Toggenburg Mountain has a new owner. Douglas Wheeler, a lifelong Fabius resident with no prior experience in the ski business, has purchased the shuttered ski area as part of a settlement stemming from a state antitrust case, and he is aiming to have the mountain ready to welcome skiers again for the 2027-28 season.
According to syracuse.com, Wheeler purchased Toggenburg Mountain ski area in Fabius from Intermountain Management as part of a settlement with the state Attorney General's Office. Wheeler approached Intermountain president Peter Harris about buying the property, and Harris had at one point offered to sell it for $1.75 million, the outlet reported. Wheeler said he wants to reopen Toggenburg as a ski facility and offer year-round programming, and he plans to move his other businesses — Patriot Prints, Countryside Excavation and Patriot Diesel & Auto — onto the property.
The purchase carries a personal thread for Wheeler's family. The Wheeler family previously owned the land that became Toggenburg Mountain, having sold the property 73 years before the sale was announced, per the same account. The Hickey family opened the ski facility there in 1953, and it operated for decades before Intermountain's ownership brought it to a halt.
A Monopoly Case Years in the Making
Intermountain bought Toggenburg for $2.25 million in 2021 and announced its permanent closure the same day, syracuse.com reported in its earlier coverage of the case. The New York Attorney General's Office sued Intermountain in 2022, alleging the company illegally created a monopoly in the Syracuse season-pass skiing market by buying and closing Toggenburg. The office's 2022 press release stated that Intermountain bought Toggenburg and shut it down to direct skiers to its own mountains, according to the New York Attorney General's Office.
The attorney general's office also said Intermountain announced a deed restriction barring future buyers from using Toggenburg as a ski resort, and paid the sellers to sign a five-year non-competition agreement covering a 30-mile radius, according to a separate statement from the New York Attorney General's Office. State officials said Intermountain's actions pushed up prices and created long lines at its own Song and Labrador ski areas, the outlets reported.
Judge's Ruling and a Settlement
Justice Robert Antonacci II ruled in March 2025 that Intermountain had violated New York's Donnelly Act, the state's antitrust law. The judge concluded the transaction amounted to an agreement to allocate markets, artificially reducing options for season-pass skiers and stifling competition, the outlet's earlier report noted. Antonacci held a three-day bench trial in July 2025 on possible remedies and said he wanted a mutually agreeable resolution to the case, though he ultimately declined to impose financial penalties on Intermountain or rule on how it could fix the violation. The attorney general's office had asked the court to fine Intermountain roughly $4 million. Intermountain filed an appeal of the ruling and later withdrew it.
Under the settlement that led to the mountain's sale, Intermountain must pay $30,000 to New York and cannot seek to reacquire Toggenburg or enforce the no-poach agreement for four years, according to einpresswire.com. The attorney general's office said eliminating Toggenburg had resulted in higher prices and more crowds for Syracuse-area skiers, a conclusion echoed in a separate report from fingerlakes1.com, which noted the closure reduced skiers' choices and led to more crowded slopes.
We're putting an end to Intermountain's illegal ski resort monopoly that raised prices and took advantage of skiers. Families will once again be able to ski at Toggenburg Mountain. I'll always protect consumers and workers from harmful monopolies.
What Officials and the Wheeler Family Are Saying
Attorney General Letitia James said renewed competition among Syracuse ski areas would mean more choices and better prices and services for New York skiers, a sentiment she echoed in a post from the AG's office account. The family announced the sale on Facebook Thursday night, with James Wheeler saying the family had officially completed the purchase of Toggenburg Ski Center. James Wheeler said the project would require extensive time, money and manpower, and the family's stated plans are to return Toggenburg to its former glory while modernizing the technology and adding new attractions.
Douglas Wheeler estimated that preparing the mountain could take several months and more than $2 million. James Wheeler did not say when Toggenburg would reopen, and the announcement does not include a ticket price, construction schedule, final sale price, or rebuilding budget, according to uticaphoenix.net. Intermountain still owns the Song and Labrador ski areas in the region.
Broader Pressure on Ski Pass Pricing
The Toggenburg case lands amid wider scrutiny of consolidation in the ski industry. A 2026 antitrust class action against Vail Resorts and Alterra alleges their Epic and Ikon pass practices restrained competition, foreclosed independent ski areas, and forced consumers to pay supracompetitive prices, according to DiCello Levitt. For Fabius-area families, though, the immediate question remains simpler: whether a hometown businessman with deep roots in the land but no ski-industry resume can actually get the lifts turning again in time for the 2027-28 season.
