The Belleayre Blog

My girlfriend Amy has really jumped into skiing this season, traveling with me across NY and VT at early hours in search of snow. I decided it was time to slow down the pace from Wu-tang Clan to Marvin Gaye. Instead of a six AM wake-up call to action, I surprised her with a double rainbow moment: a relaxing stay at a funky Catskill hotel to celebrate Valentine’s Day and ski.

Although no one will confuse Roxbury, NY, with preeminent vacation destinations Lake Placid or Niagara Falls, it’s a charming town tucked into a valley with views of hills on all sides. The star hotel, The Roxbury, recommended by a friend, impressed my better half with lots of modern and quirky art, plenty of shiny surfaces, and high brow bath products I wouldn’t even know how to procure.

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These days, it’s pretty rare to find a person who, through sheer force of personality, becomes the unofficial face of a business by embodying certain key attributes.

For years, Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills had one of these unique people — someone who radiated the ski area’s atmosphere of friendliness, fun, and lack of pretention. Here’s what I wrote about him in a 2008 article:

Despite Belleayre not having the biggest, deepest, steepest, longest, or most expensive anything, there are a handful of reasons why so many New Yorkers are passionate about this mountain. One of them is the lift attendant at the Tomahawk Lift mid-station. Instead of a bored post-teen with tattoos, lip piercings, and bad skin, you’ll find a cheerful older gent who clearly seems to enjoy his job.

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