From the Glens Falls Post Star:
Hickory's growth
Renovations breathe new life into an old, dormant ski center
By David Blow
Special to The Post-Star
Saturday, July 4, 2009 1:19 AM EDT

WARRENSBURG -- Hickory Ski Center in Warrensburg is springing back to life and fans of the long-dormant mountain could be surprised at what they’ll find this winter.

Amid swarming bugs, workers John Goodro and Rob Cleveland were busy ripping up the rotten deck on the front of the lodge Wednesday overseen by new Operations Manager Shawn Dempsey.

But the new deck is just the start.

There will be new and improved concessions, a new ceiling in the lodge, a lounge area upstairs — possibly featuring alcohol sales if a liquor license is approved in time — and even Wi-Fi service, Dempsey said.

Hickory will also have a unique automated ticket system that skiers and riders can access from their home computers and avoid the ticket window.

The Snow DAG system from France will have a pass-through scanner and monitor that can audibly welcome them and offer data like how many runs they’ve taken and how many vertical feet they’ve skied.

But perhaps more importantly to riders and skiers is the possibility of snowmaking this year and perhaps even a chairlift next year to replace the antiquated Poma lift closest to the lodge.

Bill Van Pelt IV, the Texas businessman who is leading the effort to revive the mountain, said both a new lift and snowmaking are actively "being explored" although he said he couldn’t commit to either as of earlier this week.

Although Van Pelt has real estate holdings across the country, he said this project is a little different.

"I have many projects, but this one has the ability to energize an entire community that the others don’t," the Saratoga native said. "Over 60 years since Hans Winbauer founded Hickory, it has touched many families. To know that Hickory can positively impact so many people is very gratifying to me."

Dempsey, who grew up at Hickory because his father helped build the existing lodge in the ’70s after the original one burned, said he is loving every minute of the resurrection process.

"This is personal for me," he said. "This, for me, is a dream job. I get here at 6 every morning because I can’t wait to get started."

Dempsey also said the improvements wouldn’t affect Hickory’s old-school flair, and he said 77-year-old Ray Connell, who helped run the place for decades, is proof.

He said Connell walked away from Hickory in 2004, the year before it closed, because of the way it was deteriorating.

"And last week he was climbing towers on Poma II with me," Dempsey said with a smile.

Dempsey said Hickory "closed for a reason," and needed to have improvements to be viable.

"This mountain has never had new equipment," Dempsey said. "Everything was always held together with baling twine and duct tape."

Inside the lodge, the sign in the old concession area offered hot dogs for $2 and burgers for $3. Benches in the lodge rested on tables and insulation dangled from the ceiling beneath where the old warped and rotten tiles hung.

But the trademark circular fireplace was intact, and the excitement in Dempsey’s voice gives a feel that Hickory can successfully revive, especially with the influx of money Van Pelt has provided.

That money has been used to purchase new trimming equipment, ATVs, a truck and plow, and soon a new groomer. It also created three jobs, and more are expected.

Warrensburg Town Councilman Austin Markey said the town is buzzing about Hickory, and he’s excited about what it might mean in terms of revenue.

"Now, instead of people driving through Warrensburg to go to Gore or wherever, they’ll stop at Hickory. They’ll buy gas, groceries, maybe stay overnight and spend money in our restaurants."

Town Supervisor Kevin Geraghty, whose son learned to ski at Hickory, said the town is trying to help Van Pelt in any way to ensure success including helping with contacts to the Warren County Economic Development Corp. and tourism officials.

"I like that they’ve pledged to buy local and hire local," Geraghty said. "It seems like he’s doing this in a first-class manner."

Even potential competitors, like Willard Mountain’s Charles "Chic" Wilson are pulling for Hickory.

Wilson recently sat down with Dempsey offering advice on potential pitfalls, Dempsey said. Wilson, on Thursday, said he sees Hickory’s rebirth as a benefit to his Easton business, not a potential hindrance.

"I’m a big believer that the industry needs small ski areas to get people addicted to the sport," he said. "Not everyone is going to try it at a Gore or a bigger mountain. They’ll try it at a local area. I hope it works for them."

As for local skiers, the news of Hickory’s rebirth couldn’t come soon enough.

Michelle Leary of Hadley, who is a Hickory shareholder, reminisced about discovering the unique mountain about 20 years ago.

"I fell in love with it immediately and I kept coming back," she said. "I just hope he’s successful. They’ve struggled forever, but it’s such a great place."

Ed Hanlon, a Lake Luzerne native living in Saratoga Springs, said he always looked forward to the challenge of Hickory’s bumps and often ungroomed trails, and will return this season.

