Intermountain Management has sold a ski resort in central New York that it was accused of acquiring to eliminate a nearby competitor, setting the stage for the resolution of a four-year antitrust dispute involving the state’s winter sports industry.
The sale of Toggenburg Mountain, near Syracuse, was announced Friday by the New York attorney general’s office, according to an Oct. 16 report by Matthew Perlman in Law360. The buyer intends to reopen the mountain, potentially restoring a skiing option that disappeared after Intermountain acquired the property.
The transaction follows a lawsuit filed in 2022 accusing Intermountain of reducing competition by purchasing and closing a rival ski operation. State regulators argued that the acquisition strengthened the company’s control over the regional market for ski season passes, limiting consumer choice.
Buyer Plans to Restore Ski Operations
Local businessman Douglas Wheeler purchased Toggenburg under a settlement negotiated with New York Attorney General Letitia James. Wheeler plans to renovate the property and resume skiing operations during the 2027-28 winter season, according to the attorney general’s Oct. 16 announcement.
The agreement also requires Intermountain to pay $30,000 to New York state. For four years, the company is barred from attempting to buy back Toggenburg or enforcing an employee-recruitment restriction associated with the earlier acquisition.
The settlement addresses a dispute that began in 2021, when Intermountain, already the operator of Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain, purchased Toggenburg and promptly closed it.
According to the attorney general’s office, Intermountain also secured a five-year agreement preventing Toggenburg’s former owners from operating competing businesses within 30 miles. The arrangement included restrictions on recruiting Intermountain employees.
State officials said the closure left Intermountain as the sole operator in the Syracuse-area ski market, contributing to increased prices and congestion at the remaining resorts.
Court Ruling Strengthened State’s Case
The legal proceedings reached a turning point in March 2025, when a New York state judge ruled that Intermountain had violated state antitrust law through its acquisition and closure of Toggenburg and associated restrictions on competition.
The ruling gave the attorney general’s office a stronger position in seeking a sale that would return the property to its previous use.
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Intermountain had pursued a different outcome, seeking approval to sell the mountain for residential development rather than restore skiing operations, according to the attorney general’s office.
The settlement ultimately secured a buyer committed to reopening the facility.
Competition and Consumer Impact
The dispute highlights how state antitrust enforcement can extend beyond large corporate mergers to acquisitions affecting relatively small regional markets.
For regulators, the central concern was not simply Intermountain’s ownership of multiple resorts, but the removal of a competing business that had previously offered consumers an alternative.
In a statement announcing the settlement, James said restoring competition would benefit skiers through greater choice and potentially improved pricing and service.
The attorney general characterized the transaction as a remedy for market concentration that had harmed consumers and restricted employment opportunities.
The sale does not immediately restore competition, however. Toggenburg remains closed, and its return depends on the completion of Wheeler’s planned improvements.
The new owner’s family has longstanding ties to the property. According to Spectrum News, the Wheeler family previously owned the land on which the resort was developed and intends to modernize the facility while preserving its identity as a local skiing destination.
The transaction closes a significant chapter in New York’s enforcement action against Intermountain while leaving the practical task of reviving the mountain to its new owner.
Source: Law360
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