Above, the mid-mountain Alpine Cabin is pictured. PAULA TRACY photo
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
JACKSON – It’s a new day for Black Mountain, the oldest ski area in the state. But what should be an exciting time as winter nears is instead a time of intense dispute between the new owner and local government in the Town of Jackson.
The disagreement is mainly over selling liquor at Black Mountain’s mid-mountain Alpine Cabin and has prompted a federal lawsuit filed Oct. 10 against the Town of Jackson. The suit, filed by Alpine Resources Corp., doing business as Black Mountain, alleges civil rights violations by the town over alcohol sales.
This comes after Jackson’s select board voted 2-0 on Sept. 22 to withdraw its permission to sell alcohol at its mid-mountain Alpine Cabin. The board did not remove its permission for liquor sales at the base lodge.
“I am extremely disappointed that the Town of Jackson would take any action to harm the comeback story that Black Mountain has become. We are the largest employer and destination in the town and are being publicly attacked,” said owner and general manager Erik Mogensen.
Jackson Police Chief Chris Perley, in an email to InDepthNH.org, said the town has faced multiple challenges because of Black Mountain including parking concerns, an OHRV offense, a violation of a sign ordinance and a liquor investigation.
Barbara Campbell, chairman of the Select Board, said the problem with the cabin is that it does not have a bathroom.
She said she has heard reports of people urinating in the woods, smells of cannabis in the air near the cabin and a general focus on alcohol which is of a safety concern to her. That with noise and parking concerns has the town paying attention.
Mogensen challenged Perley’s complaints to the Jackson Zoning Board of Appeals, in Conway District Court, and Carroll County Superior Court and says he has won all so far.
Perley disagrees that all are adjudicated, and did say all are treated fairly in his town.
The federal suit comes after Black won a law suit against the police chief in Carroll County Superior Court that ordered the town to turn over all documents related to alleged complaints against the mountain connected to the May 3 birthday event.
On Oct. 11, Superior Court Judge Mark Attorri ordered the town to hand over the documents and granted Black Mountain costs. The town has until next Monday to respond.
Mogensen, 37, is a national leader in the ski industry, who is also director of the popular Indy Pass, which is sold out for this coming season. His software and hardware data business Entabeni Systems https://www.entabenisystems.com/ and investors have spent over $7.5 million in improving the ski area in the past year.
In its first year of operations, Mogensen said he came close to reaching his goal of tripling revenue. He stepped up to save Black after former owner John Fichera announced in 2023 that the historic ski area would close after that season if a new buyer was not found. Mogensen moved from Granby, Colorado and bought a house slope-side in Jackson.
In the federal lawsuit filed on Black’s behalf by Christopher T. Meier, states: “This matter arises from the Town’s calculated, unlawful and ultra vires (beyond its powers) campaign to obstruct Plaintiff’s legally protected right to sell alcoholic beverages under a valid license issued by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, in blatant disregard of state law and Constitutional protections. Despite being specifically informed of the due process required…the town intentionally elected to ignore Plaintiff’s Constitutional rights by imposing a blanket mandate restricting its ability to sell alcoholic beverages,” calling the actions malicious and unlawful.
The suit seeks a jury trial, compensatory damages and a writ prohibiting the town of Jackson from taking any other action to interfere with its liquor license, which is controlled by the state.
Jason B. Dennis, attorney for the Town of Jackson, said he has yet to file a response in federal court. But in an email, he said he would deny assertions in the suit that this is “part of a larger pattern of action by which the Town has consistently interfered with the rights and business of Plaintiff and its operation of Black Mountain Ski Area.”
Dennis provided a link to a letter from the New Hampshire Liquor Commission which “confirms that Black Mountain served all of last season at the Alpine Cabin without authorization. They were counseled on this by NHLC on July 15, 2025.”
Black Mountain officials said the liquor commission visited twice last winter to inspect and after an investigation sought by Perley found no substantive violations or fines.
With regards to the liquor investigation, Perley said by law the first level of accountability is “verbal counseling.”
“The absence of a fine does not infer lack of severity in this case, it’s the prescribed process. Additionally, the other offenses that investigated were ‘suspended,’ not unfounded. A suspended criminal investigation remains open until the statute of limitations expires,” Perley said.
PERSONALITY CONFLICT?
Mogensen believes the trouble with the chief began when he asked if he could pay for a few parking tickets for his patrons police issued during the Martin Luther King long weekend in January.
“To claim that this is a personality conflict reduces the real and substantive public safety challenges that we encountered during the last ski season generally, and on May 3rd specifically,” Perley said.
He explained that Mogensen requested driver or vehicle information to pay the tickets saying it would have violated the Driver Privacy Protection Act and would have been unlawful to disseminate.
Mogensen he never asked the chief for personal information of drivers to fix the tickets but offered to simply pay the amount.
Perley said, “Further, I am not involved in the payment process of parking tickets and rarely know who pays what fines. I did express to Mr. Mogensen that by offering to pay parking tickets, although gracious, it would be academic that it would encourage more illegal parking in the future, which occurred.”
The incident was reported in the national SKI Magazine and Snowboarder Magazine.
Mogensen said not all of the press and comments related to the tickets were positive toward the town and may have contributed to him getting off on the wrong foot with Perley.
Perley said public safety is what is more important.
“The Jackson Police Department is committed to public safety in all the areas we serve and for all the people who entrust us with that responsibility. We do this without fear or favor and stand by our actions to facilitate and preserve the peace in Jackson,” Perley wrote.
Mark Hodgdon of Epsom has a second home on Whitney Loop Road in Jackson adjacent to the ski area and above its base.
“The whole thing appears to be a huge personality conflict,” he told InDepthNH.org in a telephone interview.
Hodgdon was a former Senior Assistant Attorney General who had a civil law practice in Concord before retiring. His adjective for the May 3 event was not a drunken party as described to NHLC by the police chief but ‘festive’ and relatively quiet for having live music and fireworks on a day which ended in spring rain and was over before 9 p.m.
Hodgdon said he left a select board meeting in July “stunned” by how Mogensen was treated about a folding sign board on the side of the road, calling the actions by the chief “absolutely petty.”
He said he worries this could have great consequences, in addition to financial, to the town and its beloved ski hill.
“Such things are a waste of everyone’s time and money,” he said. “I mean, the ski area was essentially dead,” and Mogensen came to breathe new life into it.
Hodgdon called the town’s actions with the liquor license the “nuclear option,” instead of, as he said he urged at the July 8 select board meeting “to take the temperature down” on both sides.
He said he doesn’t understand why the town would want to reduce the financial viability of the ski area and that “everyone should be working to make it succeed.”
Campbell, in an email, said the board is willing “to work with Black on the Alpine Cabin issue and to work collaboratively in the future so Black can succeed while following rules and regulations that all others must follow. Accordingly, we are in the process of scheduling a meeting between both parties.”
Mogensen posted on Black Mountain’s website his take on the matter with accompanying documents to explain the various conflicts with the town.
“We have made all documents and recordings publicly available for transparency. Our goal remains to unite the community, not divide it, and to protect what we have all built together. We welcome open dialogue and constructive feedback and will continue to fight for fairness, progress, and the celebration of the skiing culture we cherish. Our team remains committed, optimistic, and determined to ensure that Black Mountain continues to thrive for generations to come.”
“We encourage everyone to take a few minutes to read them, watch the Select Board meeting videos, and see firsthand why we were left with no choice but to take legal action against the town of Jackson.”