There’s been some excitement about the eastern ski season getting an early start. Ski Ward in Massachusetts garnered significant attention with its new snowmaking system, claiming the first open ski resort in North America. Killington spun early as always. Belleayre got out first in New York with a sneak preview before Thanksgiving.
Those efforts may pale in comparison to the work done at Snow Ridge, a family-owned resort on Tug Hill. In August, as most resorts were completing lift maintenance and inspection, Turin NY came into the path of an EF-3 tornado. Trees were snapped and lifts were rendered inoperable.
Some were wondering if the hill would open up at all. For the community, Indy ski area neighbors and those who call Snow Ridge home, it wasn’t if the season could be saved, but how. The story of this comeback was told in part, by Nick in October. From the debris, the Ridge has risen.
News and social media reports were firing off the day after the tornado and while the pictures of the damage were on the front page, the real story was brewing in the comments. Folks were asking how they could help. Regular folks and other ski areas in New York and Vermont offered real, tangible assistance. Maybe unheard of in the Fortune 500, but business as usual among small, privately held independent ski areas in the northeast.
This fall, two clean up days were scheduled to clear the mountain. Over 100 showed up each day while local contractors volunteered time and equipment to move the big stuff. Eric Waite and the Greek Peak crew came on the volunteer days with heavy machinery to repair cables and handle tree removal. Eric and Ridge GM Nick Mir have common roots at Toggenburg.
Dry Hill is less than 40 minutes away Snow Ridge, right off the lake in Watertown. The Wells family was there. Stu Wells brought a crew on both volunteer days, while Boo Wells fed the masses.
Significant manpower was required to clean up and much of that work was volunteer. Repairing the lifts and lift controls especially, require knowledge, experience and access to parts. Tim Woods comes with industry experience, contacts and his experience with this kind of disaster. Tim brought his muscle too, spending one of volunteer days going to town, cleaning up blowdown on Kuersteiner.
Tim knows first hand the damage a tornado can do to a ski mountain. His mountain —Woods Valley — was badly damaged by an EF-1 tornado in July of 2021.
Matt Allen of ORDA, the Chairman of ISkiNY’s Lift Maintenance Committee, assessed the damage to the main lifts, helping with a repair plan complete with the required industry contacts.
Parts were required. Queue Laszlo Vajtay from Plattekill, the place where Hall lifts go to be reborn. Laszlo, also no stranger to adversity, offering knowledge and access to his extensive parts supply. This included 100 new galvanized chairs, a spool of communication wire, sheave parts and all important grips. From VT, Smuggs offered more Hall lift parts, providng for needed sheave repairs on the Ridge Runner chair.
Also huge, was the response from Pisten Bully. That photo of the Pisten Bully buried under an old evergreen tree has become an icon for the tornado damage at Snow Ridge. The cat was inoperable and almost completely unsalvageable. The state-of-the-art grooming machine manufacturer stepped up to donate a used machine. Shout Out!
Swain, Willard, Oak, Titus, Sugar and countless other mountains offered support. Meanwhile the gofundme page raised 37k with donations from NYSkiBlog, the community, Ski Cooper, Windham and Hunter. On the morning of August 8th Nick realized “this was a disaster Snow Ridge and a larger community. Nothing is going to keep us down.”
The tornado was only the beginning of this story, the recovery is more astounding then the tornado itself. This winter the Ridge will be open and eventually all 5 lifts will spin. See you on the hill.
photos courtesy Snow Ridge Ski Area
Thanks for the update. The tornado was devastating but what came after makes for a really heartwarming story. Bring on the snow.
This was such an awesome story of recovery and community in the ski industry!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Despite being vertically challenged, I love Snow Ridge because it gets 200 – 500 inches of natural powdery lake effect, has consistent fall lines and for skiing in the trees on all that natural lake effect. Hopefully the publicity will help the place attract skiers like me, who live over two hours away from this gem. Going up to the Tug is like going back to a better time and cooler world, where snowmaking supplements natural snow, not replaces it.
GO!
Thank you to the volunteers to help make repairs possible.
This story is an amazing illustration of why I love skiing, especially at The Ridge; the people you meet, the folks that are involved with the sport are in a class by themselves, how rare to have one’s competitors step up to keep you in business, as opposed to gleefully celebrating your misfortune that gives them a leg up in the competition for skiers and riders! So happy to be a part of this community!