Holiday Mountain was down to just three ski trails when new ownership took over in 2023. This winter, the Southern Catskills ski area says it will have 20.
The Monticello, New York, resort announced the milestone as it prepares for the 2026-27 season, continuing a rapid rebuild that has included new and reconstructed lifts, a completely overhauled snowmaking network, new trail lighting and the reopening of terrain that had been dormant for years.
“Holiday was down to just 3 trails in 2023, we’ll be at 20 this season with 100% brand new snowmaking, lights & lifts.”
The expansion comes during Holiday Mountain’s 70th season. According to Holiday Mountain, the biggest project for this winter is the return of its North Pod, which adds a third chairlift and a large collection of new terrain.
A Ski Area That Nearly Disappeared
Holiday Mountain’s current trajectory looked unlikely just a few years ago.
The ski area was struggling when the Taylor family purchased it in 2023. Only three trails were operating, important lift infrastructure had been sitting idle and the property faced an uncertain future.
Local businessman and longtime skier Mike Taylor stepped in and began rebuilding the mountain rather than allowing it to disappear. The story of Holiday Mountain’s revival from a ski area operating just three trails has since developed into one of the more unusual comeback stories in Northeast skiing.
The resort had grown to nine trails by the 2025-26 season, according to Holiday Mountain’s official history.
That expansion included reopening old terrain, adding new trails, rebuilding lifts, dramatically expanding snowmaking and installing new night-skiing lights.
The North Side Is Coming Back
The next major piece is the long-dormant northern section of the ski area.
Holiday Mountain says its North Pod will return for 2026-27 with a new No. 1 chairlift serving terrain that has been closed for years. The expansion includes trails such as Yada Yada and the return of Big Vanilla, which is expected to provide another location for night racing and training.
The lift itself is another example of Holiday Mountain’s unconventional rebuild.
Rather than purchasing a completely new chairlift, the resort combined components from multiple existing lifts to create a fixed-grip triple. Some towers came from Holiday Mountain’s former Turkey Trot lift, while other components came from another Borvig chairlift and were modified with help from Partek Ski Lifts.
The new lift is approximately 1,100 feet long with about 230 feet of vertical rise.
Reopening the terrain required much more than installing a chairlift. The area had suffered erosion and other damage during its years without ski operations, requiring extensive regrading, drainage and stabilization work before trails could return.
Snowmaking Has Been Rebuilt Across the Mountain
Snowmaking has been one of the biggest components of Holiday Mountain’s revival.
The resort has installed miles of new pipe, new pumps, fan guns, air-water snowguns and electrical infrastructure since the ownership change.
Holiday Mountain now advertises 100% snowmaking coverage across its ski terrain.
The scale of the work has included thousands of feet of larger snowmaking pipe, more than 100 new snowguns and major upgrades to the pumping system that supplies water across the mountain.
Lighting has received a similar overhaul, allowing the expanded trail network to support night skiing.
Those improvements are particularly significant for a relatively low-elevation Catskills ski area where natural snowfall alone cannot reliably support a full winter operating schedule.
New Expert Terrain Is Part of the Comeback
Holiday Mountain’s growth has not been limited to restoring old beginner and intermediate runs.
New terrain includes Free Bird, a double black diamond run with a top section that reaches approximately 43 degrees.
The trail is steep enough that Holiday Mountain repurposed a retired chairlift tower as an anchor for its winch snowcat, allowing grooming equipment to work safely on the pitch.
Other additions have included Hackledam, another expert trail, as well as a terrain park with its own rope tow.
The result is a mountain that looks considerably different from the three-trail operation Taylor purchased in 2023.
Holiday Mountain Enters Its 70th Season
Holiday Mountain opened in 1957 and sits roughly 80 miles from New York City near Route 17 in Monticello.
The resort has spent much of its nearly seven-decade history serving local skiers and families from the lower Hudson Valley and New York metropolitan area.
Its latest expansion is bringing portions of that historic footprint back into use while also adding terrain that did not previously exist.
Four winters after being reduced to three operating trails, Holiday Mountain says skiers and snowboarders will have 20 to choose from this season.
