New Owners,
New Energy
Windham Mountain Resort
expands its capacity and
its energy
By Sarah B. Hood
It’s six decades old, and it’s brand-new. Last December, as
it moved into its 58th winter season, New York’s Windham
Mountain Resort entered a strategic partnership
with Connecticut-based private equity firm North Castle
Partners, with plans to build on an impressive program of
recent improvements and take the property into a new stage
of life as a true four-season destination.
Located in the Great Northern Catskills, about 2.5 hours
north of Manhattan and an hour southwest of Albany, N.Y.,
Windham already attracts crowds of winter visitors to enjoy
its 285 skiable acres, 54 trails and six terrain parks. The ski
area includes an east and a west peak, which share a single
base lodge. The Windham Mountain Adventure Park offers
tubing and kids’ snowmobiles.
During the summer, guests come for amenities that include
Windham Mountain Bike Park – which has hosted five
Union Cycliste Internationale World Cup Mountain Bike races,
a public golf course and a roster of weddings and special
events. One such event is the Music on the Mountain concert
series, a free-admission, all-ages music festival that expanded
in 2019 (its third year) to become an eight-week series that
ran until the end of August. New for 2019 was the Keg, Rattle
& Roll in the Catskills festival, which matched local craft
beers, ciders and wines with food, music and craft vendors.
The 20-room Winwood Inn operates all year long and includes
a Mexican restaurant called Rock’n Mexicana, one of
several dining options on the property. Windham also operates
a rental pool of 60 homes and condos and 26 privatelyowned
condos.
Upgrading winter
The winter months are certainly the busiest; Windham employs
close to 1,000 people during the winter high season.
Through the summer, the staff drops to about 150. North Castle,
which focuses on the healthy, active and sustainable living
sectors, has expressed its intention to build upon Windham’s
strengths by maintaining the existing management and staff
4 September 2019 | snowopsmag.com
/snowopsmag.com
