Story reprinted from article first appearing in the December 16, 2006 issue of Post Star.
State offering $7 million to expand, upgrade trails at Gore.
By Maury Thompson & Charles Fiegl

 Gov. George Pataki, down to his final weeks in office, announced plans Friday for a $7 million expansion of the state-run Gore Mountain Ski Center that will enable the Johnsburg attraction to boast having the eighth-largest vertical drop in the eastern United States.
    The state will spend an additional $3 million to complete the railroad line connection between Saratoga Springs and North Creek.
    Skiers from Saratoga Springs, as well as the Albany and New York City areas, will be able to take the train to North Creek and leave their personal vehicles at home, Pataki said.
     "You're not going to have the traffic; you're not going to have the pollution, and you're not going to have the congestion. But you are going to have the economic growth," he said during a press conference at the North Creek train station.
    At an earlier press conference at the Amtrak station in Saratoga Springs, Pataki said the upgraded rail line also will spur industrial development.
    At the ski area, the state will create seven new trails totaling about 6 miles, increasing the vertical drop on Burnt Ridge, one of three peaks on Gore Mountain, to 2,300 feet, adding about 200 feet.
    The project also will add about 60 acres of various levels of terrain and will include a new, high-speed quad lift, snowmaking and other improvements at Burnt Ridge.
    Once completed, Gore Mountain will have the eighth- highest vertical drop -- the distance from the top of the highest trail to the bottom of the lowest trail -- in the eastern United States, according to the governor's office.
    The Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates the center, expects to begin construction next summer, provided planning approvals proceed as expected, said Sandy Caligiore, an ORDA spokesman.
    The $7 million announced Friday is in addition to $5.5 million in state funding state Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, arranged to connect Gore Mountain with the North Creek Ski Bowl and a proposed private resort development.
    Pataki joked that he authorized the latest funding so state Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro, could keep pace with Little.


   

 
    The three interrelated projects -- expanding Gore, connecting it with the Ski Bowl and establishing rail service -- will make North Creek a premier ski destination, said Bruce Lundgren, owner of Fall Line Ski Shop in Queensbury.
    "The whole thing is going to explode now," he said, when contacted by The Post-Star to comment.
    The proposed trail system expansion will enable Gore to expand its niche as a place for intermediate skiers, he said.
     Railroad track improvements are expected to be completed by next fall, said Corinth Supervisor Richard Lucia.
    Corinth will receive $1 million to repair 200 feet of track that washed out in Greenfield last spring.
    The town had just purchased the railway between Saratoga Springs and Corinth from Canadian Pacific Rail System and did not have the funds to make the repairs.
    Another $2 million in state money will rehabilitate a 40-mile stretch of track from Corinth to North Creek.
    Passenger service on the rail line between Saratoga Springs and North Creek ceased in 1956.
    Johnsburg Supervisor William Thomas said it has long been his vision to see passenger service restored as part of a comprehensive plan to revitalize the town's economy.
    He and Warren County Director of Parks, Recreation and Railroad Patrick Beland made a lot of trips to Albany to meet with state officials over the years, stopping for supper at The Macaroni Grill.
    Pataki, who leaves office at the end of the month after serving 12 years as governor, said it sometimes takes time to achieve development plans.
    "Politicians have a habit sometimes of having grandiose plans and announcing them, but nothing happens," he said.
    "One of the things that we've tried to do over the last 12 years is take some of those 20, 30 year old plans off the shelf and turn them from plans into projects."
    In Saratoga Springs, Pataki also announced $5 million in state funding to extend the Adirondack Scenic Railway service from Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake, where the Wild Center, a new natural history museum of the Adirondacks, is located.
    At a third stop in North Elba on Friday, Pataki announced $5 million for the Lake Placid Winter Sports Committee's efforts to promote Lake Placid as a location for major sporting events.


 

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