Sno Mountain Forced into Bankruptcy by Creditors

photo credit: Sno Mountain LP

 
The trouble brewing at Sno Mountain, PA may finally have boiled over. The financial difficulties of the former Montage Mountain have been well-documented. Back in July, a sheriff's sale was scheduled to auction off the resort's assets to satisfy a mortgage holder. A late infusion of cash forestalled the sale.

On Monday, Sno's creditors filed a petition to force the resort's owner, Sno Mountain LP, into bankruptcy under Chapter 11. According to the pleadings filed by the creditors, the total debts amount to a staggering $15,646,206.

Sno Mountain was formerly known as Montage Mountain. As Montage, it was owned and operated by Lackawanna County before being sold to Sno Mountain LP in 2006. The resort gained a degree of notoriety from the frequent, if subtle, appearances of "SNO" stickers on NBC's hit comedy The Office, which is set in Scranton.

The resort offers a 1,000 vertical drop and claims that its "White Lightning" trail is among the steepest in the East. The resort had struggled to make a profit in recent years, but the horrendous 2011-2012 winter certainly accelerated the financial difficulties as the resort.  Warm weather, persistent rain, and a dearth of snow did not help the struggling resort.

However, all is not doom and gloom for Sno. Local attorney and ski patroller Jonathan Lang noted a silver lining in the filing. Lang commented, "Chapter 11 usually means the creditors see more value in a reorganized continuing operation rather than a liquidation.  I'd expect the mountain to continue to operate this ski season while the company is restructured through bankruptcy to continue long term operations."

Hopefully for those in the Scranton area, Lang is right. As of the time of publication of this story, Sno's website still anticipates the resort opening this winter and a job fair is scheduled for Saturday, November 3rd.

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