Back in May of 2022, Cockaigne announced that they were for sale. The reasoning for this was “part of normal investment due diligence and in no way should cause alarm for the community.”
They reopened for the 2022-23 season, but the season was cut short due to a lack of natural snowfall. Their social media accounts have been silent since March. I checked the website, and it asked me if I was a robot, so I closed my browser and am paranoid that my computer has been hacked.
Recently, the price tag for the ski resort has been cut significantly. The original price tag of $5.9 million has been reduced to $3.5 million, showing the current owner’s desperation to get rid of the property. The owners want to sell it to someone who is committed to keeping the mountain open.
Cockaigne has had an interesting history. The ski resort opened in 1966, with its first base lodge originally serving as the Austrian Pavillion in the 1965 World’s Fair in New York City before being moved up north. In 2011, the lodge burned down, and Cockaigne ceased operations shortly thereafter. In 2017, the ski area was bought by new owners and reopened for skiing in the winter of 2020.
The ski resort features ten trails and three lifts, night skiing, snow tubing, an RV campground that’s open year-round, and a separate trail network that’s exclusively for snowmobilers. During the summer, there’s a popular restaurant and a large stage for concerts.
I hope someone comes in and keeps it going as a four-season destination. It has a modern lodge, decent skiable terrain, and a huge venue for concerts, so it has a lot of potential. It’ll ultimately come down to if someone wants to spend the $3.5 million, then spend on necessary infrastructure improvements to further modernize the mountain.
You can view the listing here, and some photos of the property are below.
Mountain Stats
Trails: 10
Skiable Acres: 80
Lifts: 3 (Two chairlifts and a J-bar)
Vertical Drop: 430 ft
Average Snowfall: 275 inches from their website in 2022. Other sources like SkiNY and NY Ski Blog have it at a more modest 175 inches. Based on last season, the latter is probably more accurate.
Image Credits: Cockaigne, Chautauqua County Board of REALTORS®
