A History of Mount Van Hoevenberg

by Peter

“When I was a boy, we made skis out of barrel staves. We didn’t know we were supposed to use poles,” George Remington recounted.

photo courtesy of ORDA

George, my grandfather, grew up on Racquette Lake, where his parents were caretakers for a great camp. Some historians posit that Racquette Lake got its name because a retreating Tory brigade abandoned their snowshoes (“racquette” in French) on their flight to Canada during the Revolution. It’s a paradox that Grandpa was figuring out skis in a place named for a huge pile of abandoned snowshoes.

My grandfather would have been on skis in the early 1920s, about the same time that the first ski races were held in Lake Placid. Originally a summer resort, the town began promoting winter sports around 1905. One account suggests that winter vacationers back then had to be taught how to have fun on the snow.

Plattekill Acquires Assets at Tanglwood

In December of 2010 it was announced that the Tanglwood Ski Area in Tafton, Pennsylvannia was closing. On April 26th of this year the ski resort's infrastructure was liquidated. Snowmaking equipment, lifts, groomers, the rental shop and everything else was auctioned.

Tanglwood's Double Chair will serve the Plattekill Teaching Hill

Representatives from Plattekill, Thunder Ridge, Kissing Bridge, Mount Peter, Big Bear and Camelback were on hand to look for values in ski area equipment. Laszlo Vajtay, co-owner of Plattekill mountain has built his business by recognizing and capitalizing on these kinds of opportunities. I spoke to Laszlo about the auction and his acquisitions.

Gore Capital Improvements: Next Steps

I recently had a few minutes to sit with Mike Pratt, the general manager at Gore. I asked him a few questions about the season past, plans for the summer and the future beyond.

Pisten Bully PB 600

NYSB: Mike the 2011-12 season was obviously challenging in the east and across the US. How did it compare for Gore?

Mike: For starters, the season was a short. We were open for 111 days this season, compared to last year when we spun the lifts 137 days total. We had a late start and our earliest finish since I've been at Gore.

NYSB: Skier visits? Revenue?

Mike: Numbers aren't official yet, but you are going to see both of those figures down by maybe 15%.

Spring Awakening at Seven Springs, PA

by ml242

I spent the day Monday watching the NWS radar in total disbelief: a huge, swirling, stalled storm was dropping snow on western New York and Pennsylvania. It was hard not to think, "why couldn't this have happened in February?"

But something was different about this "after the bloom" storm; there were shades of blue, grey, and white over the higher terrain, and up to 24" was expected when things were said and done.

Seven Springs was tweeting that they were going to spin the lifts. My skis and boots came out of the closet in the afternoon, but I still wasn't sure would drive west towards the snow. For years I've ranted about ski areas closing with perfectly good snow on the ground, and I felt the need to put my money, time and fuel where my mouth is.