Lincoln, NH – Even though Killington sustained the most high profile damage of any U.S. ski resort from Tropical Storm Irene, with a portion of the Vermont ski area’s K-1 Base Lodge collapsed and washed-out bridges leaving the town a virtual island, other resorts across New England and New York State are busy cleaning up and repairing damage caused by the storm’s prodigious rainfall that brought record flooding to the region.

Loon Mountain, in Lincoln, N.H., lost its main entrance from State Route 112 when storm waters flooded the Pemigewassett River and undermined a bridge accessing the parking lot. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation closed the bridge on Sunday evening and state engineers were on site on Tuesday to assess the damage and get repair work started.  Repair work began Tuesday afternoon before a portion of the bridge collapsed early Wednesday morning.  The collapse did not stop repair work, which continues today.

“The good news is that we are open and work has already begun to repair the bridge.  We were very fortunate that we did not sustain any further major damage, as did several other resorts and many other areas in New England,” said Rick Kelley, president and general manager at Loon.  “We’ve had great cooperation and assistance from the Town of Lincoln, the State of New Hampshire, and the utility companies.”

Summer activities at the resort continue. There will be no impact on Loon’s winter operations and alternate plans are already in place. For now, vehicular access to the resort is available via the ski area’s secondary entrance at South Peak. Loon Mountain officials announced this afternoon that a temporary pedestrian bridge will be in place by mid-September, in time for the New Hampshire Highland Games. After the Highland Games the pedestrian bridge will be removed and will be replaced by a temporary two-lane bridge to accommodate vehicular traffic. This bridge will be in place prior to the beginning of Loon’s winter ski season and will remain in place until after the season ends.

Both temporary bridges will be put into place by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. Repair work on the main bridge is slated to begin next spring and will be conducted by an independent third party contractor to be hired by the Town of Lincoln. The timeline for repair work and the main bridge reopening is not yet available.

South of Loon Mountain, flooding along the Mad River washed out several portions of N.H. State Route 49 that leads to Waterville Valley. While it’s still possible to access the village via local roads, the N.H. Department of Transportation is busy working on repairs to Route 49 and officials hope to have one-lane access restored by Sept. 15.

While summer activities continue at Waterville Valley, the same cannot be said for the Nor’easter Mountain Coaster at nearby Attitash as storm water runoff and landslides undermined a number of the attraction’s trestles. The remainder of the ski area’s summer attractions reopened today after three days of closure although the Mountain Coaster is expected to remain offline for several weeks or more. In addition to the work on the Mountain Coaster, crews are busy removing storm debris that washed up against the south side of the resort’s base lodge.

The Maine Department of Transportation continues to work diligently on restoring the use of two bridges that were damaged on Highway 27 in Carrabassett Valley Sunday evening after 8.5 inches of rain fell in the region, cutting off highway access to Sugarloaf ski resort from both the south and the north.

From the south, a small detour has been created at Brackett Brook Road. This new route is less than a mile and allows drivers to avoid the damaged bridges and get to the resort. Visitors with a destination north of Sugarloaf on Highway 27 need to follow a detour beginning in Kingfield and heading through Rangeley to the town of Stratton. For those accessing Sugarloaf from the north, a footbridge has been established to cross the South Branch of the Carrabassett River and reach the resort’s access road. Summer resort operations at Sugarloaf are nonetheless continuing as normal.

In Vermont, access to Killington has been restored from the east, allowing hundreds of guests and employees to finally leave the area on Wednesday after National Guard helicopters air dropped food and other supplies a day earlier to the stranded towns of Killington, Mendon and Pittsfield. Killington Resort is offering temporary housing at the Killington Grand Resort Hotel for local residents in Killington, Pittsfield, Bridgewater and Mendon who either lost their home, or their home is deemed uninhabitable due to damage from tropical storm Irene. The offer is good for stays of up to one week.

While Killington officials work to remove the Superstar Pub which collapsed from flood waters in Roaring Brook, further south in the town of Ludlow, Okemo workers are attempting to remove four feet of mud and silt that buried the ski resort’s Snowstars conveyor lift and damaged the F-10 conveyor. Also damaged at Okemo were a parking lot, a sewer line, numerous driveways and offices beneath the resort’s clock tower. A landslide also occurred above the resort’s Sachem chairlift. The resort’s primary access road remains impassible until likely sometime this weekend, and there was damaged sustained as well by the Okemo Ridge Road.

