Greek Peak Opening December 1st

[Ski4Food]

Hey everyone,

 

Not that you all really care... but Greek Peak will be opening on December 1st with 3 trails!

 

Woo Hoo! I don't have to drive 6 hours to make some turns anymore!

 

THINK SNOW!

[trackbiker]

Hey everyone,

 

Not that you all really care... but Greek Peak will be opening on December 1st with 3 trails!

 

I usually like to ski Greek once or twice a year. But their lift tickets are now $56.00 for anyone 14 or over

That's weekend and weekdays

I know they have good season pass rates for the locals, but those rates are rediculous for what they offer. If anyone thinks Elk's lifts are slow, they haven't been to Greek Peak! That #2 Lift is one of the oldest operating lifts in the country! The lodge hasn't had an upgrade in 20 years, and the parking lot is a potholed mess. I like the mountain, but at those prices I'll go to Plattekill or Elk, thank you.

Ski4Food, do they offer any local discounts?

[Ski4Food]

I usually like to ski Greek once or twice a year. But their lift tickets are now $56.00 for anyone 14 or over

That's weekend and weekdays

I know they have good season pass rates for the locals, but those rates are rediculous for what they offer. If anyone thinks Elk's lifts are slow, they haven't been to Greek Peak! That #2 Lift is one of the oldest operating lifts in the country! The lodge hasn't had an upgrade in 20 years, and the parking lot is a potholed mess. I like the mountain, but at those prices I'll go to Plattekill or Elk, thank you.

Ski4Food, do they offer any local discounts?

 

Hey there,

 

You're right about Greek... The lifts are god awful but the mountain is awesome! Greek's biggest problem is that when it was first built 50 years ago the developers sunk a ton of money into it, and it was actually one of the nicest mountains in the country, but they haven't upgraded much since then. Greek Peak has been cutting edge on a lot of things. The Sit Ski was first invented and developed at Greek. Adapative skiing was started at Greek. School programs and ski clubs were first started at Greek Peak almost 40 years ago. Ted Liggety's family grew up skiing at Greek Peak. Greek Peak's new ABT program will surley grow and be franchised out to other mountains as an alternative to conventional lessons (but this will take some time and perfecting). Greek Peak has a lot going for it, but despite the high cost of lift tickets the mountain doesn't have a lot of capital to sink into the mountain.

 

Greek is owned by a private company (Peak Resorts Inc). Not the big Peak resorts that owns other mountains but it's own company with a few private investors. Within this company there are two segments one that runs the mountain and the other than deals with the real estate surrounding the mountain. As with any mountain the real estate is what makes the money. Unfortunately the way the company charter is drafted (50 years ago) the two entities cannot take funds from the other. The charter should be drafted if you ask me, but I don't see that happening any time soon. This is why Greek can afford to build a multi million dollar hotel, indoor waterpark, and golf course, but can't afford to upgrade the mountain. Once the company has the hotel and gold course completed they will have more capital to borrow against to upgrade the mountain. The management sees where they are lacking and where they need to improve, but due to the circumstances it will just take some time. Give Greek like 5-10 years and I think we will all see a completley different mountain that competes with any major resort on the east coast. The changes are planned and in gear its just going to take some time to get there.

 

Greek's best deals are on its season passes. College passes for under $200. Full price season passes never exceed $500. If you buy your pass in March you can use it for the remainder of the season and all of the following season. Passes go on sale March 1st for somewhere around $250. If you are going to ski there more than 4 times it's worth getting a pass in the spring. As far as local deals go, I think they offer very cheap pass prices and locals all have passes.

 

Another thing is that NY has more ski areas than any other state in the country. There is a lot of competition in our area as far as ski resorts go, and there are only a few (Holiday Valley, Hunter, Bristol) that actually make a substantial profit each season. This can be seen by these mountains investing in the mountain and making the mountain better. Greek Peak just doesn't have the budget to compete. It's a big mountain with lots of overhead. For example Greek's electric bill for last January was $168,000. When an average January's bill is closer to $57,000. So it makes it tough to improve the mountain when hit with operating costs like that.

 

I hope this helps everyone understand Greek's dilema, but trust me it will get better! I have hope! I know they have a long way to come, but the terrain is great and they get lots of snow. So if you don't mind the slow lifts its a great place to ski!

[mbike-ski]

Thanks for the insight Ski4food, myself and a few friends have bought into units at hope lake lodge based on the terrain, price and potential of the mountain, I think your right on...

[mbike-ski]

twoandahalfish

[Ski4Food]

Thanks for the insight Ski4food, myself and a few friends have bought into units at hope lake lodge based on the terrain, price and potential of the mountain, I think your right on...

