There’s a kind of magic to Mount Pisgah—not the manicured glamour of big resorts, but a little mountain with deep roots. This modest ski hill has served generations of Saranac Lake residents, visitors and families. With just six ski trails, a T-bar lift, night-skiing lights and a tubing hill, Pisgah offers something many larger resorts can’t: connection. This is where community winters live.

For more than 75 years, volunteers and families have kept Pisgah running—making it an affordable space where kids start on snow, learn confidence and often grow into dedicated skiers and racers.

A community stepping up

The Friends of Mount Pisgah (FOMP) launched the Make it Snow! campaign in February 2024 to meet a pressing challenge: unpredictable winter temperatures. Snowmaking isn’t a luxury anymore; it’s vital to maintaining a season that local families rely on.

That commitment to protecting Pisgah isn’t new. Friends of Mt. Pisgah was originally formed in 1988, when a string of warm winters shortened the ski season and threatened Pisgah’s ability to stay open. A group of community members came together to install the mountain’s first-ever snowmaking system, ensuring Pisgah could remain a reliable and sustainable part of local winter life. That legacy continues to guide FOMP’s work today.

Decades-old equipment has become increasingly difficult to operate and repair. To ensure long-term sustainability, the Village of Saranac Lake—led by Pisgah manager John Dixon—is researching, planning and installing a new pump house and modernized snowmaking system. Friends of Mt. Pisgah is raising money and building awareness to support this work so the mountain can achieve reliable snow production and continue operating even through inconsistent weather.

The first phase of the project—replacement of 4,500 feet of snowmaking water pipe—was completed in December 2023, thanks in part to external grant funding that upgraded the water-distribution infrastructure. FOMP contributed $60,000 toward those initial upgrades, demonstrating the value of community investment. Now they are working to support the village to complete the second and final phase of this major capital improvement project.

Real progress underway

Last summer and fall, Pisgah staff completed the following critical steps as the hill transitions to updated infrastructure:

• Drained and surveyed the snowmaking pond
• Reinforced the pump house structure
• Refilled the pond and wet-tested snow guns

Why does this matter so much? Because snowmaking isn’t just a convenience—it’s resilience. According to ski-industry research, modern snowmaking technology (especially when optimized for efficiency) is becoming essential as winters warm and natural snow becomes unreliable.

These improvements aren’t aimed at turning Pisgah into something it’s not. They are about preserving what it already is.

A response to changing winters

Across the Adirondacks and beyond, warming temperatures and unpredictable storms are shortening natural-snow windows. Without dependable snowmaking, community hills like Pisgah face shortened seasons—or seasons that never truly begin.

Modern, energy-efficient snowmaking technology helps counter those trends by producing more snow with less energy and water, allowing Pisgah to open sooner, stay open longer and serve more kids throughout the winter. 

Protecting the next generation of memories

As a new Pisgah parent, I’ve seen firsthand how special this little hill is. I’ve hauled my daughter uphill on skis just to be outside together. I’ve watched my son learn on a human powered “T-bar,” dragging him uphill just to learn how the real thing works, and shuffle up his first “magic carpet,” which was really just carpet scraps laid on a gentle slope.

To a child, it’s pure magic.
To a community, it’s identity.
To the future, it’s resilience.

Pisgah doesn’t need to be bigger. It just needs to keep being here—for first tracks and night turns, for tubing and laughter, for local kids who deserve winter access close to home.