Coutesy West Mountain
By Paul Post
Co-owners Spencer and Sara Montgomery, and financial backers, have spent nearly $20 million on capital upgrades since purchasing West Mountain 10 years ago.
In preparation for this winter they’ve added a $500,000 Winch Cat to the large fleet of grooming machines and covered base lodge floors with safe, clean carpeting.
But the biggest investment is in personnel with a new food and beverage director, rental shop manager, snow sports person, full-time ski tuner and a larger, more skilled snowmaking crew.
“It feels like we’re getting some really good professional people in here,” Spencer Montgomery said. “Hiring has been really tough the past three years. Now we’ve got a good overnight snowmaking crew. Really robust, hardworking guys. That makes all the difference because nights are when you get all your production. Someone always has to be watching the pumps, pressure and guns.”
“Hiring and mild weather were very challenging last year,” he said. “We got through it and this year feels good. We’re looking forward to an awesome season.”
The Queensbury resort plans a Dec. 16 opening to get all the kinks out and be ready for Christmas week.
One of West Mountain’s biggest economic impacts is a $2 million annual payroll. It employs 350 people at peak times and has a full-time, year-round staff of 30.
“We try to provide hourly and salaried full-time positions now so we don’t lose people in the off-season and then have to try to find good people again,” Montgomery said.
The center sells about 100,000 lift tickets, but a recent study estimates that another 150,000 people such as parents watching ski races, and guests at West Mountain’s summer attractions (ropes course, children’s camp), come on the property each year. The racing program is led by Thomas Vonn, who coached his wife Lindsey to an Olympic gold medal, and former World Cup racer Steve Lathrop.
While anticipating a strong winter season, the Montgomerys are eagerly awaiting development of a roughly $200 million project that would make West Mountain one of upstate New York’s only true ski-and-stay resorts.
Plans call for a 60-80 room hotel in a village-type setting with a full-service ski store, grocery market, spa, athletic club, coffee shop and restaurant surrounding a new high-speed chairlift, all located near the existing Northwest base lodge. Additional phases working up the mountain would include condominiums, timeshares and custom-built, single-family homes.
The Montgomerys hope to submit a 250-page Planned Recreational Development proposal to the town board in January. Ultimate approval must come from the town planning board following extensive review.
“The earliest groundbreaking would be fall of 2024,” Montgomery said. “We’d probably start with the hotel and conference center. It’s complex because there’s a lot of moving parts. Some people from Glens Falls and Queensbury, such as empty-nesters, will want to downsize, get a nice condo and live in a resort-style development. It’s a real lifestyle type of thing. Then there’s the tourism element where people buy a condo or timeshare they can rent out when not using it.”
The business model hinges on being able to siphon off even a small percent of the many downstate residents who pass through Warren County en route to Vermont ski resorts each winter. By having a hotel, guests could unpack their bags and ski without ever having to leave the property.
“You can have a full resort experience similar to Stratton Village,” Montgomery said.