Looks like Mt. Pisgah, NY will be getting a new T-bar this summer. A supplier has not yet been chosen.
http://adirondackdai...8.html?nav=5008
Pisgah lifted
Village gets $600,000 grant for new T-bar lift, trail system at Mount Pisgah Ski Center
By CHRIS KNIGHT, Enterprise Senior Staff Writer
POSTED: April 29, 2010
SARANAC LAKE - The village can finally put the 1940s-era T-bar lift at Mount Pisgah Ski Center out to pasture.
The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has awarded the village a $600,000 matching grant for a new T-bar and a series of trails that are designed to turn the village-run ski hill into a year-round, multi-use recreational facility.
Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau made the grant announcement at a press conference today in the Mount Pisgah ski lodge. He said the funding was secured through the combined efforts of the Friends of Mount Pisgah, village Community Development Director Jeremy Evans and Pisgah Manager Matt Cook.
"Together we got this grant, and we will make it happen," said Rabideau, who was joined at the press conference by members of the Saranac Lake High School Ski Team, 18-year-old Olympic ski jumper Peter Frenette and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey.
Cook said securing the grant was "a huge accomplishment" for the village. He said Saranac Lake was the only community to receive the full amount it had requested.
"I was ecstatic when the word came in," Cook said. "It gives new life to this venue."
The bulk of the funds will be used to purchase and install a new T-bar lift, which village officials say is badly needed. The current T-bar was already 20 years old when it was installed at Pisgah in the mid-1960s.
Village Mechanic Wayne Voudren said its been difficult to get replacement parts for the old lift, meaning village crews have had to "do a lot of fabricating (of parts) to keep it going."
"It served the village well," he said. "Hopefully this new one will last as long as the old one."
The village is hoping to get the new T-bar installed over two to four months this summer so it's up and running in time for the start of the next ski season. Cook said the village has already contacted several lift companies.
The new T-bar is just one aspect of a larger, $850,000 project that's designed to help turn Mount Pisgah into a year-round recreational facility. The state funding will also be used to develop a 1.5-mile paved trail accessible to the elderly and disabled, and a 3-mile trail system for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking and running.
"The thought of this parking lot at Mount Pisgah being full 12 months a year is now a reality," Cook said. "There will be a place for people to ski, run, snowshoe, mountain bike and get out into the woods."
Frenette, a Saranac Laker who competed in ski jumping at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February, said he learned to ski at Mount Pisgah.
"It's a great place for young kids to learn to ski and try to get a career in skiing," he said. "It's great that we'll have cross-country trails and a new lift. It's pretty exciting."
The village has to come up with a $250,000 local match for the grant. Cook said the Friends of Mount Pisgah has agreed to contribute $150,000 while the village would kick in $100,000 to cover the match.
Friends of Mount Pisgah has organized numerous fundraising events for the lift project over the past year, including cocktail parties, a garage sale, a silent auction and dinner, and a comedy show. One of the group's biggest events came on the last day of the Pisgah ski season in March, when local kids got the chance to ski with members of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team, including several Olympians.
"Everyone has worked so hard," said Natalie Leduc, a member of the Friends of Mount Pisgah who lives two houses away from the venue. "If you look at the list of our contributors, all the names are folks who learned to ski there all those years ago. I can't tell you how delighted I am."
Wayne Feinberg, the group's vice president, said more than $65,000 has been collected for the "Lift Mount Pisgah" campaign.
"We still need to raise a little more money, but we believe that if everybody knows we're this close and we can make this happen this year, those contributions will come in," Feinberg said.
The next fundraiser, a picnic with live music sponsored by the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery, will be held at the mountain on June 6.
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Skier, on 09 April 2010 - 08:06 PM, said:
