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As the 2013-14 season begins, four Maine ski areas—Mt. Abram, Bigrock, Black and Camden Snow Bowl—are all in the midst of profound changes in ownership, management and marketing. The changes are thoroughly testing the public ownership model.

Although each is a separate story with its own cast of characters and plot, there are several common themes. For starters, all four are similar in size: each has approximately 1,000 vertical feet, accessed by one main chairlift and a handful of smaller lifts. And each sees fewer than 40,000 skier-visits.

One of them, Mt. Abram, is morphing from the traditional private business model to a non-profit status, while the other three have been non-profits for years. Two of those have recently cut the apron strings from a rich parent, while the third is embarking on a transformative expansion program with public funding.

There’s a palpable energy at these four areas, which have been enjoying strong season ticket sales after their metamorphoses.

Greg Sweetser, executive director of the Ski Maine Association, welcomes these developments. “It is great to see the energy at these community areas across the state,” he says. “Not only have they successfully raised money, but just as importantly, they have energized individuals to come to the ski area and lend a volunteer hand at work weekends, fundraisers and other events.”
Here’s the story of each.


Mt. Abram

This Western Maine area, neighbor to both Sunday River and Black Mountain (below), is blessed with a fervently loyal base of longtime season passholders, but has also been plagued with a long litany of financial woes that have resulted in five ownership changes since 1990. The current owners, Matt Hancock and Rob Lally, have agreed in principal to turn over the mountain to a pair of entities that will run it under a “community ownership” model.

The driving force is the Mountain Riders Alliance, which was founded by Dave Scanlan and Jamie Schectman. Their stated goal is “creating sustainable mountain playgrounds,” and Mt. Abram is the group’s test bed. After spending the 2012-13 season as members of management, the two have taken the top jobs for this season.

By “sustainable” Scanlan and Schectman mean economically and ecologically. They also see themselves in the vanguard of the ski industry’s ongoing program to create new skiers and snowboarders. They believe that a transition to a low-cost community ski area will boost those efforts.

Scanlan and Schectman envision the transition as a two-step process. The first step will be to create a non-profit operating company with a board of directors drawn from the community, with season passholders ranking among the most important of those constituencies. That part of the plan is currently in the works.

The second step is to create an investment trust that will own the real estate, lifts and buildings. Schectman likes to compare this proposed entity with CNL Lifestyle Properties—albeit on a miniscule scale. They plan to sell units in the company through an online crowd-sourcing website and use the proceeds to purchase Mt. Abram from Hancock and Lally. A price has already been negotiated for this sale, but none of the parties are disclosing it.

From that point forward, the two new entities will continue indefinitely in parallel—as a non-profit, community-based operating company leasing Mt. Abram ski area from the investment trust that owns it.


Bigrock

Bigrock is the largest ski mountain north of Bangor and serves a vast, predominantly rural region that stretches into the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It is evolving into an independent, community-owned non-profit operation. On Aug. 6, the Maine Winter Sports Center, a major non-profit itself, announced that it was ending its 13 years of ownership and operation of Bigrock. The Center’s president, Andy Shepard, added that his organization intended to donate the ski area to a local community organization. Shepard’s announcement surprised and dismayed many, who speculated that Bigrock, on the eve of its 50th anniversary, would be forced to close.

Local skiers and business people sprung into action. They quickly formed a fund-raising group, Friends of Bigrock, which raised $150,000 in about 40 days, much of it through an online crowd-sourcing website. One early $15,000 donation came from First Wind, which generates electricity from 28 turbines arrayed along the mountain’s ridgeline.

The initial fund-raising target was $150,000. It was later raised to $300,000 in order to support a turnaround plan that could take three years, according to managers. On Oct. 26, operations manager Ryan Guerrette announced that the goal had been reached, and that season pass sales would commence.

That development is just the latest in a 15-year effort to keep Bigrock in business. The Maine Winter Sport Center rescued the mountain in 1999, investing more than $6 million in the base lodge, two chairlifts and snowmaking. The Center is principally bankrolled by the Portland-based Libra Foundation, which has about $140 million in assets. But the Center was founded in 1999 for the purpose of building and operating biathlon venues in northern Maine; running a ski area is a bit outside the Center’s mandate.


Black Mountain

This western Maine area was also owned by the Maine Winter Sports Center, and was also turned over to a local non-profit. The area was transferred to its board of directors for $1 on Sept. 6 after the Sports Center failed to find a new non-profit owner. Board president Roger Arsenault noted that Black had been offered to the town of Rumford months before, but had been politely refused. In June, town voters rejected a $51,000 appropriation, an annual subsidy that would have kept the doors open through fall.

After the vote, Shepard announced that Black would close its doors. The impending crisis galvanized action by Black’s supporters, most notably the members of the Chisholm Ski Club, which first developed Black for skiing in 1960. “The mountain means so much to the community and the ski world that closing it is not an option,” says Arsenault.

Two local banks quickly pledged substantial matching gifts, and a variety of personal appeals and fund-raisers over the summer collected the $130,000 needed to keep the mountain open through spring. An extra “rainy day fund” of $70,000 was later added to the goal, and met.

Arsenault notes that the current breakeven budget, which assumes normal weather conditions and a continuing increase in skier visits, still contains risks. “It’s a make-or-break year,” comments Arsenault. He is cautiously optimistic, largely due to the groundswell of support that Black’s recent troubles generated. “We have a very dedicated and passionate board of directors who want the mountain to succeed,” he adds.

One thing’s for sure: subsidized, low-cost skiing and riding has many fans. Last season both Black and Bigrock reduced daily ticket prices to $15, and $150 for season passes. Skier visits nearly tripled and rentals nearly doubled.


Camden Snow Bowl

This mid-coast area is getting a $6.5 million upgrade and expansion of infrastructure and facilities. In November, Camden voters overwhelmingly approved a $2 million bond issue, which will be added to $4.5 million in private funds to upgrade the mountain, which has been owned by the town for almost 40 years.

The plan was first broached five years ago by a group called the Ragged Mountain Redevelopment Committee, which has also spearheaded the fund-raising campaign. One of the principal spokesmen has been John Christie, a former general manager of Sugarloaf and Mt. Snow, and the former owner of Saddleback.

The twin centerpieces will be a new base lodge and new chairlift. The plan for the lodge envisions a 13,700-square-foot, two-story building. The downstairs will contain a small lobby, public lockers, rental shop, ski patrol and a meeting room. Above it will be the main level, which will feature a “great room” that will offer panoramic views of the trails and a nearby pond. The second floor will also include the cafeteria and a large wrap-around outdoor porch.

The new chairlift will extend farther up Ragged Mountain, giving the Snow Bowl about 1,000 vertical feet. The current chairlift will be dismantled, shortened and relocated to a new novice area. (In the 1970s, this lift was recycled from a defunct ski area near Bangor.)

Other anticipated expenditures include a conveyor lift, a rebuilt tubing park, and the continued maintenance of Maine’s only toboggan chute. The budget also allocates $1 million to upgrades to the snowmaking system. On-hill work will begin this spring, and the new lodge will be constructed in 2015.