Start spreading the news, because it is shaping up to be a season full of new capital improvements at New York ski resorts.
In Ski NY’s 2023-24 capital project announcement, they detailed the major projects that are happening across the Empire State. This includes new chairlifts, snowmaking upgrades, and major renovations.
Here are the biggest improvements coming to New York ski resorts this winter. But first, here are some honorable mentions:
- Bristol Mountain opened up a year-round freestyle training facility. Called the Greater Rochester Amateur Athletic Federation (GRAFF) Summer Aerial Freestyle Training Site, it includes one of the few water ramps in the country. Other improvements include a redesigned skier bridge on the Milky Way trail, along with widening and making snowmaking upgrades to the Upper North Star trail.
- The Hickory Ski Center is getting ready to reopen this season for the first time in years thanks to an investment from the Indy Pass and us here at Unofficial Networks.
- Maple Ridge began a three-year, $3 million snowmaking project. The first phase, which happened this summer, resulted in the installation of a new snowmaking pipe system, which will increase their snowmaking capacity by up to 39%.
- Plattekill widened and added snowmaking to the I Think I Can trail. Other improvements include a new maintenance building, new decking for the base lodge, and new demo gear.
- The Windham Mountain Club went through a luxury-focused rebrand. New restaurants are opening across the ski resort, which includes an Italian Alps-themed dining facility around the mid-mountain area.
5. Gore Mountain: Gore’s major project this offseason was the replacement of their beginner chairlift. In its place is the Bear Cub Quad, which is double the length compared to the old chairlift. The conveyer-load quad chairlift gives beginners more terrain to check out and allows for easier access to the Sunway Chair. The new chairlift is making its debut tomorrow, December 16th. In addition, two magic carpet lifts have been added to the learning area, allowing for a simpler learning progression process.
To prepare for their major improvements to the North Creek Ski Bowl next year, they made significant snowmaking upgrades in this terrain pod.
4. Belleayre: The old Lift 7, which was a fixed-grip triple chairlift, was replaced with a new fixed-grip quad chairlift. The Overlook Quad, which opened earlier this season, has increased rider capacity and reliability. In conjunction with the new chairlift, they added a skier bridge, making access to Lift 7 much easier.
Major snowmaking improvements were also made. These included replacing 27,000 feet of snowmaking pipe, along with adding 250 HKD Impulse R5 tower guns and 5 SMI Super PoleCats.
3. Holiday Mountain: For years, the Catskills ski area appeared to be on the brink of closing. Most of the terrain and lifts across its three peaks were closed, but the ski area has been given new life thanks to new ownership. This offseason, they’ve spent millions of dollars to update the mountain. This includes restoring major snowmaking improvements, creating a new snow tubing slope, restoring neglected ski trails, updating their chairlifts, and renovating their base lodges.
Next winter, they will be installing a new chairlift, which they acquired from a ski resort in Virginia. Click here to learn more about all the projects they’ve worked on this offseason.
2. Holiday Valley: They’re celebrating like they’re in New Orleans this winter at Holiday Valley, as they have opened a new chairlift. The Mardi Gras Express was replaced this offseason with a high-speed six-pack chairlift, providing Holiday Valley with more capacity and further modernizes its lift fleet.
Other improvements included a new PistenBully 600 groomer, upgraded snowmaking equipment, a renovation of John Harvard’s restaurant, and room renovations at the Inn at Holiday Valley.
1. Whiteface: Probably the biggest chairlift project in New York this past offseason was The Notch. This high-speed detachable quad chairlift starts at the Bear Den base area, has a mid-station on the Borren trail, and the top terminal drops riders off next to the Legacy Lodge. The lift allows beginners to make their next steps toward big-mountain skiing. It also gives more tenured skiers and riders a reason to park at the Bear Den base area, as they can now reach the upper mountain much easier from that side. This chairlift made its debut last weekend.
The Bear Den Learning Center also saw some updates. The Cub Carpet lift was reoriented to make it easier for beginners to reach. In addition, the Falcon Flyer triple chairlift received some updates.
Other additions include a haul rope replacement and new grip hardware for the Cloudsplitter Gondola, 150 new high-efficiency snow guns with water/air lines, and two new PistenBully 600W snow cats.
Image/Video Credits: Whiteface Mountain (Featured Image), Holiday Valley (Header Image), Gore Mountain, Belleayre, Holiday Mountain