By CRISTINE MEIXNER

Express Editor

SPECULATOR - The warm temperatures this winter spell trouble for Oak Mountain Ski Center and the Village of Speculator, which runs it.

As Oak Manager Michael O’Rourke told the Board of Trustees Monday, Jan. 9, “The weather has just not been right for making snow; warm and cold, warm and cold.”

The mountain was closed for the make-or-break Christmas vacation week. Only the tubing hill was open.

Enough snow fell Thursday and Friday so Oak could open for skiing for the three-day holiday weekend with about 10 inches of fresh snow added to what had been made, and it was cold enough over the weekend to make snow around the clock.

But it is mid-January. The village is facing a $60,000 operating funds loan due to be repaid the Hamilton County Industrial Development Agency Feb. 1.

The village is not the only stakeholder hurting. Doug and Jackie Stobo, owners of Oxbow Inn, run the food concession at Oak. Peter Burns, owner of Beaver Brook Outfitters, Wevertown, operates the ski shop.

IN THE HOLE

Burns told the Board of Trustees, “I don’t want you guys to be surprised at the end of the season when you don’t get a check from us. We’re in the hole right now pretty good. Maybe things will turn around, but I’d be surprised.”

“At this point last year we had brought in $11,000,” Burns said. “This year about $2,000. I didn’t even cover payroll, let alone any of the stuff we purchased.”

O’Rourke said people are comparing Oak to the state-owned Gore Mountain in North Creek. “They ask why more snow is not being made,” O’Rourke said. “Gore spent $1 million making snow last year. If you want to spend $1 million ...”

O’Rourke said even when it is cold enough to make snow, “there are three sets of pipes but only enough water pressure to run one at a time.” He has to choose among the big hill, the bunny hill and the tubing hill.

UP FOR SALE

The IDA has put Oak on the market. Site visits are scheduled for Feb. 10 and 11; offers will be opened during the IDA’s March 22 meeting.

The village has run the ski center since the winter of 2007-08. If Oak is not sold the village has one year left on its three-year contract to operate Oak, but can withdraw with 60 days notice, Mayor Letty Rudes noted.

The Board of Trustees next meets Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.