KILLINGTON — Killington Resort is being recognized on a national level for the second time for its collision avoidance program.
On Friday, the resort announced it received the 2023 National Ski Areas Association Award for Best Collision Avoidance Program. The awards were distributed as part of NSAA’s 2023 National Convention and Tradeshow last week in Savannah, Georgia.
Killington President and General Manager Mike Solimano was also honored with the 2023 Sammy Leadership award at the conference.
“We are thrilled to receive this award, as guest safety is paramount to our success at Killington and Pico,” Solimano stated in the announcement. “We have had the pleasure of working with the Snow Angel Foundation on their #RideAnotherDay campaign for several seasons now and are happy to help promote their message year after year. The Johnsons’ personal story really helps drive home the importance of safe skiing and riding.”
According to snowangelfoundation.org, co-founders Chauncy and Kelli Johnson have snowboarded and skied most of their lives, then brought the passion into their marriage and subsequently with their children. On Christmas Eve 2010, a snowboarder riding at about 50 miles per hour collided with Kelli and her 5-year-old daughter Elise, resulting in the death of the child and the snowboarder. Kelli sustained life altering injuries, including a severe traumatic brain injury and other injuries.
In 2016, Chauncy partnered with NSAA to promote ski collision awareness. That prompted the Ride Another Day campaign and others.
Snow Angel Foundation formed in 2023 to increase safety education and awareness while promoting the benefits of skiing and snowboarding.
Killington and Pico, which operate together as one resort, previously won the collision safety award in 2019, and was a finalist last year for the Best Guest Safety Program.
“During the 2022/23 season, Killington & Pico continued to focus on collision prevention programs with visible efforts surrounding the #RideAnotherDay campaign, including a live event with the Johnson family that, along with our Play Forever Fridays donation based on lift ticket sales, raised $9,500,” states the announcement. “We also added new lift tower signs designed to complement the three tenets of the campaign, hosted several on-hill #RideAnotherDay events with Ski Patrol and worked the campaign’s audio messages into lift load PAs.”
John Duke, Killington and Pico’s risk and insurance manager, said “it feels great to be recognized” and he’s “very pleased that after four years, the #RideAnotherDay campaign has become infused with our on-hill culture. Work in this area is by definition ongoing and we will not be resting on our laurels. We look forward to continuing to improve our on-hill culture as it relates to the shared responsibility we have to each other while skiing and riding.”
