Slopes’ hopes rest on the rest of winter after a frigid 2004 start.
Ski trails in western Maine were flawless in January.
Huge whales of man-made snow had been pushed out by groomers, leaving packed corduroy that was perfect for the first run on those new skis found under the tree at Christmastime.
Eager to show off their heavenly conditions and get the registers ringing, area ski mountains opened their ticket lines and cranked up their lifts.
They waited. And waited. But the skiers never came.
It was just too brutally cold.
“No one wants to pay to go out and freeze,” said Megan Roberts, general manager of Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, on Monday. “Day tickets are way down. It’s too late to make it all up.”
February vacation week marks the halfway point of the season in the eyes of many ski resorts, who say when it comes to sales, as of now, they’ve been left in the cold.
“We’re having a rough season. We’re just trying to hang in there,” acknowledged Connie King of Auburn’s Lost Valley. “When it’s bitter cold, who wants to go?”
The answer is no one.
Carrabassett Valley’s Sugarloaf USA, Sunday River in Bethel, Black Mountain in Rumford, Titcomb Mountain and Lost Valley have all reported numbers below where those keeping the books would like them to be.
Slow ticket sales are being blamed on heavier than normal winds, a lack of fresh snow and the biting cold that kept even the most die-hard outdoor enthusiasts inside by the fire.
“January just killed us. It was a bad, bad month,” said Jeff Knight of Black Mountain, who said the mountain lost several days that are usually busy because of uncooperative weather.
Jim Costello, vice-president of brand management at American Ski Co.’s Sunday River, said the cold was a double-edged sword. While it allowed the mountain to make a ton of snow, he said, it also tended to keep folks away. The result was a sluggish start.
At the resort’s sister ski area, Sugarloaf, wild winds caused the chairlifts to be shut down more than usual.
“We have struggled a little bit as a result of the wind,” said Bill Swain, communications director there. “It’s been a slow start. We really are at the mercy of the weather.”
Skiers, he said, are “chomping at the bit” to hit the slopes, and that’s what is giving western Maine ski resorts hope.
King pointed out that February vacation week can make it or break it for a mountain.
Costello said that March, April and February are the snowiest months in Maine, in that order. That means the best is yet to come, he said.
“Advanced reservations for the rest of the season look good,” Costello said optimistically.
Sugarloaf and Sunday River announced that the “March Into Spring” pass will be offered this year. For $229, the pass grants skiers access to all six of the American Ski Co.’s northeast mountains starting Feb. 29 through the end of the season.
At the smaller mountains, “A nice snowstorm would really pack the place,” King said, dreaming.
Saddleback Mountain in the Rangeley area is bucking the trend of slow sales. Since the 41-trail mountain came under new ownership in September, the mountain has been overhauled, with new glades cut and trails cleaned up.
January hurt, said manager Tom McAllister, but because of new ownership, longtime followers of the mountain are starting to come back for the first time since the mid-1990s.
Last season Saddleback recorded fewer than 20,000 skier visits. This year, McAllister expects that number to be in the 30,000s.
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