Updates to Gunstock lodge dining and parking lot to debut next winter

GILFORD — After two years of delay, Gunstock Mountain Resort will move forward this summer with plans to renovate its Stockade Lodge. 

The lodge, located directly at the base of the mountain’s two quad chair lifts, currently has an open seating area and a limited hot food menu, and is only open for use on weekends. The renovation, aimed to finish in November with a budget of $1 million, will outfit the building with an 18-seat, U-shaped bar and a wait-service restaurant. There will also be a grab-and-go food area with some space for skiers to boot up. Outside, the existing deck overlooking the mountain will be expanded to wrap around the building, and a large stone fireplace will be built, surrounded by adirondack chairs for apres enjoyment.

The building, General Manager Tom Day said, currently is underutilized given its prime location on the mountain.

“You can see the whole area from those windows,” Day said.

As ski mountains shift toward online ticketing and as more guests choose to boot up at their cars, many mountains are changing how they use lodge space. 

Updating and upscaling the building, Day continued, meets several growing wants for guests. With hours-long waits at the pub in the mountain’s main lodge every weekend, an additional bar and restaurant will help serve more people. The Stockade’s proximity to lifts also lends it to a midday, rather than an end-of-day, niche.

“This is really more to kind of fulfill that need to ski down, leave your skis outside and go in at lunch and have a beer. Then after, put your skis back on,” Day said. “It's really that kind of ski-in, ski-out experience.”

The Stockade was originally constructed in the 1970s, and housed the ski school and ticket office. An addition was completed in 2000, and the building has not been updated since, according to comments by Facility Operations Director Patrick McGonagle at the March meeting of the Gunstock Area Commission.

The lodge renovation has been delayed twice. The first time was due to the pandemic, and the second by conflict with past members of the commission. 

Visitors next winter will notice another major change in addition to the updated lodge: the redesign and paving of the mountain’s main parking lot is set to be completed by next season, as well. Additionally, Day said, management hopes to add snowmaking and additional trail cutting to the Upper Ramrod trail, currently only covered by natural snow.

Further major plans for the mountain could be reviewed in coming months. The Gunstock Area Commission will look to revisit the mountain’s master plan, put on hold last spring — amid changing power dynamics and growing tensions — by former members of the commission, who cited environmental concerns. It’s likely that master plan reassessment, according to Chair Doug Lambert, will occur after the commission completes its budget work this spring.