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Story reprinted from article first appearing in the March 8,
2006 issue of Times Union.
APA to OK Gore, Ski Bowl link No money earmarked for connecting trails
and 2-mile gondola lift
By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
| RAY BROOK -- The Adirondack
Park Agency is expected to approve a measure this week that will clear the
way for a connection between the Gore Mountain ski area and the Ski Bowl
in North Creek, Warren County. No money is yet budgeted, however, to pay for new trails and a nearly 11,000-foot-long gondola ride between the base of the Ski Bowl and the base of Gore. The historic Ski Bowl on Route 28 was a destination in the 1940s and '50s but business tapered off when the state opened Gore next to it and the Ski Bowl closed in 1976. Now, the state Olympic Regional Development Authority runs a tubing park on town-owned land. When a private developer bought 232 acres last year and disclosed plans for hotels, a golf course and town houses, interest was renewed in connecting the Ski Bowl and Gore. "The tubing park is a nice amenity for North Creek and hopefully in the near future we'll see money to reopen a T-bar (a lift that pulls skiers uphill) and a chairlift so a night skiing operation will be possible there," said Johnsburg Supervisor Bill Thomas. Mike Pratt, general manager at Gore, said that before expansion is done, he will focus on fine-tuning trails at Gore. His first priority is creating a trail for beginners from the top of the Northwoods Gondola to the Saddle Lodge. He said he expects the trail to be cut this summer for about $250,000. Supervisor Thomas said he has heard estimates of $5 million to develop four trails and $5 million to install the gondola. |
|
Sandy Caligiore, spokesman
for ORDA, would neither confirm nor deny the estimate and said it would
be unfair to users to put a timeline on the project. FrontStreet Partners LLC, the new private owner of much of the property around the Ski Bowl, bought more land and now controls more than 400 acres. Mac Crikelair of the Darien, Conn.-based company is the project manager for Ski Bowl Village. He hopes to begin construction this summer on a private day lodge, town houses and a 30-room inn. FrontStreet traded property with the town of Johnsburg to allow trails to be developed uphill in an agreement with ORDA while the company builds a hotel at the base. Crikelair said the timeline for his project depends on when the connection between the Ski Bowl and Gore is built. "It's all dependent on funding for the lifts. If the connection happens sooner, we will build faster," Crikelair said. The changes the APA will vote on this week, in addition to the T-bar, also call for eight new trails connecting the Ski Bowl and Gore, scrapping previously approved trails that were never built. Leigh Hornbeck can be reached at 581-8438 or by e-mail at lhornbeck@timesunion.com. |