By Nathan Mayberg
BRIDGEVILLE — December 16, 2005 – Craig Passante, owner of Holiday Mountain in Bridgeville, is working full-steam-ahead with his staff to get the hill open for Christmas weekend, along with a new ski chalet.
So much work needs to be done following last April’s terrible flooding of the neighboring Neversink River. That flooding loaded water into the old chalet, which dates back to the 1950s. The ski shop, the offices and the arcade were all destroyed. Water was sitting more than a foot high on the road behind the chalet last April.
Passante estimates the mountain suffered $3.5-$4 million in damage. He is currently in arbitration with his insurance company, who have only compensated him for some of his losses.
He is now working on a project of more than $2 million to build a large ski chalet and maintenance garage. The chalet is being built between the Turkey Trot and the Roman Candle ski runs. The maintenance garage is being built at the bottom of the New Year’s Day hill.
The Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency has granted him sales tax exemptions for his building materials.