Legal notice lists Granite Gorge Ski Area for foreclosure sale

May 6—ROXBURY — After the Granite Gorge Ski Area closed at the start of the pandemic and remained so this past winter, a legal notice this week announced it would be up for a foreclosure sale next month.

John Baybutt, the owner of Granite Gorge, told The Sentinel in December that the Route 9 ski area was unlikely to reopen. A public auction for the property is scheduled for June 3, according to the legal noticed published in The Sentinel on May 3.

Baybutt previously told The Sentinel his late brother, Fred, was the "driving force" behind Granite Gorge when they owned it together. After Fred died last year, the elder Baybutt said he'd prefer to focus on his farm in Bennington and enjoy retirement rather than reopen the ski area.

"I've pretty much decided to move on from it," he said.

Baybutt could not be reached for comment on Friday. An attorney listed on the legal notice did not immediately return a request for comment.

This is not the first time in recent years that the ski area has been slated for foreclosure sale. A previous auction announced by the mortgage holder in 2019 was later canceled, The Sentinel reported at the time.

The business also faced foreclosure in 2013 along with multiple other properties tied to the Baybutt Construction Corp.

The Baybutt brothers bought the business — the former Pinnacle Mountain — in 1999. Pinnacle Mountain opened in 1959, offering a day pass for $3 in its early years, but closed in the late 1970s, according to previous reporting by The Sentinel.

After purchasing the 144-acre property, the Baybutt brothers reopened Granite Gorge in 2003, according to Fred Baybutt's obituary, which says he served for many years on the board of directors of Ski New Hampshire, a nonprofit industry group based in Conway. The ski area had more than a dozen trails and offered lessons and youth programs.

Granite Gorge's auction listing in 2019 valued the property — including a lodge, a bar and grill, and a rental center — at close to $544,000. The listing said more than $13,000 in unpaid taxes were owed on the site.

But the auction was canceled, Fred Baybutt told The Sentinel, after the ski area met the bank's terms and paid those taxes.

This latest scheduled auction will be held at the property at 341 Route 9 June 3 at 2 p.m., according to the legal notice.

Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @rspencerKS