AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge: Belleayre Mountain

[Greg]

Dawn Bauer from Belleayre Mountain also agreed to take the AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge! This is your chance to get official answers to your ski-related questions direct from a Northeast ski resort representative! Please post some suggested questions in this thread and I'll select ten to present for official responses.

As always, please be respectful of Dawn and keep it civil. Also, please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. Belleayre needs to be discrete about certain information.

Ask away!

 

[loafer89]

1) When can we expect to see an upgrade of any lifts to high speed detachable quads? The mid-stations on all three summit lifts are annoying, will an upgraded chair have that feature removed?

2)What expansion is Belleayre currently looking into in the next few years.
Where would new trails and lifts be added to your already excellent terrain
base.?

3) Is there any possibility of Highmount ski area being reopened and
connected to Belleayre? I understand that main reason that Highmount
would be hard to reopen is because of a limited water supply for
snowmaking, is that the only obstacle in saving this area?

 

[noreaster]

A few questions:

1) The excellent snowmaking and grooming quality at Belleayre has not gone unnoticed. Can you share some of Belleayre’s snowmaking secrets?

2) How would you rate your success of the new 2003-2004 terrain park last season? What did you learn and what improvements to the terrain park are planned for next year?

3) Belleayre opened very early and stayed opened very late in 2003-2004. Is this something we can expect to happen again next season?

 

[Greg]

A question:

Belleayre Mountain opened on November 9 last year, making it among the first ski areas in the East to open, along with Woodbury Connecticut, and two Quebec ski areas. Is an early opening date on par with the likes of Bretton Woods, Killington, and Woodbury to be expected again this season?

 

[Greg]

A question:

Belleayre Mountain opened on November 9 last year, making it among the first ski areas in the East to open, along with Woodbury Connecticut, and two Quebec ski areas. Is an early opening date on par with the likes of Bretton Woods, Killington, and Woodbury to be expected again this season?

Duh. I just noticed noreaster already asked this...

 

[jimme]

I almost hate to ask, because this shows my lazy side as I remember doing a lot of "skating" when I skied Belleayre. Any thoughts or plans for a "transfer tow" to move skiers along the summit ridge?

Jimme

 

[GadgetRick]

Sorry Greg

Greg, sorry about not replying to your pm earlier. Anyway, I can't really say a lot about what's planned for the mountain as I'm not sure I'm cleared to give out that kind of info. Dawn would be the person to answer these questions.

All I can say is there are big plans for the mountain in the upcoming years. I'm very excited about what they've got planned. We regularly get briefed on plans and there is a lot in the works!

Anyway, sorry I can't, personally give out more info here.

 

[noreaster]

Duh. I just noticed noreaster already asked this...

Greg that is ok. Your wording of the question is much better.

One more question for Belleayre and all the ski areas.

For those of us that enjoy riding old ski lifts, what is the year built and manufacturer of some of your oldest lifts that are still in operation at your mountain?

 

[carl]

Bellyare What a Place

My question is WHY NOT BUY HIGHMOUNT BUY HIGHMOUNT!!!!

Bellayare is where I learned to ski many, many years ago. There is a connector trail through the woods from the two areas. We did NASTAR on one side and then hoped back to the other side. This is one of the great hidden secrets of the Catskills next to Plattekill. They should see if they can perform some sort of lease arrangment with them. The unfortuante thing is that my in-laws owned it for years but when I married they SOLD IT go figure.

 

[Greg]

Re: Bellyare What a Place

My question is WHY NOT BUY HIGHMOUNT BUY HIGHMOUNT!!!!

Hi carl. Welcome to the forums! I included loafer89's question as it covered this pretty well. I also included these questions with the 10 I sent to Dawn:

Are there any infrastructure improvements/upgrades planned, e.g. lifts, snowmaking, base/summit facilities, etc.?

Do you have any plans to open a forum or chat room on your website? Do you read web forums like AlpineZone.com? If so, do you ever want to reply to posts about Belleayre or other ski areas?

ASC is currently offering the ASC Gold Pass (no blackout dates; good at six resorts) for $599. What do you feel will be the effect of such aggressive season pass pricing on the Northeast ski industry as a whole, especially for mid-sized mountains like Belleayre?

 

[GadgetRick]

Highmount

From what I've been told they haven't bought it because there is not enough parking to support it. Don't know much else about it.

 

[Greg]

I need four more questions here. There are some in the original batch that since the area is operated by the state, can't be answered. Please refrain from asking questions regarding future expansion.

 

[goldsbar]

This might fall under an "expansion" question but are their any plans for man-made bump runs. Possible glades?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Why can't Belleayre offer a shared season ticket with Gore and Whiteface? I assume it has something to do with ORDA.

 

[Greg]

Well, some of these are a bit outdated by now, but here they are:

http://skiing.alpinezone.com/articles/challenge/response.htm?resort=belleayre