Killington’s Former Base Area Is For Sale

by admin in RSS Social News. Posted June 22, 2026

Bridgewater, Vermont — Killington’s history is full of interesting tidbits. Perhaps the most interesting one was the base area and terrain expansion that they gave up on. Now, the current landowner of that site is looking for a new owner.

While looking through a recent edition of the Mountain Times, I saw something interesting: a parcel of New England ski history in a real estate ad. Priced at $4.2 million, 170 VT Route 100 is the site of Killington Resort’s former Sunrise base area. The 309.24-acre property is now home to a vast network of snowmobile and ATV trails. Guests check in at the base lodge, which was originally Killington Resort’s.

Some other potential uses for the property include turning it into a boutique mountain resort or an eco-lodge. Alternatively, the owner can just keep all the trails to themself.

So why did the largest ski resort in Vermont, if not all of New England, give up on this expansion? It’s a long story.

History of Sunrise

First opened during the 1982-83 season, Sunrise was built as a new base area that provided easy access for travelers going up U.S. Route 4. Also known as the Northeast Passage, it served the Sunrise Village, which has various lodging and dining options. These easy, intermediate, and advanced trails were served by a fixed-grip triple chairlift. Even with a mid-station, the lift was reportedly as slow as a turtle.

It was eyed as a key lift for the Parker’s Gore expansion, which would have added more expert trails and glades to Killington’s network. Also part of the plan was a cross-country trail network. However, that expansion was derailed due to its proximity to the Appalachian Trail and Vermont’s designation of it as bear habitat. The Northeast Passage faced its own share of issues, such as low elevation and flat terrain. Killington sold the Parker’s Gore zone to the state in exchange for land intended to connect Killington and Pico. The Sunrise base area closed in the late 1990s.

The upper portion of Sunrise Mountain remains open and is served by the same chairlift, albeit a much smaller version. The old lift towers on the lower portions of the mountain were left abandoned.

Today, the property is known as Snowmobile Vermont. They offer snowmobiling in the winter and ATV tours in the summer.

You can view the listing here. Some photos of the property, plus a trail map for when it was a part of Killington, are below.