A $40 million investment in North Creek’s Ski Bowl by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), celebrated at a May 24 groundbreaking ceremony and presented in greater detail at a community-wide informational meeting in November, will stimulate economic growth not only in North Creek, but throughout the southern Adirondacks, officials say.
“We want to extend the activities available at the Ski Bowl into the months before and after the winter ski and boarding seasons, just as we do across all our venues, and here in Warren County, we want to reach beyond the interconnect between the Ski Bowl and North Creek to offer year-round opportunities for visitors to the entire area,” said Ashley Walden, President & CEO of ORDA.
The agency is responsible for managing Gore Mountain Ski Center and many of the state’s other public recreational facilities in the Adirondacks and Catskills. ORDA, Walden emphasized, is a regional economic development agency, and not just a manager of winter sports venues.
“Our mission statement is quite explicit about our economic impact upon the communities we serve. That’s a big part of what we do. When we make decisions about operations or events, we keep in mind the impacts they will have on the region. This is a big piece of our mission,” said Walden.
Over the past twenty years, the Ski Bowl – or Old Gore – as it is also known – has undergone a revival, thanks in large part to its integration into the state-owned Gore Mountain Ski Center.
(In 2002, the ORDA was given responsibility by the state legislature for maintaining the Ski Bowl, which was created by the Town of Johnsburg in 1934 and which still owns the facility.)
In 2007, for instance, a triple chair dubbed the Hudson was installed along the T-Bar lift line. From the top of the chair, skiers can easily access Gore Mountain Ski Center via the Peaceful Valley
The Olympic Authority also developed a professional Nordic Center with certified race courses and built a water line to the Hudson River, which markedly improved snowmaking at the Ski Bowl.
And this past May, ORDA resumed construction of a new year-round lodge near the site of the original ski lodge.
It has also installed a new Hudson chairlift and will build a zip coaster, all of which had been delayed by the lack of necessary infrastructure in the town.
The venue is expected to draw an additional 40,000 visitors to the community every year.
The new lodge, which replaces the Great Depression era Works Progress Administration (WPA) lodge that was destroyed by fire in 1999, will be an 18,300-square-foot facility with a restaurant and two levels of patios with slope-side views.
The lodge will also be the base for summer activities, such as the zip coaster, which combines the features of a zipline and a rail system. “The zip coaster will be a one-of-a-kind draw to our area,” said James Bayse, General Manager, Gore Mountain.
The new lift is open for the 2024-25 ski season and the completion of the lodge is slated for 2025, Bayse said.
“We are just beginning to become aware of the economic potential of the recreational assets in this part of Warren County,” said Jim Siplon, president of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation (EDC). “This project is in the middle of it. It is part of a larger wave of activity that will allow us to build an economy that we can not only be proud of, but one that can sustain us.”
In fact, the proximity of almost every Warren County community to recreational assets – from trailheads to boat launches – presents opportunities for economic revitalization that have yet to be fully explored or leveraged, according to a recent study commissioned by Warren County’s Department of Planning and Community Development.
According to the report, an array of opportunities exist for Warren County to take advantage of its recreational assets and, in the process, promote “broader goals – the quality of life for residents, the attraction and retention of businesses and jobs, as well as the generation of higher tax revenues.”
Among the things the public and private sectors could do better: collect, update and disseminate information about the county’s outdoor growing recreational opportunities; create a unified brand that would enable communities, destinations and recreation-based businesses to cross-promote one another; improve trails and trailheads; expand public access to the water; and build more mountain bike trails, the report stated.
Jim Siplon said more and better public transportation linking metropolitan areas to Lake George and North Creek is also needed if Warren County is to take full advantage of the region’s year-round recreational or experiential assets. Moreover, he said, “we need more housing so that we can not only maintain a workforce but attract more young families with children who will attend our schools.”
New York State’s investment in Gore and the Ski Bowl is already producing results for the local economy, said Chuck Barton, CEO of Warren Washington Industrial Development Agency.
Among other things, Barton pointed to news that Keir Weimar and his Weekender Hotels group has purchased the former Copperfield Inn on North Creek’s Main Street and will invest roughly $2 million in its restoration.
“Other hotel resorts, other outdoor recreation facilities and builders of housing are looking to invest in North Creek,” said Barton. “Our growth will continue.”
A version of this essay first appeared in the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
Illustrations, from above: Rendering of the new 18,000 square foot Ski Bowl Lodge set to open in 2025 (ORDA); and a Gore Mountain Ski Bowl Map, 2024.
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