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the pics from today thread


Justin

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Thats Mauch Chuck. A picturesque park for seasonal activities, including fall hayrides, camping & warm-weather swimming. Mauch Chunk is a name derived from the term Mawsch Unk, which means Bear Place, in the language of the native Munsee-Lenape Delaware peoples: possibly a reference to Bear Mountain, an extension of Mauch Chunk Ridge that resembled a sleeping bear, or perhaps the original profile of the ridge.

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The Balsalms in northern NH. Late 19 century resort with 1000' vertical drop ski area. Currently shut down for renovations and expansion, may or may not reopen.

The state was doing some road improvements, and supposedly, since their salt depot is on the Balsams road, they are going to contribute to that as well. Past that, there was absolutely nothing going on at the mountain. They had the roads closed for events, but I have been told that it is for private sales meetings for the new units. I'm hopeful. Lord knows, that whole region could use the tourists.
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My wife and I would go up to the Balsalms once every couple of years with the kids for the past 25 years.  We liked its 'old timey' slightly shabby elegance, 5 star formal dining (they had a chef training program), extensive cross-country trails, snow shoeing, ice skating, friendly local staffing, and all in one package pricing so we didn't have to ski every day to feel we got our money's worth (too high end though to go more often).  The ski area had slow lifts but because the only customers were the resort crowd, the slopes were pristine and no lift lines.  It also had a LL Bean and ADK outdoor center at various times over the years.  Also had a golf course and resort activities in the summer, but we were never there in the summer.  It was built in the late 1800s, and expanded in the early 1900s,  and is one of the few New England resorts that had not burned down over the years.

 

It was owned by a latex millionaire that owned latex plantations in South America and manufactured balloons on site as well as other rubber products elsewhere.  He didn't run the resort for a profit, and probably took losses over the years.  When he died, it struggled for a few years before closing down 5 or 6 years ago.  Local business owners bought it, and are working with Otten on plans to make it the largest ski area in the east, put in condos, a conference center, and basically ruin what we liked it for.

 

It looks like it is going ahead, because the local government (as well as state government) is desperate for any types of jobs in that area - when the Balsams was in operation it pulled in local people from Colebrook to staff it.  One of the minor disasters during its struggling period was to bring in H1B workers from South America to staff it.  I do hope they get it running again, even if we don't plan to go back to a Otten resort.  They tried to get foreign investors involved, but after the Jay Peak scam that fell through.

Edited by C1erArt
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I think it's got potential. It's a beautiful area. I don't think it will ever get fully built out. The scale is just too large and it's in the middle of nowhere. Colebrook is a little tough around the edges, but it is a nice little town. The resort would do a lot for it.

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Its also on the snowmobile route from Errol to Canada, so there are a lot of traffic from that at the café on the site.

 

Snowmobiles?  i dont know if they are good for the economics of a ski resort.  They might trash the place up a little.   Ride؟؟DE would have more on that.  

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