Sad news out of New York yesterday, as Toggenburg Mountain is shutting down its operations after being a part of the greater Syracuse community for sixty-eight years. Syracuse.com reports that new owner Peter Harris will not run the mountain due to the labor shortage that’s affecting operations for every industry right now, along with owning two adjacent mountains that would hurt visitation numbers and would unevenly spread out their workforce. Those who purchased season passes for this upcoming winter at Toggenburg will be refunded and will have a discounted price for season passes at Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain. Meanwhile, a petition has been created by locals to save the mountain from closure.
A big part of this closure seems to be due to conflicts of interest from the past two ownership groups. John Meier, the prior owner that just sold to Harris, also owns Green Peak, which is only thirty miles away. Meier invested mostly in Green Peak, which boasts an impressive amount of summer activities as well as an indoor water park, seventeen mountain biking trails, and forty-two ski trails. On Toggenburg’s social media prior to the sale, most posts in the offseason were about Green Peak’s offerings, not what was happening at Toggenburg. This summer, Peter Harris of Intermountain Management (also know as SkiCNY.com) bought the mountain. He also owns two resorts that are within twelve miles of the resort: Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain. With Peter deciding that there wasn’t enough support for three mountains in the local area, Toggenburg got the boot. It’s a shame that Toggenburg didn’t get an owner who doesn’t have a financial interest in the region, as I feel like they could’ve really made this little mountain shine.
The mountain featured twenty-one runs, three chairlifts (two doubles and one triple) and two surface lifts, two terrain parks, and employed seventy-five to ninety people each winter.
Did you ski Toggenburg? If so, what are your favorite memories from there?
Image Credits: Skimap.org, Toggenburg Mountain Winter Sports Center
