GREEK PEAK MOUNTAIN RESORT AND TOGGENBURG MOUNTAIN

Didn't see this one coming. Wonder what the hell these  guys are up to now

This should be interesting......

RESORT COMBINATION ANNOUNCEMENT
GREEK PEAK MOUNTAIN RESORT AND TOGGENBURG MOUNTAIN JOIN FORCES
Press Conference Scheduled for Wednesday, Sept 16th, 11:00am
(15 SEPT 15) Fabius, NY – A press conference will be held at Toggenburg Mountain’s Foggy Goggle Restaurant on Wednesday, September 16th at 11:00 am.
Long-time owner of Toggenburg Mountain, Jim Hickey, along with the new owners and co-owners of Greek Peak Mountain Resort, Marc Stemerman and John Meier, will address the partnership to season pass holders, patrons, and the media. At the press conference, the team will announce an attractive offer provided to season pass holders through this business combination.
Toggenburg Mountain is located at 1135 Toggenburg Road, Fabius NY 13063. Directions can be found at www.skitog.com.

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Geez! Lost our 50% off discount to Whiteface, Now what... by a Toggenburg pass for less than a GP pass?

ScottyJack wrote

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz    

That's true

Good for Togg peeps tho

"Greek Peak Mountain Resort has agreed to buy Toggenburg Mountain Winter Sports Center in Fabius.

Greek Peak co-owners Marc Stemerman and John Meier are Elmira-based businessmen and skiing friends who bought the Virgil, Cortland County, resort out of bankruptcy proceedings in 2013. Early on, they said they hoped to better tap the Syracuse-area market than Greek Peak has.

Stemerman and Meier their aim is to build better link to the Syracuse market. The resorts will honor each other's season passes."

A food upgrade at Trax would be kind of cool to go along with the anticipated grand opening of the deck.

Big D wrote

Stemerman and Meier their aim is to build better link to the Syracuse market. The resorts will honor each other's season passes."

Hope it works out for them, but Tog's draw is a cliquey group from Fayetteville-Dewiit-Manlius area that's extremely convenient for them. I don't see a huge draw from that crowd

Unbelievable!

Meier and Stemerman can't even afford GP--yet alone taking on another asset. Meier has gone through contractor after contractor on the home he is constructing in Arcadia Village, as he wants a $5M home for $500K. Maybe the two will install a high speed express quad lift at Togg.

How much debt do the two of them want to take on?

The guys who built successful businesses, and then jumped in to buy Greek Peak when it's future was in doubt, are risk takers.  You wish they were different people?

Harvey wrote

   You wish they were different people?

NO!

These guys are good people. Regular Joe's just like you and I with one exception....they have bigger balls than anyone I know.

Harvey wrote

The guys who built successful businesses, and then jumped in to buy Greek Peak when it's future was in doubt, are risk takers.  You wish they were different people?

This I agree with , but that Syr draw I don't see ever happening. History has proven this. People aren't willing to spend that extra time and money to drive past what's in their backyard for the same product. And the product is basically the same. These places are all about the social aspect and convenience,  Unless they can double the natural snowfall that draw ain't ever going to happen. For the weekend experience they are going the opposite direction

I had a boss once who said:

"Hey I wish you didn't take your work so personally. Relax a little. But don't let it affect the quality of your work."

I'm just saying people are who they are.

When will we see the Greek/Toggenburg interconnect?

In all honesty, I wish the owners had deeper pockets and the capital necessary to bring GP up to date. Just about everything they've done so far only addressed deferred maintenance. Yes, this is a necessity, but Keep in mind that their oldest lift is around 50 years old and their snowmaking is in desperate need of replacement. They were very fortunate with their two pump house insurance claims. Yes, they've been spending money, but not at the rate necessary to make appreciable improvements. $9M, including the insurance claims, are nothing in this industry. That's not even enough to purchase a single family home at some ski resorts.

In terms of the partners saving GP, there were others standing in line willing to do the same, including the investors from Canada and Utah. There were also the prior owners willing to spend $25M on the place, but the bankruptcy court would not permit it.

I hate to see the owners distracted with Togg. They are inexperienced in the industry, and have yet to see a lean winter.

Although we don't know the details of The Togg transaction, I hope the owners are not overextending themselves. I'm guessing the purchase, if it was a true purchase,  had something to do with obtaining Jim Hickey's F&B Experience. I'm also wondering if the $800k grant was used.

I'm a bit nostalgic, and am disappointed that Hickey sold the business his father founded. I really hate to see that--just like Taos being sold by Ernie's son.

So I could go buy Tog season passes, today, and pay less than the cheapest price that was paid for 15-16 Greek passes back in April, and get access to Tog and Greek?

That's gotta thrill Greek's season passholders.

And next year when the Tog passholders have to ante up a higher price under Greek's pricing structure, they  will defect for Song/Lab. Especially families since Tog has decent family pricing, but Greek does not.

billyymc wrote

So I could go buy Tog season passes, today, and pay less than the cheapest price that was paid for 15-16 Greek passes back in April, and get access to Tog and Greek?

I was thinking the same thing, but maybe they will have black-out dates this season for the reciprocal benefit. Of course, I'm assuming that this was well thought out.

In all honesty, I would be surprised if many Togg skiers spend any appreciable time at GP after the novelty wears off.

I wish they'd bought Snow Ridge instead, I'd love to be able to ski there on my GP pass.

billyymc wrote

So I could go buy Tog season passes, today, and pay less than the cheapest price that was paid for 15-16 Greek passes back in April, and get access to Tog and Greek?

That's gotta thrill Greek's season passholders.

I wonder why they didn't make it a $150 upgrade (or whatever amount makes a Tog pass = Greek pass) for Tog passholders to add GP to their pass?

I'm stoked!!! One of our crew cooks at the Foggy Goggle and he lives closest to the hill out of any of us. I'd think they would move him to GP which means we'd get to see more of him

I'm amazed at all the shots some people take at our new owners. Just think if this super duper intrawebZ thingE was around when our previous owners were pulling all their bullshit. Previous owners buying back GP for $25 mil, what the fuck ever......they ran the place into the ground and sent 3 ski areas into BK. Yeah, they really knew what they were doing.

At the end of the day the proof is in the pudding.......tiime will tell

Hey camp - I'm not taking a shot at them. I do wonder what the benefit really is to Greek passholders though.

Our family decided to leave Greek for this coming season after 15 or 16 years there as passholders. The Song/Lab combo for less than $1k for four of us was just too tempting considering we would have paid almost $1,700 for GP passes. So now we have a $700 budget to ski at Greek which buys a lot of day passes. We're effectively getting Greek, Song, and Lab for the price of season passes at Greek.

It was a no brainer for us, and I bet it will be for Togg families next year when they are faced with the Greek/Togg pricing structure which gives families almost no break.