West Mountain Conditions

[Peter Minde]

It almost has to right? That's a pretty low bar.

One would hope. Way easier access to Queensbury than to Tupper Lake.

 

[x10003q]

I said this earlier in the thread and it is mentioned in the developer's sales pitch - there will be many families who will be interested in this development as their primary residence. There are houses for sale near the base of West where the asking price is $595k. Queensbury is a nice place to raise kids, has good access to amenities/healthcare and is on the edge of the Adk Park. Gore is about a 50 minute drive. If you are interested in skiing, how great would it be to easily grab runs from your house and not have to own a second home?

 

[Brownski]

That’s a good point. Mountain Creek has tons of condos at its base and they appear to be full most of the time. The first time I saw them I thought WTF? Who would buy/rent here? But it’s actually within commuting range of NYC. Some people commute from PA even. I could see somebody living at West and commuting to the Capital District, especially if they can work from home a few days a week

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

West Mtn is a great, local mountain but it is small ....it is not a "destination" mountain. People don't drive a great distance to ski West Mtn. It's a hard mountain to keep busy and interested in all day. I remember skiing it for 4 hours and that was too much time - there's not enough terrain to keep you interested. Great place for kids ! Kids can ski anything all day as long with their friends. In my uneducated opinion, you might be able to sell that to locals only. They would really need to up the "non-skiing" activities. I wish them luck, that would be great if their vision takes hold but I think it's going to be a tough road to get there.

If you can ski it during the day on a sunny weekday (and everything is open) it's a fun little mountain.

I think this development will require some serious operational upgrades on the mountain op end of things, though.

The general skier experience needs to improve in terms of snowmaking (if I'm buying slope-side real estate I want great snow & the NW side open sooner), amount of terrain opened vs ski racing focus and the general lifeline/lift experience (lifts stopping, kids wrestling in line, falling off magic carpet loader, not being able to use the RFID, etc).

 

[not2brite]

The hotel feels like a stretch at least during the winter. Past 2 winters I have stayed at least a total of 4 weeks in a Holiday Inn Express right of the same Northway exit. Its no more than 5-7 minutes away from West, its either relatively new or renovated and I rarely pay more than $100/night. I work nights then go ski either Gore, Whiteface or Killington. There's a bunch of other hotels in that same area at that same price point and they always have rooms available. Maybe during the summer it catches Lake George overflow?

 

[Cork]

I think this development will require some serious operational upgrades on the mountain op end of things, though.

amount of terrain opened vs ski racing focus

The biggest complaint that I hear constantly from friends that ski West are that the best trails, the cure and gnar wall, are constantly closed for the racing team.

IMO this development is doomed from the start because the focus will ALWAYS be on the racing side of the equation, which is really the only thing that the ownership group cares about.

 

[Milo Maltbie]

I'm so pessimistic I think everything is gonna fail, but "doomed form the start" is a little strong. It can't be a high end ski destination but it's a pretty good location for an ordinary suburban subdivision. It's close to the Northway and maybe you get a little premium for ski in/ski out and some nearby hiking trails. That could work out.

One year I tried to make West Mountain my winter office. Ski a few runs in the morning, breakfast or lunch in the lodge. I had good enough cell/wifi to work there without anyone figuring out where I was, which has always been my goal. I had to leave by 3pm when the school buses arrived. I liked it but it was just a little too far from my house.

mm

 

[MarzNC]

The hotel feels like a stretch at least during the winter. Past 2 winters I have stayed at least a total of 4 weeks in a Holiday Inn Express right of the same Northway exit. Its no more than 5-7 minutes away from West, its either relatively new or renovated and I rarely pay more than $100/night. I work nights then go ski either Gore, Whiteface or Killington. There's a bunch of other hotels in that same area at that same price point and they always have rooms available. Maybe during the summer it catches Lake George overflow?

Having low usage for lodging during the winter is not uncommon for 4-season resorts. I could get a timeshare unit in popular resort areas in New England during midweek in the winter without having to plan too far in advance. For the summer season, would need to book a year in advance or put in a "search" and hope to snag a unit as soon as it's released into the trading pool.

 

[tirolski]

The biggest complaint that I hear constantly from friends that ski West are that the best trails, the cure and gnar wall, are constantly closed for the racing team.

IMO this development is doomed from the start because the focus will ALWAYS be on the racing side of the equation, which is really the only thing that the ownership group cares about.

Racers help pay the bills at ski mountains.
ORDA came into it’s existence cause of debt from the '80 winter Olympics in LP, so there’s that.

Queensbury’s Planning Board held a meeting last Thursday 5-23-2024 to discuss the project.

Planning Board Meeting Audio - Town of Queensbury

Per the MU-1 Records Retention Schedule adopted by the Queensbury Town Board, audio recordings will no longer be available to the public after six months. ZOOM VIDEOS 1/19/21 Planning Board– […]

www.queensbury.net

There’s discussions of snowmaking too.