Walking towards the crowded finish line area, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. Which is a weird thing to feel when you have no skin in the game. Killington is not my home mountain; this was not my race. But it felt like my home and the crowd felt like my family. Even before I saw the crowd and the first racer, I knew this was a momentous day for every northeast skier.

The World Cup seemed destined to never return to the northeast. Bigger western resorts with more consistent snow conditions have hosted the World Cup for as long as I have been a serious skier. After a twenty-five year absence from the region, it was not an event I ever expected to see in my lifetime. Let alone in November.

But Killington brought it back to the northeast. And what a show Killington put on. Aside from some really long waits for bus rides to the lower parking lots, the event ran as flawless as possible. Major props to Killington and everyone involved for bringing the World Cup back to the northeast. We can only hope that Killington has incredible financial returns to pay off their risky investment and pushes to repeat as host.

Gazing out over the crowd, I noticed so many kids sporting race team jackets. Who knows how many future World Cup champions this race just inspired. We’ll find out a dozen or more years from now, and hopefully we’ll be cheering on another local hero to a win yet again sooner rather than later. Be it Shiffrin again or the next great racer this event may have inspired.