Catskill Mountain Cool Happenings

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

soon lots of new beds in the catskills

Hi there,
Sorry for going MIA on the blog but the winter flew by for all the wrong reasons. Anyway we're back. The mountains are still here, but they'll be changing soon enough.

The resort at Belleayre Mountain developers have dropped the eastern portion of the complex. So it seems that all is set for the western end. Maybe the developer will upgrade the previous plans for a little more luxury, but the resort with spa, golf course, nature trails and condos seems like it's gotten the green light. This should give the businesses in the village to the east and west a few years to upgrade from drop ceilings and polyester sheets to something a little more current. Dare we hope for organic cotton??

Add to this the incredible Aman Resorts being one of the partners on a 2000 acre purchase half an hour west of Belleayre in the towns of Andes, Bovina and Delhi. Now this outfit knows luxury. But the most important aspect of having Aman involved is that their lead designer is a fan of buying local. Way to go dude. Hopefully he'll realize the incredible beauty of Catskills bluestone slate and fine grade wood products, not to mention blankets from local wool. And if we can dream - maybe they'll hire local farmers to raise beef, chicken, lamb, goat, and farmed fish for their culinary endeavors (sorry - I just can't hope for veal on the menu).

While these projects are a few years off from opening their doors - you can experience the Catskills at the Emerson Resort. Although they bill themselves as the Hudson Valley (not!) it is the best thing to hit these mountains in a long time. The high end of things, the Emerson will become the mid-high end soon enough, so give it a try while it's fresh.

Now is the time to visit the real Catskills north and west of the Park. The rest is just the suburbs extented. Before the put up cell towers and Hummers become boring. Before the wannabes flock to the area with their ignorance of what being in the mountains entails. If you love fresh air, being outdoors, quality time interacting with friends and nature - come here before it changes any more. The Catskill Park is open 24 / 7. the businesses aren't so call ahead.