Beartown Ski Area

**Note - this is not an official page of Beartown Ski Area, rather a NELSAP Article. For more information on the resort, please call them directly at 518 561 3938, thanks**

Thanks to Steve Bailey, we now know of this open area in Beekmantown (near Plattsburgh). Here are his details:

The ski area is called Beartown and it is located in Beekmantown NY, which is just outside of Plattsburgh, on Beartown Road. It has a T-bar and a Poma which serve about 4 slopes (although the ski area will insist that they have 9 trails!) Total vertical drop is about 150 ft. (I think). It is run as a not-for-profit facility by a volunteer board of directors from the area. The area has been in operation since the 50's, and has an active ski team with about 70 youth ages 4-11. We are open on weekend, Thurs and Fri nights, and on school vacations. Definitely a beginner area.

One interesting tidbit - Tim Howley, who is the current co-president of the Board of Directors, learned to ski here and said he and his friends used to refer to the area as 'Terror Ridge' when they were kids.

Finally, this past December 2002 we lost one of our founding fathers, Malcom Collin who passed away just before Christmas. Mal helped scout out the site, build the ski area, secured funding for our lifts, snowmaking and grooming equipment, and was still active and a vice president on the Board of Directors. Mal was active and involved in the ski area from the time the ski area was just an idea in 1957, through its opening in 1958, right up to the time of his death. The last time I saw him was at the November 2002 board of directors meeting, where he was scheming ways we could get $15,000 to pay for our new groomer. We will all miss him very much.

Above is a view of the area. You can see the wide slopes and a few narrower trails in the woods.

A picture of the area. The T-bar is at the left edge of the picture, and the Poma is at the right edge. The left slope is the 'Main hill and the right slope is the 'Race hill'. There are 3 more trails to the left (out of the picture) and 3 more trails to the right. On the race hill, it is hard to see but there are slalom gates set up and they are conducting race team practice.

Steve sent us a copy of their brochure from 2002 as well, which tells more about the area. Rates were erased by me in 2006 as they have since changed. Here it is: