Holiday Mountain: Back from the Brink

I became aware of Holiday Mountain, like many people, by spotting one of their chairlifts while speeding past on Route 17. It’s doubly intriguing because it’s a “floating bullwheel” design. A quick internet search for “ski area Monticello, NY” identified the hill. That floating bullwheel south of the highway is a great advertisement.

I never followed through and checked out the place until I took OEC (Outdoor Emergency Care – ski patrol school) and started attending some extra classes and hands on training sessions there.

By then, Holiday had seen better days. They only had one lift operational — the one by the highway hadn’t turned in years.

I could see the area’s potential though. There is some nice looking terrain strung along a wooded ridge overlooking the Neversink River. There was a little amusement park near the parking lot but it looked like it hadn’t been open in years. The park was not in great shape.

From locals, I learned that Holiday was for sale but hadn’t found a buyer yet. It seemed like Holiday was in trouble and might not have much time left. I still wanted to come back when it snowed, even if it was just to hang out with the patrollers I’d met there during OEC. They all seemed like solid people and clearly had a connection to the hill, its community and history. I didn’t make it there last winter but getting to Holiday to ski remains a goal.

It was some time in March, at Plattekill, that I started hearing some of the other patrollers (there’s a healthy contingent from Monticello) talking about another Plattekill patroller, Mike Taylor, buying Holiday Mountain. It made sense to me. I don’t know Mike well, but I knew he and his family owned some businesses. Based on his social media, he isn’t afraid of investing in his ventures either.

Mike’s Instagram is a constant, entertaining stream of surprising auction purchases — used trucks, propane tanks, various bits of earth moving equipment — when he’s not posting about ski patrol. I think I remember him buying a defunct roller skating rink at one point. It occurred to me that Mike’s combination of entrepreneurship, vision and social media savvy might be exactly what Holiday needed. I hoped the rumor was true.

I bumped into Mike at the hill and was able to confirm it, though the deal hadn’t been finalized yet so I kept my mouth shut, both at the hill and on the internet. Not my news to share. Once Mike went public and Holiday’s social media accounts came to life, I could see that Mike and Holiday Mountain were a match made in heaven.

Right away, I saw posts about a new (to them) chairlift and magic carpet being purchased. Then more posts about them cleaning up the little summer amusement park located at Holiday’s entrance. Go carts and bumper boats, slides and batting cages — it looked fun. There was brush clearing and grading of slopes, clearing of trails. We were basically watching Holiday come back to life in real time via Instagram and Facebook.

I noticed a post about an open house at Holiday to give the community a chance to hear Mike’s plans and ask questions. The timing was perfect for me. I had a family birthday party to attend in Orange County on Saturday afternoon. I figured I could stop by the open house do a little investigative journalism and explore the hill a little before heading to the party. I mentioned it to Junior and he decided to join me.

We showed up a few minutes late. Mike was already telling his story in front of lodge full of people. We slipped into a corner in back. I liked what I was hearing right away. They are tripling their snowmaking capacity. The new (to them) quad chair won’t be installed until next year but they plan on having Chair #2 up and running this winter so they can opem more terrain. Mike said that they want to “at least” reopen the Turkey Trot and Kroeger trails.

They have already bought another groomer and a tubing lane shaping machine. Lighting for night skiing will be replaced. Mike is still in the market for another chairlift to replace the one that is visible from route seventeen. He’s eager to expand terrain and cut new trails and spent some time talking about the potential for some steeper stuff opening up in the future. There will be a twelve-lane tubing hill for non-skiers.

Mike fielded lots of questions from the crowd. Some things would have to wait like a new lodge building and a white tablecloth restaurant and a new ski shop. Mike joked, maybe some of those things could be looked at for “phase seven,” and got a good laugh. Discussing their operating philosophy, he said “If it snows, we’re gonna be open” and got thunderous applause. I guess there may have been some issues in the past.

Regarding snowmaking, “when it gets cold enough, we’re gonna go all out.” Overall, it seemed like they had thought things through and had their priorities straight. First to be addressed: snowmaking, grooming, lifts and lights with further upgrades down the road. He hasn’t figured out his pricing yet but was eager to get schools and ski clubs to come back.

Making skiing affordable is a major goal. “When I was a kid, everybody around here skied.” Similarly, Mike wants to bring racing back to Holiday and wants to work towards getting all their ski instructors PSIA certified. He’s replacing their entire fleet of rental skis and snowboards too.

He mentioned it almost as an afterthought. I guess compared to buying groomers, industrial water pumps and chair lifts, 300 pairs of skis aren’t a big deal. Mike summed it up about halfway through his presentation when he said “The good thing is that we’re skiers — and maybe a little crazy.”

Great community spirit was evident in the room. You could tell from everybody’s questions and suggestions that the ski area was important to them. I detected no negativity and when he was done, Mike had a long line of people who wanted to talk to him individually, either with suggestions, offers of help or just to shake his hand and say thank you.

Junior and I wanted to explore so we hiked up the Chair 2 lift line. The lift could use some paint and a little TLC but it’s intact. The terrain looked fun. At the top we found another floating bull wheel. That may not mean much to most people but for two minor league lift geeks, it was kind of cool. From the top we followed one of the motocross trails through the woods until it spit us onto a ski trail above the lodge. There is definitely potential in there for terrain expansion, even before a third chairlift is acquired.

When we hit the ski trail, we turned uphill and followed it to the top of the Holiday’s triple chair, the one lift that has been operational in recent years. From there we headed downhill towards the lodge where a giant pile of dirt sat waiting to be part of a regrading project. I mentioned to Junior that the slope next to the triple would be a great place for a pond skim and he agreed. Maybe we’ll suggest that for phase seven.

I have yet to ski at Holiday Mountain. Now that I’ve had a chance to explore the area a little more, I’m even more eager to return to in the winter. I’ve written about how important feeder hills like Holiday Mountain are to the sport of skiing. Based on the turnout on Saturday, there is a healthy community of skiers in Sullivan County that agree with me.

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