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Robert A. Munro
05/04/2008
To the Editor,
I recently returned to Bellearye Mountain for the first time in 18 years. I first
skied the Old Peekamoose Trail in December of 1931, almost two decades before the ski
center was built. As an adult, I worked at Highmount Ski Center in its early years and
was a builder of and major stockholder in Plattekill Ski Center in Roxbury. In the early
1960s I came from private enterprise to Belleayre, rising up through the ranks from Ski
Patrol to the post of Superintendent.
Growing up, we had thousands of hotel rooms including the 400-room Grand
Hotel, and two golf courses in Shandaken and one in Middletown. All of those hotels,
ski centers (Belleayre, Highmount and even Shayne's all on the Belleayre access road),
golf courses and other related businesses were built before we had state-of-the-art septic
systems, before we had any pesticide or pollution control, before we had any regulations
from either New York State or New York City. Yet the waters of Birch Creek and the
Esopus remained pure enough to drink, unfiltered and were always known for their
superb trout fishing.
Before Belleayre, there was only summer business and once unemployment
insurance became available, everyone in the region - hotel workers, golf course staff,
contractors and their employees and others in the community - took advantage of it for
about 20 weeks a year. But summer business declined and the need to create some sort of
winter economy became critical. Seven years of studies were done in the Catskill Region
to prove what everyone locally already knew. In the entire Catskill Region, the best
place to ski - the place that naturally got the most snow, and held the snow for the
longest period of time - was Belleayre Mt.
The State of New York recognized the need to allow its citizens to use the
Catskill Forest Preserve for recreational purposes. The State also understood the need for
economic development in the region. So the legislature (in two consecutive years) and
then the people of the state (in the third year) passed a constitutional amendment to create
Belleayre Mt. Ski Center, which at that time, was limited in size to a maximum of 20
miles of slopes and trails. The people of the state reaffirmed this decision by passing a
second constitutional amendment in 1987, calling for the expansion of Belleayre Mt. to
25 miles of slopes and trails.
Belleayre served very well as both a recreational use area for the people of the
State of New York and as an economic catalyst for the region - and it still does. The
need for it to continue in these missions can only be questioned by people who are so rich
that they don't need affordable skiing opportunities, or so wealthy that they don't need
jobs.
When I started at Belleayre, we had just 6 permanent, year 'round workers.
Today there are 100. In the winter time, upwards of 600 people can work there instead of
collecting unemployment insurance.
These are great jobs - career track jobs and people should be pushing for more of
them not less. During my visit to Belleayre in the first week of April I made a thorough,
unescorted tour of the entire mountain. I talked to both old and new employees, to people
who have skied Belleayre for 50 years, to those who are new to the area and also spoke
with some local business people. I saw people I skied with and people I worked with -
and I saw their children and their grand children. They are the heart and soul of
Belleayre and it is heart and soul that keep Belleayre out front.
I truly don't know much about Superintendent Tony Lanza. I've only met him
briefly a few times. But I do know he has surrounded himself with true professionals and
his crew has done a remarkable job of bringing Belleayre into the 21st century while at
the same time, hanging on to the history and tradition that have drawn people there for 58
years. The area has been well preserved and well managed. If Hunter and Windham are
suffering, it isn't because of what Belleayre is, it is because of what they are not.
In the last decade, those areas stopped being ski centers and turned into real estate
kingdoms. They basically provide skiing as an amenity to people who can pay a starting
rate of $500,000 for a condo. They've invested millions and millions of dollars in new
hotels, houses, time-shares and condos, with real estate sales which recently have run in
the range of $1 million or more for lots not even a single acre in size. So they are doing
well in their real estate missions and Belleayre is doing well in its mission - which is not
to create a profit for owners but to serve as an economic catalyst and to let families of
modest means have the opportunity to ski.
Everyone should be clamoring to grow Belleayre, not to shrink it - because as we
can see in the rest of the region, if you don't grow, you die. What is making Belleayre
successful now is not pricing or unfair competition, it is people - the people who work
there and the people who ski there. It's quite amazing that a state-run area is run with
such a passion for perfection.
I was at Belleayre on Sunday, April 13. There were many people skiing including
members of my family. People were raving about the great conditions there while Hunter
and Windham were both closed because of a lack of snow. I heard through the grapevine
they were complaining that Belleayre had made too much snow. If they had any
complaint, it should have been about the geographically ideal location that allows
Belleayre to hold its snow so long into the spring season. I think Tony Lanza and his
crew were doing what the State of New York was paying them to do, which is to run a ski
center the way it should be run.
As I left the area, it gave me a feeling of great pride knowing that Belleayre
Mountain is still doing what it's always been best known for - serving the public by
providing the best skiing conditions possible on well groomed and maintained trails. It's
the way it should be. The people of the Central Catskills and the State of New York
should be proud of the fact that they have a both a gem and a treasure ($) in their back
yard. Four generations of my family have skied Belleayre. If my grandkids get with it I
hope to see the fifth generation there before its too late.
Robert A. Munro
Highmount, NY
845-417-4326
PO Box 596
Highmount, NY 12441
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