Holiday Mountain Crunch Time

If you’re connected to New York skiing, it’s been hard to miss the blizzard of activity at Holiday Mountain, following the acquisition of the property by the Bridgeville Ski Company, in May.  Leading the effort is Mike Taylor. He was born in Monticello NY and grew up skiing the hill.

North Lodge base
Holiday Mountain Ski and Fun Park

I drove up on Sunday to meet with Mike and see it for myself.  We met in the outer lot, near the North Lodge and the Fun Park. Mike was driving a red Jeep Wrangler that would prove integral to our tour. The volume of work-in-progress inspired a million questions and Mike had the answers. I’ve got two stories to tell, first the backstory.

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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.

riding the J-bar 1962
The Holiday J-Bar 1962

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.

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NY Skiing: Financing the Future

This spring ORDA approved a plan to invest $91.7M in Whiteface, Gore, Belleayre and Mount van Hoevenberg. Funds were appropriated for a variety of projects including new and improved lifts, lodges, snowmaking and other infrastructure. The most high profile projects include a $19.7M lodge at the North Creek Ski Bowl and a $16.5M two-stage detachable quad at Whiteface.

Artist rendering of new North Creek Ski Bowl Lodge courtesy ORDA

This is the latest in a series of transformational infrastructure upgrades for New York’s state-run ski areas that has spanned decades, dating back to the 1960s. Since that time, marquee projects have included gondolas, lifts, lodges, snowmaking, new terrain, and access to water from the Hudson River.

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