In 1958, New York's Governor, Averill Harriman, conducted the Opening Day Ceremonies for a new ski area called Greek Peak. The Governor called it a "first class development" and predicted that it would "make a real contribution to skiing in New York State."
By 1960, two T-Bars had been built and construction began on the A-Frame Lodge. A young Al Kryger was commissioned to build Central New York’s first chairlift in 1962. Greek Peak recognized the potential for skiing and led the industry in developing the concept of packaging and selling to local schools and colleges. This philosophy, combined with early pioneering in snow-making and night skiing, brought Greek Peak to the forefront of ski areas in the East.

In 1965, a Poma Lift was installed on what is now Apollo's Hollow. Installation of permanent snow-making was also added insuring more consistent skiing for the first program sales. In 1966, fifteen full-time and one hundred part-time employees took over the formerly concessioned operations of Ski School, Food Service, and Rental Shop under the wing of the corporate operation.

In 1969, the Beginners Chair was built. Full-time employees remained at fifteen, but the number of part-timers jumped to one hundred and twenty-five. Greek Peak by now was generating over 100,000 skier visits from the local market. Its revenues had climbed to almost a half million dollars.

With skiing becoming more and more popular, Greek Peak added Chairs I in 1971 and IV in 1970. The Taverna Bar and Restaurant was constructed in 1970, with the Katalima going up the following year in 1971.

Aggressive marketing and selling expanded Greek Peak's popularity and by 1973 it generated over a million dollars in revenues.  It was at this time that Al Kryger had the foresight to begin planning for the next phase of Greek Peak's growth. He was instrumental in acquiring land adjacent to the ski area, and a Master Plan for a new recreational community was drawn. This development set Greek Peak apart from the rest of the competition in Central New York. The additions of slope-side condominiums and townhouses changed us from being merely a ski area into being a full-fledged regional destination ski resort.

Many innovative programs were developed at Greek Peak for example:
Gordon Richardson, 30 year veteran of our ski school, in conjunction with Head Ski Company developed the first outrigger ski which is still used today to teach adaptive skiing to disabled people. In 1979 Greek Peak developed the first computerized "shift ticketing" system. This system allowed our skiers the flexibility of skiing four, five, six,...or as many hours as they choose starting at the time the ticket is purchased.  Armbands used to display season passes, which are commonly used in the present ski industry, were developed by Greek Peak Skiers. In 1987 Greek Peak initiated the "Progressive Coaching System" which included: instruction, video analysis, and racing in the price of a lift ticket.

By 1978, Greek Peak was marketing to the "vacation" market and sales, for the first time, exceeded two million dollars. Skier visits began breaking the 200,000 barrier consistently. In the summer of 1978, trails were cleared at Greek Peak East and our first Triple Chair was installed. Destination sales became a major priority and Greek Peak expanded its ski week activities to provide all of the amenities of a full-service destination resort.

In the early 80's, Greek Peak turned its attention toward aggressive marketing and selling to expand its place in the market as well as positioning itself for continued competition from Vermont resorts for the vacation skier. In 1994, Greek Peak installed a lift called the Magic Carpet. This conveyor-type lift made learning to ski/ride less intimidating for the beginner skiers/riders. The Magic Carpet, similar to the people-movers in large airports, was the first lift of its kind in the East. In addition to the Magic Carpet, a new Children's Learning Center was added to the resort. The building, designed for kids, has a cafeteria scaled so children can serve themselves. The Children’s Learning Center has various teaching levels such as PEE WEE ski instruction for 2 1/2 to 4 years, MOUNTAINEER for 4 to 8 years, and RANGER for ages 9 to 14. Babysitting is available for pre-ski family members with soundproof sleeping room, child-sized restrooms and plenty of room for play indoors and out.

Also added to Greek Peak in 1994 were two new two-thousand foot glade trials. Aesop's Glade was created by expanding and widening Ronnie’s Run. The other new glade, Alsos Glade (which means thicket in Greek), is located in the Chair V area off Mars Hill. The Olympian has-been widened at the top and more snow-making has been added. Arcadia Village added a new outdoor hot tub. The ski key international ski locking system was also added during this timeframe.

In 1997 Greek Peak put in their first terrain park with jumps, spines, a rail and walls. 1998 brought the end of the T-Bar lifts, which were replaced by double chair. The Alcmene Trail was installed under the lift and our first long-awaited half-pipe was built.
In 2004 we added a new program in the Children's Center called the "Parent & Me". This program was designed to teach parents how to teach their children. In the same year we added the "Learning Garden" on the Lower Pollux, a beginner terrain park. Smaller features were placed in this area allowing enthusiast to practice prior to heading up to the terrain park.

