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PA DCNR Terminates Lease for Laurel Mountain Ski Resort

Press Release: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
May 25, 2004
HARRISBURG, PA -- Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials announced May 21 that the Department has terminated its ski-concession lease with Laurel Mountain Ski Co., which had operated Laurel Mountain Ski Resort in Ligonier, Westmoreland County, since 1998, for failure to meet its contractual obligations under the lease.

Laurel Mountain Ski Co. failed to open for skiing during the 2003-04 season and has been delinquent on payments owed to the Commonwealth.

"We share in the disappointment felt by the local community over the failure to provide skiing this past winter," said DCNR's State Park Director Roger Fickes. "We would like to see skiing return to Laurel Mountain, and look forward to working with interested parties to make that happen as quickly as possible."

In October 1998, DCNR leased 387 acres of Laurel Mountain State Park to the Laurel Mountain Ski Co. under a 35-year agreement. The company provided downhill skiing, snow tubing and snowboarding for four ski seasons between 1999-2003.

The Laurel Mountain ski area, the first major ski resort in western Pennsylvania, was once owned and operated by Richard King Mellon. Started in 1939 as a private facility by Rolling Rock, it was opened to the public following World War II and became popularly known as the "Ski Capital of Pennsylvania."

In September 1963, Mellon leased this tract of land and all its improvements to the Commonwealth. In April 1964, he gave the property to the Commonwealth, which operated the public ski area for two decades. The ski resort closed in 1989 after several failed attempts by concessionaires to keep it operational during the 1980s.

CONTACT: Gretchen A. Leslie, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, +1-717-772-9101.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources