Steve Thurston (2021)
A classic Hickory Hill sign still hangs in the upstairs room of the main lodge. The bunny with skis was the logo.
If it all goes Rich Larkin’s way, Hickory Hill in Warrensburg, the small ski area with the sixth-steepest trail on the east coast, will become a year-round hub of outdoor activity.
He sees the ski area as a focal point, with a snowmobile trail system connecting the base lodge to Queensbury, Thurman, Luzerne and elsewhere.
In the summer, the trails will be taken over by hikers and bikers, trails that will lead to other biking trails and to downtown Warrensburg. The lodge will have food and even a space for small corporate events with high-speed internet, he said.
It is not all pipedreaming for this town board member.
Larkin secured permission from the owners to "facilitate" work on the property, he said, which was partially open last winter but has been closed for about five years. Workers have completed repairs to the lodge and outbuildings. A new commercial kitchen stove arrives today. Work is planned to fix the deck. The lifts all work. SLIC Network Solutions is bringing fiber optic cable to a pole just outside the lodge, Larkin said, “I was tickled pink.”
The primary owner--part of an investment group that owns Ski Hickory Hill, Inc.--is William “Bill” Van Pelt IV. Van Pelt lives in Houston and runs Mid-Continent Companies, Ltd., a wealth management firm. He also has property in this area.
Larkin sees work to be done everywhere he looks, but the base lodge should be ready by July for a number of events, he said.
Sharing the vision is John Braidwood. He is working with Larkin and forming a nonprofit company that he says will lease the bottom half of the mountain, which is the area around the lodge, rope tow and T-bar lift. (The top half of the mountain quickly gets steep, with the second of two Poma lifts bringing skiers to expert-level-only trails.)
With donated lights along the T-bar, the new group plans to work with local schools in the winter evenings to give kids skiing lessons.
As well, a tax-exempt nonprofit will have a chance to receive donations and grants to work with the community, he said. Braidwood said he shares the vision of a four-season destination in Warrensburg.
Larkin said he is not taking a paycheck from any group, and he may advise the nonprofit but will not be part of its board. He pursues this idea because he hates to see a potential economic engine and tax-generator for the town lie fallow.
The board of the nonprofit is a who's who of Warrensburg: Ash Anand of Lotus Analytics, Joq Quintal of Oscar's Smokehoue, Tony Stein of Camp Echo Lake, Clint Braidwood (son of John) of the Saratoga Olive Oil Company, and Matthew Maciariello of Warren Ford. Sue Winbauer Catana, the daughter of Hickory Hill's founder Hans Winbauer, and John Braidwood will co-chair the group, John Braidwood said. Braidwood said that Echo Lake will be renting the area this summer as a retreat for the camp counselors.
The idea started on the other side of the hill where the town owns hundreds of acres of former watershed protection areas. Larkin said he has spoken to developers, and they are most interested in about 200 acres south of town, sandwiched between Alden Avenue and Harrington Hill Road.
Larkin wants to find a developer to buy it, build houses and provide amenities to the town, he said.
“We own the property. Now is the time to dictate [to the developer] all the stuff we want included” with the purchase, Larkin said. Trails through or near the properties to help connect Hickory Hill to the town would be part of the amenities.
He said he sees this as part of Warrensburg's tourism development. Thousands of cars drive Main Street each week in the summer, but not enough stop to eat and shop, he said, adding the town needs more restaurants and a nice hotel and maybe a small convention center.
Larkin’s plan faces a couple obstacles beyond the fact that Hickory Hill has no snowmaking and much of the mountain is expert skiing only.
The town tried to sell the properties they own four years ago, and the price per acre was weak, Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty said, adding, it could be different now, given the work Larkin has done with developers.
However, Geraghty will also push back against any tax dollars supporting the ski slope.
“The town’s not going to run this ski center,” Geraghty said. “I can’t take public money and put it into private property.”
Larkin counters that other municipalities run ski slopes or other amenities. It is time to change some minds on this, he said. Braidwood said he thinks no tax dollars would be needed. They both said that Geraghty lacks vision on this idea.
“Rich has a lot of ideas,” Geraghty said, “He’s just got to put it in writing and bring it to the board.”
Rich Larkin sits next to Hickory Hill lodge's indoor, open firepit. He says there is a nostalgia for the place with the classic open fire pit in the lodge. The lodge needs works, but will be open by July for use by a local camp, Larken said.
Sidebar: Rich Larkin, a Democrat, is running for the supervisor seat in the fall. He will face either Supervisor Kevin Geraghty or his opponent in the Republican primary, former sheriff Bud York.
Editor's note: We originally misspelled Rich Larkin's name. It is corrected throughout. We are very sorry for the mistake.