 

 

I think it's a very good investment and I don't think you'll be dissapointed on what's to come!

[trackbiker]

Ski4Food, Thanks for the input. Seems like you have a lot of inside information. I agree that the mountain has a lot of potential and is a great place to ski when the natural snow is good.

Regardless of what the charter says, they need to do some creative accounting to upgrade the lifts, snowmaking, and lodge. It would make it a lot easier to sell the real estate if they had a first class resort.

I hope that they do make improvements in the years to come, but in the mean time, I'll take my $56.00 somewhere else for better lifts, conditions, lodge, and have enough left over for lunch. They still need to get there priorities straight, or reduce the ticket price in the mean time. Or at least offer some discounts. I can drive just a little bit farther and have a much better experience for less money than staying in their village.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Ski4Food]

I agree!

 

I used to work in the Marketing Department so that's where my info comes from. It was sometimes a tough sell, and I was presented with much of the same questions that you all have.

 

The upgrade includes two new lifts, almost 10-15 new trails and they are also going to raze the base area and build a new one to match the Hope lake hotel. As far as the snowmaking goes it's not bad for the size of the mountain. It would cost almost 50 million to put in a new snowmaking system like the one at Bear Creek or the other mountains with the top notch automated system. Greek does make snow, but being in the snow belt relies more on natural snow, so on a bad snow year the snow at Greek can down right suck, but like this year when it keeps on dumping in NY the snow is awesome! In the Snowbelt of NY its not uncommon for the mountain to get 2 inches of snow a day which has been the case for the last couple of weeks.

[neutral]

I haven't been to Greek Peak in years, but I'm looking to head up soon. How are the conditions this year?

[supertrooper12]

i was visitin a bro up at cornell the other week. checked out greek peak...expensive but always a good time.

[mbike-ski]

conditions / TR? heading up super bowl weekend...

[Ski4Food]

Hey All!

 

I skied Greek on Sunday... The runs that had snow were amazing! There wasn't much open though. I think they had 18 trails. All the warm temps and rain really killed them. For a few weeks they had everything open and it was epic (as epic as Greek gets). They've gotten 8 inches of snow since sunday and it's dumping right now! One good thing is the rain refilled all the snow making ponds and the lake so they have more water to re-make all the snow they lost!

 

I'm headed up tomorrow, so I'll let you know how things have improved. If the weather keeps up like this they should be fully open and have some awesome conditions by super bowl weekend.

 

If you can find a pass holder that will go with you to buy your ticket you can get 20-30% off. It's not much but it helps!

[mbike-ski]

cool, thanks for the update!

[Ski4Food]

Skied Greek yesterday and the new snow has helped! Everything is white again! They have all their guns blowing snow and it should shape up to be a great weekend! We have cold temps forecasted for the next couple of weeks so its only going to get better!

 

I'll keep you posted as to how the mountain is shaping up.

 

THINK SNOW!

[mbike-ski]

Any conditions update? Planning on being up Saturday and Sunday....

[Ski4Food]

Any conditions update? Planning on being up Saturday and Sunday....

 

I was there last sunday and the conditions seem to get better and better each day from what I'm told! We're supposed to get some snow tonight so lets hope mother nature hands us something good!

 

Have fun and let me know how your trip went! I may or may not be up there on sunday.

 

I have a red North Face jacket, black Giro G10 MX and will most likely be riding a pair of Mantra's.

[mbike-ski]

cool, i'll look for ya sunday, i'm in a gray marker jacket orange chest stripe/sliver gyyro fuse and probaly ski the but ugly but great skiing black/yellow fischer riu's

[Ski4Food]

How was your trip?

 

And what'd you think of Greek?

[mbike-ski]

great thanks, i've been a little slammed at work so i didn't get a chance to post a trip report. snow was real nice though as they got some fresh friday with the mixed precip on top of a lot of (quality) freshly blown, you could find some little spots of soft snow along the edges and the majority of the mountain was truly packed pwder, very edge-able and fun to ski on - a big improvement over what we have at blue. the temps were right around freezing saturday and it flurried all day which always adds to the experience and fun of a family day. there were no crowds to speak of and the atmosphere on/around the mountain always seems so laid back - i always enjoy my trips up there. favorite run was bumps on right of elysian over to edge of alcmene/iliad as everything was either groomed out or closed

[Ski4Food]

Awesome! Sounds like you had a good time! Yeah the bumps on Elysian are closed until they get some more snow, but they are usually cool with you skiing over there, the coverage just sucks and you run the risk of skiing over some rocks, but its often times worth it to ski the bumps. Your trip report was great and right on in my opinion! It was very positive and that's always a good thing! I looked for you on Sunday but didn't see you. Think snow!