Post Star: West Mountain "A Tough Winter."

This story is about a week old. Anyone know more about what's going on at West than what is here?

From the Post Star:

Look TV owner blames transmitter issue at West Mountain for temporary outage

GLENS FALLS -- Look TV, known locally as TV-8, went off the air for several hours Wednesday after National Grid cut power to the West Mountain Ski Center in Queensbury and to a transmitter on the mountain.

After a news item was posted on poststar.com about the outage, he called The Post-Star newsroom and said that broadcasts had been halted because power to the station’s transmitter atop West Mountain had been cut by National Grid.

He blamed the owner of West Mountain Ski Center, who he said did not pay the utility bills for the transmitter.

Jackson said efforts were under way to use a generator to power the transmitter that he hoped would restore power by late afternoon. Power was restored in time for the station’s daily news broadcast.

The ski center’s owner, Mike Barbone, said early Wednesday evening that the ski area was getting its electricity solely from generators, but he hoped to work out a payment arrangement with National Grid to restore power.

Barbone said National Grid cut electricity to the ski area because of lack of payment.

“Unfortunately, National Grid did not want to work with us. They wanted all or none. We’ll get it back on,” he said.

Barbone cited a “tough winter” for the ski area and said he wished area businesses would work together for the betterment of the region.

http://m.poststar.com/news/local/tv--off-the-air-amid-building-foreclosure/article_0791b77a-bb05-11e1-b373-0019bb2963f4.html

The Westside grill at the mt  is closed for the summer  citing lack of business

As Freeheeln indicated above:  Westside Grille at Queensbury ski center closes for summer

I reported on conditions at West a bunch of times last winter.  A quick scan of those reports shows generally lackluster conditions.  While some of that can be attributed to the poor winter, many skiers - myself included - sensed that less effort (and money) was being put into snowmaking and grooming, and conditions suffered.  Some core terrain (for example the Midway trail that follows the triple chair liftline) never opened.  The ski area opened quite late (couple days after Christmas) and closed quite early (3/17?). Then there was the RFID ticketing system which inexplicably went inoperable early in the season; the equipment itself disappeared a few weeks later.  The official story is that the equipment didn't perform as advertised and support from the manufacturer was inadequate, but you can't help but wonder if there's more to it.

Last winter West heavily discounted their weekday tickets all season long.  While that was a great deal for those who took advantage, I know that the discounts alienated some long-term West Mtn skiers who bought passes or advance "6-packs" only to find the prices severely undercut and the product cheapened.  I suspect West may be having difficulty selling passes and 6-packs this summer.  Who's going to commit to a $400-$500 pass (or a 6-pack of $25 tickets) when you can just show up on a weeknight and ski for ten bucks?

I've been a supporter of West for many years and I will continue to be a supporter and to ski there.  I think local areas like West are extremely important both to the sport of skiiing and to the region.  I've been skiing West Mountain for well over 20 years, and (other than this past year) they've done an excellent job delivering a quality product that entire time, particularly under Mike Barbone's ownership the past 5 or so years.  I hope last winter is an anomaly and the ski area gets back on track.  A nice, cold, snowy 2012-13 would certainly help, but I feel it will take more than just some help from Mother Nature.

One last thing.  I don't like to talk about or spread rumors, but there were rumors circulating over the winter and spring concerning West Mountain's viability.  That talk prompted Barbone to write this letter to the Saratogian, which was printed around 2 months ago.

bummer, conditions were a little challenging when I was there but I had a memorable time and would definitely go again.

http://nyskiblog.com/go-west-mountain-young-man/

Some info in a thread on the same subject from SnowJournal:

SnowJournal West Mt. Thread

There are all kinds of crazy rumors around town. I will not post them here because I have no idea what is true and what isn't. Either way, it doesn't sound like things are good...

CONTENTS DELETED

70s Gore Kid wrote

Where is Snow Balls?  He lives down the street from West Mtn, and has been silent this summer.

Will someone please ask him to give some much needed insight into this?

Agree - would be interesting to get his take on what is going on.

West hasn't been great the last couple of years .

We aulways included it on out extended week in the region during Pres week but frankly the conditions and snow making were lacking and the place ices up fast .

Gore has been and will always be our primary focus when in the region ,but taking a day to ski those fast gs rollers on West off the triple chair  was always fun

Not that I have a crystal ball or any inside scoop, but I'd guess that West will continue in business and be fine. They had a tough winter and they are, apparently, having trouble paying their bills. However, I believe that the original owner, Mike Brant, still owns part of the biz or is holding a private mortgage. Based on his financial depth and passion for West, it's reasonable to expect that he won't let the biz go under. Closing an unprofitable  summer operation just makes good sense. Perhaps when they have more liquid capital, they'll be ale to invest to enhance their off season attractions.

They also need West Mountain to be operational in order to help sell their (Mike Brandt & friends) Mont Luzerne Development Concept.

I live right down the road from West.  I've heard lots of rumors, but who knows what is true.  The bottom line, it was a tough winter for alot of ski areas in the NE.  I just hope West will pull through and move forward.  I love having a ski area in my back yard.

DARKSIDED wrote

They also need West Mountain to be operational in order to help sell their (Mike Brandt & friends) Mont Luzerne Development Concept.

This resort development will fly as soon as you you see pigs hang gliding from the top of Mont Luzerne where ever that is

Is this to be built on top of the MT that West is on?  Glens Falls is nice but I don't see hundreds of retirees lining up to retire there.

The Post Star published this article about 8 hours after I posted the link: Mont Luzerne Project on Hold.