Woods Valley anticipates opening on Dec. 17

WESTERNVILLE — Mother Nature might not have dropped enough white stuff and kept temperatures low for long enough to ready the slopes, but work continues at Woods Valley Ski Area on Route 46 to get a start on the ski and tubing season.

Woods Valley Owner Tim Woods said some natural snow overnight Monday that continued to fall well into Tuesday, “just gets everybody excited,” but it’s not enough to prepare the slopes without the help of some man-made cover.

Because meteorologists predict temperatures will get milder toward the end of the week and into the weekend, Woods anticipates not being able to officially start the season at Woods Valley until Friday, Dec. 17.

According to the National Weather Service in Binghamton, a snow/rain mix is expected on Friday, with a high of around 38 degrees. Showers are again in the forecast for Saturday, with an expected high of about 54 degrees.

“So far we’ve got 45 hours of snowmaking in,” said Woods. “We have another run starting at 8 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) with 12 hours of snow making, and another 12-16 hours planned for Wednesday night. Then we’ll be back to mild temperatures after that.”

“We are not too optimistic about being able to open this weekend, but we’ll be close,” he added. “Our next plan is to open Friday, Dec. 17, and start off the season. But of course, that’s subject to weather.”

Meanwhile, work has continued on major renovations at the ski area and lodge, as well as repairs from damage caused by a confirmed tornado that touched down in the Town of Western back in July.

Woods said supply chain issues have caused a delay in finishing some renovation projects — one of the many economic ripple effects suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June, Woods announced his plans to expand the main lodge so that he could go into the banquet business, in addition to the skiing and snowboarding business.

As part of the renovations work, plans were for the main lodge to get new windows and insulation, as well as a new roof on the center of the chalet. A new kitchen is also part of the features.

A 1,300 square-foot heated concrete patio, adjacent to the main lodge, will also provide food and drink service. About 1,500 square-feet is being added to the cafeteria space, and remodeling of the center of the lodge consists of another 1,500 square-feet.

The majority of the work is finished, which originally had a projected completion date of Thanksgiving, but Woods said some unforeseen delays in materials will slightly extend construction.

“The lodge project has been going straight through all summer,” said the owner. “The only issues there were just the supply chain. We were held up initially with steel — without the decking, we couldn’t pour concrete” for the foundation “and that put us a month behind.”

Woods said there were also major delays in receiving doors and some HVAC (heating/air conditioning).

“It all boils down to us being a little behind schedule, but that said, the part of the lodge we’re doing this year is the rental and ski school area, ticketing lobby and bar and main dining room upstairs, all of which will be ready in some fashion for opening,” said the owner. “The lodge is going to be substantially complete by the time we open, and while the slopes are closed and during the evening hours, work will continue.”

As for repair work from damage caused by July’s wind storm, Woods said at least four lifts sustained significant damage, but are now ready to go. All have passed inspection, he said.

Most of the damage occurred to the support buildings or enclosure houses for the lifts. Three out of five had to be rebuilt, Woods said. Repairs were also made to the tubing slope carpet where multiple trees fell.

“Parts” of the tubing slope, “have been replaced and the hill was regraded,” said Woods.

One of two maintenance buildings on the ski area property also suffered major damage. The owner said the one building was renovated instead of replacing the damaged building.

“We eliminated one building and expanded and renovated the other building,” he said. “We have a portion of that building we can heat” for the grooming tractors.

Once doors are delivered, the entire building will be heated and be fully functional, Woods said.

Woods also added a new SnoCat groomer to his fleet last week, which was ordered back in the spring.

To keep updated on when ski season officially opens and any other special events happening at Woods Valley Ski Area, check out their Facebook page or go to www.woodsvalleyskiarea.com.