New York, Usa
Belleayre Mountain
175 acres, 50 runs in the Catskills. New York's only state-owned ski resort, ORDA-operated.
Season 2025 - 2026
Opens
6 Dec 2025
Closes
12 Apr 2026
Days open
127
Annual snow
8ft
The Overview
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
Belleayre Mountain's summit reaches 3,428 feet, dropping to a base at 2,024 feet across 50 runs spread over 175 acres in the Catskill Mountains near Highmount, New York. Terrain splits 58 per cent intermediate, 22 per cent beginner, and 10 per cent each for advanced and expert, with average annual snowfall of roughly 96 inches. Nine lifts, including three quad chairs and a gondola, serve the mountain alongside one triple chair and three surface lifts.
Belleayre holds a genuinely distinctive place among New York's ski areas as the state's only publicly owned and operated ski resort, a status that has shaped its identity since inception. The Catskill Park setting, protected as forever-wild forest land, required a specific constitutional amendment to permit the ski centre's development, reflecting the careful balance struck between conservation and recreation in this region.
A bill allowing New York State to create Belleayre was introduced in 1945 and passed in 1947, enabling a public referendum permitting roughly 20 miles of trails to be cut for an intensive-use ski centre within the protected Catskill region. Construction began in 1949 under the New York State Conservation Department, with a crew of 135 men breaking ground and building three main trails designed by Art Draper, a 10th Mountain Division veteran, ahead of the winter 1950 opening featuring the state's first rope tow and chairlift.
Belleayre was managed by the Department of Environmental Conservation for decades before transferring to the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) in November 2012, joining Gore Mountain and Whiteface Mountain under the same state authority. Adult daily tickets run from 61 to 89 US dollars.
1,404ft
Vertical
50
Runs
175 acres
Skiable
8ft
Annual snow
The Terrain
50 runs across 175 acres skiable
Belleayre Mountain spreads 50 runs across 175 acres skiable of terrain. It leans intermediate at 58%, with 11 beginner runs to find your feet and 10 advanced or expert runs when you want to push.
Terrain split
50
runs
50 runs across 4 grades
Beginner11 runs · 22%
Intermediate29 runs · 58%
Advanced5 runs · 10%
Expert5 runs · 10%
Time it right
When to visit Belleayre Mountain
The 2025-26 season at Belleayre Mountain ran from 6 December 2025 to 12 April 2026, a roughly eighteen-week season supported by average annual snowfall of around 96 inches. Season dates can shift depending on early and late-season weather and snowmaking conditions.
Midwinter, from December through February, typically brings the most consistent conditions to the mountain's intermediate-weighted terrain. Given Belleayre's status as New York's only state-owned and operated ski resort, and its relatively accessible Catskills location, the mountain draws a broad visitor base including day-trippers from the New York City metropolitan area.
The SKI3 season pass, covering Belleayre alongside fellow ORDA-operated Gore Mountain and Whiteface Mountain, gives season pass holders access across all three state-run ski centres. This shared pass structure encourages visitation across ORDA's properties throughout the season. School holiday periods bring increased family visitation given the resort's substantial intermediate and beginner terrain.
Specific event programming beyond standard operations is not confirmed in available resort information. Since the November 2012 transfer from the Department of Environmental Conservation to ORDA, the resort has continued operating under coordinated state authority alongside its sister mountains. Belleayre's identity as a genuinely public ski resort remains central to its seasonal character.
Season 2025 - 2026
6 Dec 2025
Opens
12 Apr 2026
Closes
127
Days open
8 ft
Annual snow
Getting there
Getting to Belleayre Mountain, and where to stay
Belleayre Mountain sits near Highmount, New York, in the Catskill Mountains, with a base elevation of 2,024 feet and a summit at 3,428 feet over 175 acres of protected forever-wild forest land. This Catskill Park setting places the resort within a region long balanced between conservation and recreation.
The Catskills region surrounding Belleayre offers a range of small towns, inns and restaurants, with the resort serving as a genuine draw for the broader area's tourism economy. The New York City metropolitan area lies within a manageable drive, making Belleayre an accessible day-trip or weekend option for downstate visitors.
New York State Route 28 provides direct access to the resort, running through the heart of the Catskills region. Winter driving conditions on this route can include snow and ice, though the well-travelled state highway is regularly maintained given its role as a major regional corridor. There is no direct public transport service to the resort itself.
Specific nearest commercial airport details are not confirmed in available resort information, though the resort's Catskills location keeps it within a reasonable drive of the broader New York City metropolitan area. Belleayre's accessible, publicly operated model continues to serve as an entry point to skiing for many downstate New Yorkers.
Where to stay
Search all stays →Hotels and lodges near Belleayre Mountain, powered by Stay22.
Latest News
From the SnowStash desk
Spain Moves to Ban Smoking at Ski Resorts Under New Tobacco Law
Spain's government has approved a draft tobacco law that would ban smoking across a wide range of outdoor spaces, including sports venues - a category Spanish winter sports media expect to cover ski resorts, potentially extending to slopes and lifts themselves. The rules would also apply to e-cigarettes and vaping devices, even nicotine-free ones. The bill still has to clear the Spanish parliament before any ban, signage, or fines can take effect.
