Toggenburg Gets a Second Life: How a Family With Roots in the Hill Won It Back

After five dark winters, the lifts at Toggenburg Mountain have a future again. Local businessman Douglas Wheeler closed on the shuttered ski area on Oct. 16, and the new owner plans to rebuild and reopen it for the 2027-28 season.

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The sale ends one of the more unusual chapters in recent ski industry history: a mountain closed by a competitor, then pried loose by a state antitrust lawsuit.

A family returns

For the Wheelers, this is a homecoming. Douglas Wheeler’s family once owned the land that became the ski area, selling it around the time the mountain opened in 1953, and he worked there when he was younger. One report describes the connection as his great-grandfather having owned the land where the resort now stands. The family had been working to buy the property for nearly three years.

Shuttered New York Ski Area Set To Reopen After Antitrust Settlement

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James Wheeler, Douglas’s son, whose family runs Countryside Excavation, said the family wants to modernize the property and add new attractions. He also warned that the project will take extensive time, money and manpower.

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How the mountain went dark

Toggenburg opened in 1953 south of Syracuse and was developed by the Hickey family for decades. The Meiers, owners of Greek Peak Mountain Resort, and partner Marc Stemerman bought it in 2015, and the Meiers took sole ownership in 2019.

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In August 2021, the Meiers sold Toggenburg to Peter Harris, president of Intermountain Management, which owns nearby Song and Labrador mountains. Harris announced the mountain would close for good. He said the aim was to drive the same guests to two mountains instead of three, and he cited the labor shortage. The consequences were felt quickly. Local ski racing programs, including Syracuse and Colgate university teams, lost their training venue.

In October 2022, Attorney General Letitia James sued. Her office argued that Intermountain bought its main competitor and shut it down to steer skiers to its own mountains. The state said the closure created a monopoly on local season passes, leading to higher prices and more crowded slopes.

In March 2025, a judge granted the state’s motion for summary judgment, finding that both the closure and a “no-poach” provision violated New York antitrust law. The provision barred Toggenburg’s owner from hiring Intermountain employees at his other New York resorts. The judge then signaled a strong preference for a swift sale to a buyer who would reopen the ski area.

Under the settlement, Intermountain sold Toggenburg to Wheeler, must pay $30,000 to New York, and for four years cannot try to reacquire the mountain or enforce the no-poach agreement. Attorney General James said competition among Syracuse ski areas means more choices and better prices and services for skiers.

The final price has not been disclosed in the coverage I found. Earlier this year, Wheeler had offered $1.75 million for the roughly 100-acre ski area, down from an asking price of $1.995 million.

What comes next

The hard part is ahead. Reopening will require substantial work after years of inactivity and the removal of some of the mountain’s infrastructure. The 2021 plan called for selling the chairlifts separately, though the coverage doesn’t say which equipment remains. Wheeler’s attorney had already cautioned that reopening in the coming winter was unlikely.

For Central New York skiers, the 2027-28 target still gives the mountain a full year to rebuild. For the wider industry, it is a rare case of a closed ski area returning because of an antitrust remedy.