Hope Lake Mountain Resort, NY 12/25/09

[jamesdeluxe]

Sharon joined me for a three-hour visit to The Artist Formerly Known As Greek Peak :lol: before the Xmas Deluge came through the region.

Some things have changed.

The big boondoggle across the street is now open and everyone is curious to see if it'll transform Virgil, NY into a four-season vacation destination, with promises of family fun and hot-stone treatments. In all fairness, I didn't have time to go check things out and ask the hard questions, but based on Sharon's anecdotes, it sounds like the salespeople may have their work cut out for them. That said, while booting up in the lodge, a nearby couple was going on about how much fun they had at the indoor water park, which is supposed to be the big value-added for Hope Lake.

Others things haven't changed. They still have the same old lifts and low-budget lodge like the old days. So far, they've put no visible resources into the hill, which is understandable considering the size of the leveraged investment across the street, but still, they'll eventually have to update the infrastructure sometime soon so things don't look so incongruous.

Considering how little natural snow GP has received so far this year, conditions were excellent. In front of the rain, it was gloomy and really humid with temps in the low 30s, which softened the trails to a quasi-springlike perfection -- not corn snow, but *really* smooth, carvable, and not one patch of ice literally anywhere. How often can you say that about an East Coast ski area without a foot of fresh snow the night before? Way better than I was expecting.

Apologies for the godawful pix... I was working with a new (to me) camera and couldn't get my act together. Maybe Sharon has better pix with her iPhone.

There was even a nice shot with soft, loose powder and weeds (for pre-season character) that we lapped a bunch of times. Amazing how you can ski on such a thin base without touching bottom.

It's raining like hell right now... could be a bloodbath for the region.

 

[Sharon]

Greek Peak skied really well and was pretty empty. It was quite a pleasure, and having the company of James Deluxe made it even more fun.

After skiing I went and checked out Hope Lake Lodge.

Hope Lake Lodge actually pretty nice and the waterpark was pretty active, with a good number of people, but not crowded. The spa was empty, but it was Xmas day. They were expecting big crowds for the weekend.

My pix are here :

http://www.facebook.com/sharon.heller?r ... =578169659

(I also went xc skiing in the adjacent state forest before meeting James with my dogs, as GP didn't open until noon). 3-4" of fresh snow off the lakes this week was mostly undisturbed out back of Virgil Mtn.

 

[Harvey]

Nice report James. Some interesting parallels between GP and another mountain I can think of.... somebody believes in the place enough to sink serious cash into it, but there's a lot of skepticism. I think if the "resort" does take off, eventually the mountain itself will probably get upgraded. Maybe they can clean the grease off the chairs?

I'm curious about what MARKETS they will draw from? What cities/town will decide that GP is closer enough to make it worth stopping in Virgil vs heading to VT or the Adks or wherever? Is there a market? Pittsburgh?

 

[Tony Crocker]

the Xmas Deluge

If true, that makes 7 years in a row. Lesson: Do NOT advance commit $ to Christmas "zoo week" in the Northeast.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Do NOT advance commit $ to Christmas "zoo week" in the Northeast.

Crocker's name came up twice. First, about how he could add another rain event to his NE Xmas Week list (I thought it was six years in a row, but stand corrected). And second, about how even he would've given thumbs up to the spring-ish conditions yesterday.

Hope Lake Lodge was actually pretty nice

Wow, a positive review about Hope Lake from Sharon! Actually, there was never any discussion about whether the actual complex was nice or not, but whether people would spend top-shelf prices there (see EMSC's thread) rather than at more traditional destination resorts. It's obviously not for people who hang out on ski forums (and are concerned mainly with skiing), but for normal Joes who want to drive a short distance to a place that combines a resort/spa/water park with skiing.

I'm curious about what MARKETS they will draw from? What cities/town will decide that GP is closer enough to make it worth stopping in Virgil vs heading to VT or the Adks or wherever?

Wasn't there someone here on FTO from central PA who happily drove three hours to GP?

 

[Patrick]

Do NOT advance commit $ to Christmas "zoo week" in the Northeast.

Crocker's name came up twice. First, about how he could add another rain event to his NE Xmas Week list (I thought it was six years in a row, but stand corrected). And second, about how even he would've given thumbs up to the spring-ish conditions yesterday.

He can add one here in Ottawa as well. Freezing rain today. :-( Most locals are closed today.

 

[Sharon]

Wow, a positive review about Hope Lake from Sharon! Actually, there was never any discussion about whether the actual complex was nice or not, but whether people would spend top-shelf prices there (see EMSC's thread) rather than at more traditional destination resorts. It's obviously not for people who hang out on ski forums (and are concerned mainly with skiing), but for normal Joes who want to drive a short distance to a place that combines a resort/spa/water park with skiing.

I know of a few people who have gone as guests of friends/relatives who rented a room at $350 per night (for just one night, because who, with children, from around here, could afford more than that? Not too many, as our average household income is about $45k.)

They said it was fun, and as you can see from my pix, it is a family oriented place.

The above picture was taken from above the waterfall

I went on a tour of the spa and chatted with the massage therapist who took me on the tour. She said a lot of people are from out of the area. Somehow they got investors from out of the area to snap up some of the luxury units, that are not going like hotcakes. The rumor us that they have only sold about 40% so far, and we wonder if that number is inflated from reality.

This is a $30,000 piece of spa equipment, with lights that change to the music for a full-on, multi-sense, therapy treatment

and this ain't cheap either

here are some more of the water park

Now that it's a reality, and it is nice, I just hope they can make some money so that they can upgrade the ski area!

 

[Sharon]

Stoic

Iliad

Trojan

 

[Lftgly]

the Xmas Deluge

If true, that makes 7 years in a row. Lesson: Do NOT advance commit $ to Christmas "zoo week" in the Northeast.

I can't argue with Tony (wish I could...).

 

[cweinman]

Thanks all for posting the pics up, great to see the circus the ugly scar on the landscape at Greek Peak turned into! O I'll be curious to see if they can keep this place viable with the economy generally still gloomy; I'm still amazed they were able to get the cash together to actually build it.

Those pictures don't make me feel too sad to have given that up for Arizona however. I love that I'll be skiing at Wolf Creek this weekend for significantly less coin than Greek Peak lift tickets... I did have a bit of nastolgia cutting our night skiing tickets from Greek on February 23, 2008 off our coats this week (taking a season off was the most depressing part of moving out here).

Another amusing tid-bit; an all-inclusive stay for 2 at the Waldorf Astoria Biltmore in Phoenix right now is less than the base rate of staying at Hope Lake Lodge... :-s

-Craig