives them a Thank You card. Tip is usually a minimum of $10 per day per student. You can tip more if you want. Everyone puts their tip in with the Thank You card.)

*** Instructions for signing up ... ***
Register for the trip click here: Killington Race Camp - 2024 - Dec 8 - 13

Make deposit check payable to "TCSC" (deposit amount is $100 minimum per person)

Mail check to: (Or bring it to one of our meetings)
Triple Cities Ski Club
c/o Tim Hanna
5219 State Highway 41
Smithville Flats, NY 13841

Make check payable to "TCSC"

Download, read and agree to the Trip Policy.

Please mail the check in a timely manner so that Tim has the check within 7 days of when you register.

Register and send payment as described above.

If you change your mind, this system will allow you to cancel your registration up to 30 days before the camp starts. After our November meeting, contact Tim Hanna if you need to cancel or change your registration.

Questions? ... Please contact Tim Hanna
tim_hanna@)juno.com or cell number 768-0429 (Area code 607)

Additional Info
The Killington Race Camp is a great way to improve your skiing. The camp uses a GS race format to teach the students how to make well-controlled, effective, efficient ski turns and link those turns smoothly.

There were 29 TCSC members in attendance last year and in 2023. The other 50 or so students at the camp are in a similar age range and skiing ability as members of our club. There are usually 10 - 12 groups created at the start of the week based on skiing ability. There are about 6 or 7 skiers in each group. You'll have the same instructor all week. The lower level groups spend less time on race-specific topics and more time on "turn mechanics" and improving their free-skiing. The higher level groups spend more time on the race course running gates. Everyone spends some time running gates.

Why would you consider a race-based camp if you don't plan on racing? It's all about effectiveness and cost. The reason most people are not skiing with the confidence, control and enjoyment that they seek is because their ski turns are not up to par. There is no better place to learn to make good ski turns than at a GS race camp. Anyone can go straight down the hill, but how effective are your turns?

Have you ever noticed the Olympic stars like Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin and Ted Ligety struggling with their turns? Hardly ever, right? At the Killington Camp, you'll be taught the same elements of coordination and timing that the Olympians and World Cup skiers employ. (Although it's unlikely you will end up in the Olympics. Sorry about that.)

While you are working on developing the proper movements and coordination associated with good turns, the instructors (especially in the lower groups) do NOT encourage speed. When your "turning issues" are corrected and you begin to employ a better technique, then additional speed becomes an option that YOU can choose based on your comfort level.

Whether you want to ski fast or slow, the ingredients for good turns are the same. You choose the speed you want to ski, but if you don't know how to make good turns, you're stuck at a skill level called the "intermediate rut" and your options are limited.

Attending the Killington Race Camp is a great way to get out of the "intermediate rut" and the price is a fraction of what it would be at "all-mountain" ski camps. There are camps in Colorado and California that do "all-mountain" training, but the cost is usually more than twice as much and that's before you buy a plane ticket, rental car and hotel room!

So Killington will teach you a lot of important concepts that you need to improve your "all-mountain" skiing. Overall, you'll have the opportunity to learn how to make great ski turns for a very reasonable price and have a lot of fun in the process. Racers and non-racers come back to this camp year-after-year to "tune-up" their skiing at the beginning of each season.

Who knows, you might find that you really like the racing part, too!

(Just to be clear, the "non-racers" who attend the RACE camp WILL spend some time running gates on a race course even if they are in the lowest group. But you are free to "bail-out" of any portion of the race camp that you want, and rejoin the class later. Killington recommends that anyone attending the race camp should be able to ski a blue trail. If you have questions about this, speak with Tim.