"That’s gonna be great," he said.

Hickory welcomes input on its plans at skihickory@mccltd.com.

And in other news:

http://www.denpubs.com/Articles-c-2009-07-02-60525.113116-sub_Hickory_Ski_Center_redevelopment_plans_underway_says_Warrensburg_town_official.html

the article says new lifts........it would be wonderful with a chairlift and snowmaking, it's stated as only getting 90 inches of natural per year. while i'm dreaming, night skiing would be cool for us who live nearby. 20 minutes, yeah! i'm 5 minutes from West, but it's not HICKORY! prolly take two years to get up to speed.

i bet the Hick has some wicked cool tree skiing.

"Hickory.....it's hard!"

Snowballs wrote:

"Hickory.....it's hard!"

Probably the best one liner anyone can come up with.... I can see it on my bumper now. But not the best selling point from the basis of the owner or writer of the articles. "a place that is good to learn and then get addicted before moving on, but always good to come back to"


Insert cool people catching line here, then end with....but they come back because Hickory is also hard.

Example: Bring the kids to learn in an uncrowed natural enviroment, but you can ski it too....because Hickory is also hard.

Anybody heard anything lately. I plan on being up there in a few weeks. I think I will take my son and snap some pics....there has to be construction going on if they are going to be open in 5 months.


Here is their "new" website...maybe. I have been doing some searches and this is the first time it came up. It says "were back", thus my assumptions. It shows mountain in the background, but I dont think they are the ADKs...someone correct me if I am wrong. It shows a rabbit skiing, was that an old mascot, or something coming.


I also called the number, thus far not working. I am thinking this is a "save the space" website.

http://www.hickoryskicenter.net/

thanks for that link. that Rabbit dude is cool looking. He's been hangin around Hickory for awhile. I bet He's responsible for all those "Wabbit twacks" in the snow.

Hare's his roots, so to speak........

http://www.nelsap.org/ny/hickory1.html

if you go to Hickory soon and walk around a friend of mine has some advice for you..... " Be verwy, verwy quweit ". E.Fudd


Hickory.....it's hard!!!

Can't wait to have a beer in that lodge....




Bringing lots of carrots. Never know what might happen if I get lost in the woods.

Would be cool if:

-Hickory opens
-SkiAdk stays up
-A Hickory Forum is added

I guess the rabbit mascot was a common theme:



http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2005/01/harvey-mtn-ski-area.html

that's a cool picture.

yea, i wonder if the Rabbit has a connection to the fellas who started Hickory. they were some of those 10 Mtn solders who returned to America after WWll and founded ski resorts. maybe the rabbit was a symbol of their unit or such. perhaps a snowshoe hare.

HPD already said ( ) he'ld start a Hickory page. He's a great guy.

Snowballs wrote:

that's a cool picture. yea, i wonder if the Rabbit has a connection to the fellas who started Hickory. they were some of those 10 Mtn solders who returned to America after WWll and founded ski resorts. maybe the rabbit was a symbol of their unit or such. HPD already said ( ) he'ld start a Hickory page.

I'd like to see Hickory have it's own section, but I can't start anything. All I can do is ask Greg about it. You can ask him too.

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but I'd imagine a Hickory forum would be dead (as in, nobody would go there).

We could probably just run a multipage thread in this forum with trip reports, trail conditions, etc, and it would probably reach about 11 pages by the end of the year and work out fine.

I mean, if you want to add a Hickory forum, why wouldn't you add a Big Tupper forum while you're at it? How about a Mount Pisgah forum? Is Titus within the Adirondack Park? Throw that in there too!

Hickory's a cool mountain, but I can't imagine that the general clientele (what there is of it) is the internet posting type anyway.

I think Matt is right...

The Hickory Thread

....makes more sense.

Maybe change the name of this thread.

Either way is fine with me. I don't really see it as a big issue one way or the other.

[quote="Harvey44"

I guess the rabbit mascot was a common theme:



http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2005/01/harvey-mtn-ski-area.html[/quote]

wait a minute!

what the heck was Harvey Mtn ? was there a Harvey Mtn Ski Area in North Creek, NY? where in North Creek is Harvey Mtn and why haven't we heard of this before?

and why in the hell isn't Harvey44's Cabin .......... on Harvey Mtn?

this got my Mojo all outta harmony.

I heard a rumor yesterday that Hickory Hill will be open this year with both poma's running and snowmaking. They plan to replace poma 1 (the one at the bottom) with a chair to the top next season. Can anyone verify this rumor? Hickory has always been a favorite of mine at it would be great to be able to ski there again. Matt