This Friday’s Jackson Gore concert has been transformed into a benefit. While Lip Bone Redding was scheduled to perform, Okemo officials have opted to enlist the services of local bands to do a “Vermont Will Rise Again” free benefit concert.

“We thought it would be a good idea to enlist the support of local musicians to give local residents a reprieve from all the work of recovery,” said Okemo Events Manager Liam Fracht-Monroe. “We’ve also heard from a lot of people who want to make a donation to help Okemo Valley people in need. This event should serve both of those purposes.”

“It is our hope, that despite the impacts of Hurricane Irene to the area, folks can enjoy a brief respite from the recovery process to come out and help one another,” added Okemo vice president and general manager, Bruce Schmidt. Profits from the concert’s BBQ will go to Black River Good Neighbor Services to support the local community in rebuilding from the damage caused by the flooding.

One of the regions hit hardest by Irene is in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York State. The historic rain caused the Batavia Kill River, which flows between the Village of Windham and Windham Mountain ski area, to swell and consume much of the surrounding area. The flooding compromised roads and bridges, flooded homes and washed away cars.

The ski area, too, was seriously affected by the flooding. Windham Mountain’s base lodge first floor, which includes the Mountain Sports Shop, the 3500 Club and several offices were flooded and are being cleared out and stripped for repair. The second floor, including the Rental Shop also experienced flooding.

The flood waters cut channels along the sides of the lodge, creating unstable staircases, dismantling entryways and creating a few large crevasses on the trails. A and F lift were the landing areas for much of the mud coming down of the mountain, but the integrity of the lifts was not compromised. The most serious damage was to the resort’s Tubing Park pump house, which pumps water to Windham Mountain’s snowmaking reservoir.

“While the damage to the resort is serious, recovery efforts are already underway and progress is being made,” Windham Mountain officials said in a prepared statement. “As a major economic engine for the area, we feel it is our responsibility to reopen as planned to support other area businesses. We appreciate your concern and support as we move toward a full recovery,” adding that they expect to open for the 2011-12 ski and snowboard season on Thanksgiving Day as scheduled.

Hunter Mountain, also in the Catskills, fared much better. Workers are wrapping up minor cleanup, although the resort will not operate its Skyride summer chairlift until at least this weekend and possibly beyond. It’s otherwise almost back to normal for most in the Hunter area. Normal is gone, however, for a few of Hunter’s employees who lost their homes in the flooding.

The village of Prattsville, 15 miles west of Hunter, and other areas along the Schoharie Creek were more seriously impacted by the flooding. The rising water took away homes in some cases and caused massive devastation. Many homes and businesses are completely gone, swept away or collapsed by the raging water, and many of the remaining ones have been condemned. The village is isolated from the main highways with bridges out on both ends of town. The National Guard is there as well.

Nearby Plattekill Mountain and the town of Roxbury were damaged much less severely. Plattekill owners Laszlo and Danielle Vajtay are offering to help their neighbors, free of charge, with flood cleanup, excavation, dump truck trash removal and debris cleanup, dry ice and water delivery, and shelter.  With telephones out they are asking those in need of assistance to reach them via email at info@plattekill.com and on the resort’s Facebook page.

The Béla Fleck & the Flecktones concert at Belleayre Mountain ski area in the town of Highmount this Saturday has been turned into a charity event, with net proceeds to be donated to assist the Catskill region’s flood relief effort. Belleayre Conservatory Chairman of the Board, Joe Kelly, said that making the concert into a benefit for flood victims was a natural decision.

“Our mission is to benefit the Catskill Region. At this moment, there’s no better way for us to help fellow community members than by contributing what we can in the wake of this tragedy,” Kelly stated, adding that tickets will be sold as for a normal concert and that additional donations to help defray expenses and thereby increase the size of the donation will gladly be accepted.

“We realize that most people don’t have concerts on their mind at this moment,” Kelly explained. “At the same time, we hope that a week after this enormous devastation, people will be ready for some much-needed relief from the stress of this week’s historic disaster.”