By Dick Healy
SnowSports/Travel Writer

            About three years ago I suggested to readers of my snowsports/travel column that big things were about to happen in Crested Butte, Colorado, where new ownership was taking place and that real estate values would more than likely double and triple as result of the transaction.
 

            My assumption was based on the fact that Tim and Diane Mueller, the Butte’s new owners, would put their magic touch to expanding ski terrain and real estate development, much as they had done with Vermont’s Okemo Mountain Resort which they purchased some twenty-three years prior. The Mueller magic had also taken root at Sunapee, New Hampshire following Okemo’s phenomenal success.
 

            Just how many skiers/boarders took my advice is anybody’s guess. What I was saying at the time was that there weren’t many bargain resorts left for the average investor seeking their dream vacation home. And, if one looks around closely, there still aren’t many bargains left, at least not among western resorts.
 

            So this time I’m advising snowsports enthusiast to look at opportunities in the northeast, particularly in North Creek, NY where the ski train from New York City hauled skiers in the 1930s to the famous Ski Bowl in the Adirondack Mountains. A deal between the town, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) will connect the Ski Bowl to Gore Mountain. Major development in the way of year-round condominiums, single family homes, shops, restaurants, a new Ski Bowl Base Lodge (and if some have their wish, eventual revival of a ski train) will make North Creek the destination place long sought after.
 

            As most everywhere, property values in North Creek, located in Town of Johnsburg, have risen in recent years, but the appreciation has been modest compared to other countrywide ski towns. The announced Ski Bowl/Gore connection is the biggest happening in that region in years. North Creek can be reached by car in less than two hours from Albany International Airport.
 

            Many are already making a fast schuss to take advantage of the bargains in North Creek real estate in advance of the pending development boom.