Hickory Conditions

Bummer K-man. I have less than 10 days at Hickory (prolly more like 5) and they have all been fantastic. You could tell that the place was run by a lot of volunteers and people who really cared about the place. Supporting and maintaining all that (old) infrastructure has to be tough especially when the hill only operates on weekends (when there is enough snow). If only Hickory got the snow that snow ridge gets. One can dream. I know its probably an uphill battle but I hope that they can figure out a model that works. I wouldn't be an every weekend skier there but I would go at least 3-4 times a season.

Having just skied a mountain with two pretty modern t-bars, I think the surface lifts still could do the job. They just need to be upgraded/replaced so that they are more reliable (and not run by an old car engine).

K man wrote

My family has been involved with Hickory for years.  Actually the poma's and T bar lifts at Hickory have to be inspected every year.  The cable must pass each year and each tower has a safety switch that has to be operational, along with communication lines from top to bottom and the return springs on each poma or t bar unit.  It's amazing what a rodent can do to electrical wires over the summer.  The lodge needs to pass DOH inspection for occupancy and the Kitchen must also meet DOH inspection criteria to serve food.  Then there's the water well and disinfection system, which must be sampled regularly, with data submitted to DOH and the disinfection system must pass DOH inspection.  I'm probably missing some others.  So it takes pretty much constant maintenance to keep on top of everything to keep current with all the requirements.  So there is alot more regulatory approvals than most think for a ski area without chairlifts.

Ok, thanks for clarifying - I know that it is not the case everywhere with regards to surface lifts.

I wish Hickory the BEST of luck, I love the place, but I still think blaming regulation is a straw man unless they're talking about not being able to put a big straw in the Hudson like Gore.

Good grief man. It was ONE of a list of reasons for their closing.

Just curious if anyone has any info on the status of Hickory?  I was only there 4 or 5 times, but it was a real standout in my memory of ski days.

I'm not sure of the details, but I have to say that the culmination of events that have lead to the closing of Hickory is nothing less than tragic.

In my opinion, Hickory is one of the hidden gems of NYS skiing.  I've only skied there a handful of times, but I must say that every single time has been what I would consider an extraordinary ski experience.  The old school feel, the Poma and Tee Bar, how the trails have been cut.  I've had day's at Hickory where we easily did well over 14,000 feet of vertical, just ripping run after run.

The last time we skied Hickory was after a major powder dump in March 2014.  In homage to the legend, I've posted a video from that epic day of skiing.

It is my guess that Hickory will not open again. Very sad, but glad I got to experience it in my lifetime.

Just because Hickory was so damn good....I'm throwing up another epic powder day.  Hickory unleashed something in my kids when they skied there, the Hickory zen made them ski like there was no tomorrow.


Hickory Powder Burn.....let it rip....(not to be confused with Rest in Peace).....

I really miss that hill

Harvey wrote

It is my guess that Hickory will not open again. Very sad, but glad I got to experience it in my lifetime.

Bobcat and Hickory: NYS skiing lost two good ones

Jamesdeluxe wrote

Bobcat and Hickory: NYS skiing lost two good ones

I showed Ira your Bobcat article yesterday James. He was soooo excited.

He LOVED the first pic too. Charlie, his son was with us and he said:

"see Charlie, there are cars in the parking lot and skiers on the slopes in this picture!"

Great Bobcat write up.  It’s so sad.  Reminds me of the days of my youth at Highmount.

this is the first year i have not hiked hickory since it closed. the window was small this year. miss this place.just a classic

Here's an update: https://poststar.com/news/local/hickory-ski-center-staying-closed-this-year/article_e67ad00a-9106-5339-8710-d7bec54707b9.html

I think this is an interesting concept, time will tell.

Darkside Shaman wrote

Here's an update: https://poststar.com/news/local/hickory-ski-center-staying-closed-this-year/article_e67ad00a-9106-5339-8710-d7bec54707b9.html

I think this is an interesting concept, time will tell.

What I was hoping for.  Unfortunately Hickory isn't in a place that receives great natural snow.  

My thought is for places like this to exist is they have to be in places where there's decent snowfall.

This is a bit different from what BVP was talking about the last time we spoke. He was thinking about a teaching hill for kids that only uses the lower mountain. It would require much less snow and only one lift.

I'm so glad I had a chance to ski Hickory. Even more unique than Plattekill. Unfortunately it needs at least 8800 skier visits to be viable, and there is really no way to do that, that I see.

I'm forever grateful to Bill for absorbing the losses he did, the years I skied there.

Our team is in.  6 committed skiers who would backcountry.

It’s a great idea.  Shit... I’d ski leaves and moss to get another crack at Hickory.  

http://https://youtu.be/Bgw7rVfgA9w

Hope the link works.  I’m on my phone!

Let’s try that again.

Sure - have at it.  

I'm just thinking for the trouble you could drive to VT and ski any number of things RASTA is maintaining and they probably have more consistent snow.

There's plenty of places in the Adirondacks for places like this to exist, but given our current attitude towards dh skiing, I don't see it happening anytime soon.  That's also to say, I don't trust dh skiers either.  For these kind of things to work on the forest preserve there needs to be a lot of discretion.

So they couldn’t get open because there was too much snow this past November but they can’t stay in business because it doesn’t snow enough......

Well good luck running a sustainable business using that property. Hopefully that’s a volunteer effort or whoever is spearheading the efforts is already financially set.

If there’s enough local interest you could probably maintain some of the area to keep it skiable at least with volunteers.

raisingarizona wrote

So they couldn’t get open because there was too much snow this past November but they can’t stay in business because it doesn’t snow enough......

Well good luck running a sustainable business using that property. Hopefully that’s a volunteer effort or whoever is spearheading the efforts is already financially set.

If there’s enough local interest you could probably maintain some of the area to keep it skiable at least with volunteers.

What I gathered it's just running and maintaining the lifts.  If it's a "BC Area" then I'd assume they mean hike only.

I've seen this model with success from some friends in QC, but they get a lot more snow than Warrensburg.  I think they pay a small fee for yearly access.  I think trail maintenance is done mostly by volunteers.  I think the fees are just for maintaining a couple small warming huts and paying the taxes.

In NY, within the blue line, they could work out a conservation easement with the state and forgo some, if not all of the taxes.  I'm not sure about the liability thing, because there doesn't seem to be any issue with trails on current conservation easements in the park (I'd assume if there was the owner could be held liable if someone was injured or lost).

Anyway, I've said too much and surely will piss some people off but what I was getting at is places like this need not exist in the historical areas - they need to exist where they will have the best chance of offering decent skiing throughout the season.  I think Big Tupper serves to show what happens to defunct ski areas that are not in a good snow zone.