In 2005, Greek Peak introduced the Activities Based Learning Program (ABT) as a new way to bring excitement and fun into the learn to ski/board process. The Program was awarded the “Best Program to Increase Trial by Participants” by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) in 2006.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Allen R. Kryger
Allen Kryger was born in 1938, a lifetime resident of Virgil NY and has dedicated his adult life to the advancement of the ski industry. Returning to Virgil, NY, after serving in the Marine Corp. Al became a firefighter in Cortland, NY and joined the ski patrol at SnowCrest. SnowCrest, located near Greek Peak, started in 1946 with a rope tow and a Buick engine. SnowCrest was the first ski hill in the area. The Board of Directors of SnowCrest flew a plane over Greek Peak Mountain in the spring and purchased the land that retained the snow the longest and Greek Peak was established by the Cortland Ski Club in the 1956-57 season.

Al’s journey to CEO allowed him to experience many jobs from being a lift attendant, lift contractor, building contractor, and he learned to develop snowmaking with the help of other pioneers in the industry. Lighting for night skiing brought the idea in the early 1960’s of school programs with the help of Gordon Richardson, ski school director. When computers were introduced by IBM in Binghamton, Al pioneered one of the first time of day computerized ticketing systems in early 1970 which interfaced with the general accounting system.

Another example of Al’s dedication to expanding the sport is the introduction of The Adaptive Learn-to-Ski Program. The program started at Greek Peak with Debbie Phillips in the mid sixties who received two silver metals in France at the first Para Olympics in the early seventies. Joe Restino and Gordon Richardson in conjunction with The Head Ski Company developed outriggers for her use and subsequently Bob Lovejoy who learned how to ski at Greek Peak during the same era was the first National Downhill Champion blind skier. Adaptive teaching has been so strongly supported by Al Kryger and the Greek Peak organization for the past forty-two years, that the program now has a separate dedicated facility, and seventy volunteers that teach over four hundred lessons helping the disabled enjoy mobility not available to them in their everyday lives. According to Pat Crowley, Member of the Board of Directors of Greek Peak Sports for the Disabled, this would not have happened without
Al’s strong support.

Al was the founding President of the New York State Ski Area Operators Association, which is now Ski Areas of New York (SANY). Al served on the legislative committee and together with other New York Ski Operators like Dan Frank of Windham and Dennis Eshbaugh of Holiday Valley and was one of the leaders in the effort to pass the Safety in Skiing Code approved by New York State Legislation in 1981. In recognition of his driving force to improve the New York State Ski Industry: Al was inducted into the New York State Ski Area Operators Hall of Fame in 1989.

Al served as Chairman of the Cortland County Planning Board and during his tenure a county wide land use plan was approved. Al was a leading force in the development of a Master Plan for Greek Peak Mountain Resort, a 1539 residential unit recreational community, which has received approval by local and state agencies. The construction of a 106 unit waterpark hotel at Greek Peak will start in May of 2006.

In January of this year, Al received recognition from the New York State Fireman’s Association for his 50 years of dedication & service to the Volunteer Fire Service.

Al is currently serving, Vice Chairman of the FingerLakes Tourism Alliance, a regional marketing organization that promotes tourism in upstate New York.

Al’s dedication to service and hospitality does not stop with the customers, Al’s employees know the door is always open and he would do anything to help whenever they ask.

Al has served with us at NSAA as director for two terms and was director of the Eastern Ski Area Association the predecessor organization to NSAA.

Thomas R. Hatfield
Mr. Hatfield is the Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of Peak Resorts, Inc. and has been employed by Greek Peak since 1989. A graduate of Canisus College's, MBA program and a Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Hatfield previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Kissing Bridge Corp. (Kissing Bridge Ski Area) where he was responsible for the company’s two ski operations, which he remains associated with as a Director. Mr. Hatfield has also served as the Economic Development Coordinator for Erie County, Buffalo, New York. Mr. Hatfield has been responsible for the formation of a number of partnerships that have acquired interests in either mineral rights or have developed and are now operating a number of oil and gas wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.

Wesley Kryger
Wes Kryger is General Manager of Greek Peak, and responsible for all operational aspects of the resort. Mr. Kryger has been employed by Greek Peak since 1976. During this time he has been involved in most facets of the ski operations, including various supervisory positions in the Mountain Operations, and Dude Ranch. Wes Kryger started working at Greek Peak as a parking attendant. In 1992 he assumed a full time position at Greek Peak as General Manager.