Lake Placid, NY - In a special meeting in Lake Placid on Friday, New York State's Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) voted unanimously to proceed with a $5.5 million project that will link North Creek Ski Bowl with Gore Mountain ski area, bringing to fruition a long-awaited connection between the ski area and the economically struggling Adirondack Mountain village of North Creek.


The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) approved the project last October, but it has been stalled as ORDA officials sought contribution to the cost of the project from Front Street Mountain Development, developers of Ski Bowl Village, a new residential and commerical project still in the initial planning stages in North Creek. At Friday's meeting, however, officials opted instead to fund the project with a $5.5 million capital appropriation from New York State's 2006-07 budget and proceed with the interconnect, with or without Front Street's financial assistance.

Supporters hope that a new ski lift and trails connecting North Creek's Main Street to Gore Mountain Ski Center will breathe new life into the Adirondack Mountain village.

Construction will begin this summer on the $2.2 million first phase, which will involve cutting ski trails and installing a new quad chair on the east slope of Gore Mountain to connect the North Creek terrain pod with Gore Mountain Ski Center. This first phase is expected to be completed by the 2010-11 ski and snowboard season, and would for the first time give Gore Mountain ski-in/ski-out lodging options.

The interconnect plan ultimately calls for a total of eight new trails and two additional quad lifts to accompany additions and upgrades to the Ski Bowl trails themselves over a five-year construction period.

The interconnect will make businesses in North Creek directly accessible to Gore Mountain skiers, many of whom are unaware that the village exists as the turnoff to the ski area lies just short of town. Gore Mountain's slopes and trails will for the first time be visible from North Creek.

Supporters of the project argue that connecting to the ski area will breathe new life into the economically depressed village. Already, businesses have begun to reawaken in anticipation of the new influx of visitors, including the Copperfield Inn's Main Street restaurant and 31-room hotel, both of which were shuttered for more than a year.

The project application for Ski Bowl Village includes a 120-room hotel, 34-room inn, 60-room inn, 131 townhouses, 80 condominium/hotel units, a private ski lodge, 18 single family dwellings, four artist apartments, 10 single-room apartments for staff housing, restaurants, equestrian center with an outdoor riding arena, mountain spa, retail space and a nine-hole par 3 golf course.

The Ski Bowl was actually North Creek's first ski area, servicing skiers who first arrived aboard ski trains from Schenectady, N.Y. to the North Creek Depot beginning in 1934. It was only decades later that Gore Mountain was developed on the higher elevations above the village in the mid-1960s.