Killington Resort Recaps Winter Safety Month Activities

Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, is proud to have once again participated in National Safety Month this winter, featuring on-hill and base lodge safety activations all throughout the month of January into early February. Alongside the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), Killington Resort & Pico Mountain strive to educate skiers and riders about all facets of on-mountain safety during the month of January. Killington Resort is also proud to work alongside Chauncy Johnson, founder of the Snow Angel Foundation and their #RideAnotherDay campaign, who graciously visited Killington & Pico during January and February.

From snowangelfoundation.org, “The Snow Angel Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that raises awareness and educates skiers and snowboarders on how to prevent on-mountain collisions. In 2016, after a tragic ski collision that took their 5-year-old daughter’s life and left Kelli with a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), Chauncy and Kelli Johnson launched the “Ride Another Day” safety campaign to help prevent similar collisions. They formalized that work in 2023 by creating The Snow Angel Foundation, expanding their mission to reach not only the ski industry but also kids, teens, and families through education and awareness around safe skiing.”

On select Saturdays throughout January and into February, Killington’s Patrol and Mountain Safety teams hosted burrito giveaways at the top of our Snowdon Six Express, where members of both teams spoke directly to guests about ways to ski & ride more safely on the mountain. One further burrito giveaway was hosted at the base of Pico Mountain on Sunday, January 11th, where Chauncy Johnson was able to attend and speak to guests about his own experience founding the #RideAnotherDay campaign. In total, over 1300 burritos were given away across all five activations, and numerous guests signed up for an accompanying gear sweepstakes from Mammut, whose partnership with both Killington & Pico and commitment to safety education helped spearhead these activations.

During his visit in early February, Chauncy Johnson also conducted a number of speaking engagements around the Killington community. Chauncy spoke to children at both Killington Elementary School and Killington Mountain School, bringing his message of preventing on-mountain collisions to the next generation. He also spoke with supervisors and managers across all departments at Killington & Pico, as well as with each of our Park Crew, Patrol, Mountain Safety, and Ambassador teams, ensuring his messaging could accurately be passed along by our own staff members going forward.

On Friday, February 6th, Chauncy hosted another meet-up inside our K-1 Lodge, where several pieces of merchandise donated by the Snow Angel Foundation and Killington’s resort partners were auctioned off in support of the Snow Angel Foundation. In total, over $1,400 was raised during the auction in just over an hour, with Killington also donating an additional $5,000 to the cause. The following day, Chauncy appeared at Killington’s final on-mountain burrito giveaway of the season, capping off a week where he also attended the NSAA’s Eastern Winter Conference hosted at Killington Resort.

During the NSAA Eastern Winter Conference, members of Killington staff moderated and participated in a panel titled “Search and Rescue: The Relationship Between Areas, Agencies, and SARs”, where practical insights were shared with many attendees from other east coast ski resorts. Topics included both how to respond properly to Search and Rescue events and how proper communication with guests can help prevent such incidents from occurring. In the near future, Killington Resort will be sharing and promoting an instructional uphill safety video featuring insights from members of our Mountain Ops staff as well as from Josh Eckler, Director of Killington Search and Rescue.

On Saturday, February 7th, the Eastern Division of the National Ski Patrol (NSP) awarded a certificate of appreciation to Killington Resort in recognition of all the National Ski Patrol events that have been hosted at the resort over the years. Notable gatherings include the Eastern Division Examiner's Clinic, the Eastern Division Patroller's School, the Eastern Division Certified Patrol Clinic, and in years' past, the Eastern Division Certified Exam and the 40th anniversary of the NSP’s Certified Program. Next year, they’re proud to host the 50th anniversary of the NSP’s Certified Program.

Killington Resort has also promoted on-mountain safety through originally produced social media content. While highlighting the first burrito giveaway of the season, Killington’s Patrol team was documented talking to guests about Your Responsibility Code, the ten core tenets of skier & rider safety created by the NSAA. Members of the Lift Operations team helped create an instructional video about lift safety, including detailing the differences in loading onto a detachable vs. fixed-grip chairlift. They created a video highlighting freestyle terrain signage, including the Park SMART Terrain Park Safety Initiative also developed by the NSAA. Over 70 staff and volunteers took part in our Snow Angel Challenge video, which was released ahead of our accompanying aforementioned donation to the Snow Angel Foundation.

Primarily through an ongoing partnership with Chauncy Johnson and the #RideAnotherDay campaign, Killington Resort & Pico Mountain continue to lead the way in terms of promoting safe practices while skiing & riding. To learn more about Chauncy’s story and continuing work with the Snow Angel Foundation or to make a donation of your own, head to snowangelfoundation.org.