A Decade of Black Magic

As we prepared for summer 2026, we had a few priorities in mind for our Bike Park. We heard your feedback over the past couple of seasons, and we entered this season with a renewed focus on having our premier trails open earlier than in years past. And as Black Magic, our Bike Park’s premier jump trail, opened for business this past Friday, July 10th, one big step towards that goal was completed.

Before we recap its opening day, we need to take a step back in time to the genesis of Black Magic. We’ve hosted downhill mountain biking here at Killington dating back to 1991, making this year the 35th anniversary of our Bike Park. Lift access back then was solely from the old Killington Double Chair until the K-1 Gondola was installed in 1998. For many years, trails were numbered instead of named until our first set of named trails came about in the early 2010s—longtime riders may remember names that have come and gone like Wood Stove and The Hammer.

Everything started to ramp up in 2014, led by our commitment to cement Killington as a true four-season location. Much like this summer, that period was characterized by plenty of summer investment, as spending on our Bike Park and burgeoning Adventure Center topped $5 million between 2014-2017. Lift-accessed mountain biking began from the Snowshed Express Quad beginning in summer 2014, bringing along with it an increased focus on progression terrain and beginner lesson options. In 2016, the Ramshead Express Quad opened for the first time as our third mountain bike lift. Our first few Ramshead trails opened that same summer, including a certain 2+ mile expert jump trail called Black Magic.

Being such a long and difficult trail, the process of preparing Black Magic for opening each summer is, well, a long and difficult one. Jumps and landing zones need to be particularly dialed on a steeper, faster jump trail like this one. Plus, Vermont’s harsh winters don’t exactly leave mountain bike trails in perfect condition. Once the snow melts, our team assesses any damage, and many members of the Park Crew trade their rakes for shovels as they transition to the Trail Crew. Work begins in late spring on our lowest-elevation Bike Park trails at Snowshed, preparing the terrain pod for its traditional Memorial Day weekend opening.

Here’s where our recent investments come in. Beginning in early May, a crew hired from Powder Horn Trail Company got to work on Lower Black Magic, well before our Trail Crew would normally be able to turn its attention there. Despite a particularly rainy June that brought 8.6" of rain to the mountain, both our Trail Crew and local builders from Powder Horn kept work moving across Ramshead despite the muddy conditions. Lower Black Magic opened on Friday, June 12th, the same date that the Ramshead Express opened for this summer.

Powder Horn Trail Company is led by Will Conroy, a graduate of the Killington-based Resort & Hospitality Management program and a former Trail Crew member who was part of the original Black Magic trail build a decade ago in 2016. This summer, which happens to be the 10th anniversary of Black Magic, he was back re-shaping the same takeoffs and landings he first formed. This extra help was crucial in not only getting Black Magic open earlier, but other parts of our Bike Park as well. Our Trail Crew was freed up to learn how to operate our new Moritz trail crusher, install a new moto-style jump on Lower Jump Start, and respond more quickly to routine maintenance needs across the Bike Park.

Overall, the results from this collaborative effort are hard to argue with. Upper Black Magic opened for this summer on Thursday, June 25th, over a full month earlier than it did during summer 2025. When the middle section of the trail opened on July 10th, full Black Magic laps were firing nearly a month before they were last summer. Elsewhere in the Bike Park, our trail crusher has been able to re-shape key beginner trails like Easy Street and Roller, providing an easier learning experience for the newest shredders among us.

To commemorate Black Magic’s top-to-bottom opening last Friday, we had to add a little flair to the usual rope drop proceedings. Tim Stangel, a longtime Trail Crew member, kicked things off just after 10:00 a.m. by cutting the tape at the top of the trail with a chainsaw. A stacked roster of local riders then led the opening train down the trail, which we made sure to document from as many angles as we could. After its first week of operation has come and gone, early returns are promising, as dedicated riders have had nothing but nice things to say about the trail’s quality thus far.

As we’ve promised, this summer’s magic isn’t done yet. Blue Magic, another of our premier trails in the Ramshead area, will open up its middle section for the season starting on Friday, July 17th. This section of trail will also allow us to open Escape Artist, bringing us even closer to having 100% of our Bike Park open while the calendar still says July.

Looking ahead, construction work has already started on our newest downhill mountain bike trail: a blue, single-track, hybrid trail featuring sections of both technical and flow (or freeride) terrain. Once completed, it will be accessible via a short trek to the rider’s left, near the beginning of Lower Blue Magic. Including its entrance and exit, the new trail will intersect with Lower Blue Magic four times, giving riders the option to switch between sections of each trail during their descent. Future updates on construction progress and a potential opening date will come later this summer/fall.

Overall, the future continues to look bright in our Bike Park. We still have plenty more work to come from our Moritz trail crusher, plus a new dual slalom course and jump line that are due to be constructed later this summer in our Ramshead base area. Continued investments from our independent ownership have made one thing very clear: whether there’s powder or dirt, snow or sunshine, The Beast is the place to be year-round.