Mountain Creek ski area in New Jersey has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The ski area, one of the last still operating in the relatively southerly US state and is marketed as the closest ski area to New York City, which is less than two hours away.
The centre was run for more than a decade by the Intrawest Corporation, which itself at one point owned resorts including Whistler and Mont Tremblant. All of its remaining resorts were recently purchased by a conglomerate including Aspen resort however.
Intrawest had purchased Mountain Creek in February 1998 and the company made a massive investment in new lifts and upgrading of all amenities before being forced to sell in 2010 due to financial problems caused by the general economic downturn.
However warm weather in recent years has meant that the centre’s arsenal of more than 1,000 snow guns covering 100% of its terrain have been unable to produce snow for significant periods.
‘Bankruptcy protection’ is a legal company status in North America which allows companies to continue trading for a period without creditors being allowed to wind up the business to see if the owners can turn its fortunes around.
The owners had in fact staged several public meetings in the past year looking at ways to revitalise the resort and make it more viable in the years ahead.
New Jersey is also home to the only indoor snow centre built in North America. Part of the (so far) $4 billion mall, currently called American Dream Meadowlands, the mall has been under construction or mothballed for 15 years and the indoor snow centre, which has never opened, was built in 2008. The complex may open in 2018 or 2019.