22 July 2026
South Tyrol Approves New 16-Person Ciampinoi Gondola in Val Gardena
South Tyrol has approved a full rebuild of the Ciampinoi cable car in Selva di Val Gardena, replacing the current 12-person gondola with a 16-person cabin and a new mountain-station restaurant. Capacity is capped at 3,200 people an hour rather than the 3,600 the operator wanted, and 250,000 euros must go toward compensatory measures. No construction or opening date has been set, though the upgrade is partly aimed at clearing bottlenecks before the 2031 Alpine Ski World Championships.
22 July 2026
Resort Spotlight: Hoshino Tomamu - Corporate Japan's Mountain Playground Revisited
Hoshino Tomamu is the ski resort equivalent of a conference hotel that happens to have excellent powder. Built for corporate retreats and package tourists, it offers genuine Hokkaido snow on surprisingly limited terrain - 29 runs spread across 585 vertical metres.
21 July 2026
La Thuile's New Cable Car Replaces Two Ageing Chairlifts
La Thuile is spending 38.7 million US dollars on a new 10-person cable car linking Les Suches to Chaz Dura, replacing the La Combe and Chaz Dura chairlifts after nearly forty years of service. Built by Leitner, the new cable car runs 1,950 metres to a top station at 2,576 metres, carrying up to 3,000 people an hour with a six-minute ride. It also improves the connection to La Rosiere in France via the Petit-Saint-Bernard Pass, and is on track to open for the 2026/27 season.
21 July 2026
The Remarkables Adds Scarpa Bowl to Its Inbounds Terrain
The Remarkables is adding new inbounds terrain for winter, bringing the Scarpa Bowl - known locally as the Toilet Bowl - into its lift-accessed network after years as backcountry-only ground. The roughly 500 metre run is reached by bootpacking from the top of the Sugar Bowl chairlift, with a shuttle picking skiers up from the road at the bottom. It's a smaller, faster addition than the resort's planned Doolans expansion, though the new terrain hasn't opened yet due to a lack of snow this season.
21 July 2026
Ski Portillo Cut Off After Storm Dumps More Than 4.5 Metres of Snow
Ski Portillo remains isolated after an extended storm buried the Chilean resort under more than 4.5 metres of snow, with both ground and air access suspended since Tuesday while crews monitor avalanche hazards and worsening weather. Resort officials say further snowfall is expected in the coming days and haven't set a timeline for reopening the mountain road. Once access resumes, the scale of the snowpack could set up a strong season at one of the Southern Hemisphere's most historic ski resorts.
21 July 2026
Resort Spotlight: Lotte Arai - Japan's Corporate Ski Anomaly With 22 Metres of Annual Snowfall
Lotte Arai receives 22 metres of annual snowfall - exceptional even by Japanese standards - but its corporate ownership model and limited terrain create an unusual cost-benefit equation. Here's what the numbers actually mean on the ground.
19 July 2026
Resort Spotlight: Banff Sunshine Village - Nine Metres of Snow and a Season That Runs Until May
Banff Sunshine Village sits at 1,660m base and receives 9.27m of snow annually. Inside Banff National Park, it offers a six-month season and terrain split that skews heavily advanced - though the crowds and lift infrastructure tell their own story.
18 July 2026
Current conditions
Snow Report
Updated 13 Aug 2026
3,428ft
summit
+0in
new snow · last 24 hours
Clear59°F / 73°F · NW 11mph
Snowfall
24 hours
0in
48 hours
0in
7 days
0in
Base depth
0in
Season total
0in
Total lifts8
Live open status isn’t available right now.
6 Dec 2025 - 12 Apr 2026
Hour by Hour
Next 42 hours· Updated Aug 13, 2026 at 4:02 AM
Scroll for the full outlook · Open-Meteo
7-Day Outlook
3,428 ftUpdated Aug 13, 2026 at 4:02 AMOpen-Meteo
Days 1–7
0.0"
Days 8–14
0.0"
Thu, Aug 13
Foggy
Temp73° / 59°°F
Snow0.0"(64%)
Wind11 mph NW
Live snow from the resort feed; forecast from Open-Meteo, via Supabase.
Understanding the Belleayre Mountain snow report
Belleayre Mountain snow conditions, updated regularly: current snowfall, snow depth, temperatures, and the outlook for this New York resort.
Snow measurements
Snow depth at Belleayre Mountain is tracked at both the base and summit, since the two elevations often see different totals — roughly a 428m difference here. We report fresh snowfall over the last 24 hours and 7 days alongside the running season total, in both metric and imperial units.
Weather conditions
Current weather conditions affect snow quality. Cold temperatures with low wind typically preserve snow quality, while warm temperatures or rain can impact conditions negatively — something worth watching closely at Belleayre Mountain's 617m base elevation, where temperatures run milder than the summit.
Data sources
We pull Belleayre Mountain's conditions from on-the-ground mountain reporting, then layer in forecast data so you get a fuller picture than either source alone. The mountain is served by 8 lifts, including 3 quad chairlifts and a gondola.
When to check
The biggest swings usually happen right after a storm. Check Belleayre Mountain's report in the morning for the freshest numbers, and again in the afternoon as conditions evolve.