I am sad to report the lifts at New York’s Toggenburg Mountain have carried their final skiers. The owner of nearby Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain, Peter Harris, announced his purchase of the property today and said he will consolidate operations at his other mountains. The sellers are John and Christine Meier, who own and operate the largest resort in the region, Greek Peak. The Meiers plan to focus on Greek Peak, which they have grown into a four season destination in recent years.
Harris, the owner of Song and Labrador, cited a number of reasons for his decision including business levels and a labor shortage. He will continue to operate and invest in Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain, which feature eight lifts between them. “As new strains of COVID emerge, there is still great uncertainty about future capacity restrictions and concerns about finding and keeping seasonal staff as many local companies continue to struggle to hire workers. This purchase follows a decades long trend of ski resort consolidation,” said Harris, who did not disclose the purchase price. “The decision to close Toggenburg isn’t one we took lightly or made easily, but when you take a hard look at the numbers, three ski resorts drawing from the same pool of skiers and snow boarders every year is a challenge. I am confident that we are going to offer Central New Yorkers an excellent ski experience at Song and Labrador.”
The future of Toggenburg’s two Hall doubles and Borvig triple remains uncertain. The Skitog.com website is already gone.
Peter Harris once told me that, “there are plenty of skiers in this market for 3 ski areas. Unfortunately, there are four of us…” This was back when all four were under separate ownership.
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Stuart Winchester was right. Too bad to see another ski area go.
https://www.stormskiing.com/p/is-the-executioner-coming-for-yet
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Labrador also has two Hall doubles and a Borvig Triple. I can imagine he will utilize Toggenburg’s for parts and what not.
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I feel a loss when. Any ski area stops spinning those bull wheels. So many memories made and blood and sweat kept these spirits alive. Thank you to all that bet on NY ski areas.
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So, is there an interpretation of this story other than “the owner of two competing ski areas bought Toggenburg for the sole purpose of closing it”?
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No, not really
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I hate the thought of another ski hill shutting down.
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Toggenburg closes as Hickory reopens….according to NELSAP.
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Candidate for a private ski/ride sports academy (Woodward Style)?
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Sad news. But this explains the transfer or snowmaking equipment from Togg to GP over the past couple of years.
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The real question is why togg. out of the three mountains, Song is pretty clearly the best, but I think that Togg is a fair bit better than Lab.
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Thanks for the article. 10 year patroller at Tog, part-time employee last season. I feel like a family member has died…Tog needed financial love and a more dynamic approach to what the public wants, but it did many things well. Not big, not the best terrain, but a great mountain as others have said for families, school clubs, race teams, etc. I suspect GP and SKiCNY think that by selling/closing they hope to drive business to them respectively. Not so fast. This may and likely will backfire based on community sentiment. But regardless, the Toggenburg and Fabius community is the real loser here. Love where you ski…I did.
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