By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Wax up the boards, the snow is here. Sugarloaf ski mountain opens today with two trails and two lifts operating.

Both Sluice and Boardwalk, beginner trails, are open today and, according to Bill Swain, communications manager for the mountain, the resort hopes to open Upper and Lower Spillway and Tote Road soon, which will provide advanced and intermediate terrain as well.

The Spillways and Tote have low-energy guns that work very efficiently, Swain said Thursday, speaking from a ski show in Boston on his cell phone.

“Once (those guns) get going, it will go quickly,” he said.

Most area retailers are busy preparing for the season too.

Chelcey Dunham, who owns The Orange Cat Cafe on Route 27 in Kingfield, said she’s definitely excited for the season to open. She is going into her third season operating a coffee and sandwich shop on the route to the resort.

“Weekend traffic is just about double what it is normally when Sugarloaf isn’t open,” she said Thursday. But, she said, she won’t see that influx until later in December “when people start believing that conditions are good.”

Dunham has four year-round employees and will probably hire two to three more for the season. For the first time, she plans on staying open at night starting in January.

Both she and Bob Dionne, owner of Aardvark Outfitters, a telemark ski shop in Farmington, referred to their clientele as “a community.”

Dunham said 80 percent of winter weekend customers are regulars, with many from out of state or southern Maine.

“I’d almost call it a community,” she said.

Dionne, who runs a fly fishing and outdoor gear shop and fishing guide service in the same space from which he sells ski gear and snowshoes, said the ski season contributes about 25 percent to his business’ annual income.

“There’s a small and very rapidly growing telemark community which covers the spectrum of ages,” he said while standing in his shop on Main Street in Farmington. “It’s a hard-core group and it’s growing,” he added.

Both Sugarloaf and Saddleback, in Sandy River Plantation, have partnered with his shop for demonstration days too, he said. His shop will be holding demo days at Sugarloaf on Jan. 7 and 8 and is planning its annual Telemark Invasion at Saddleback on Feb. 4.

“We have been able to cooperate tremendously with Sugarloaf and Saddleback, which is good for both the businesses and the customers,” he said.

Tom Hidreth, owner of Carrabassett Coffee Co. in Kingfield, was busy delivering coffee brewing equipment to grocers on the mountain Thursday. He sells coffee to about a dozen properties up and down the valley, he said, but surprisingly winter doesn’t have a tremendous effect on his profits. His biggest account is on Nantucket, and he sells coffee through L.L. Bean in Freeport as well as vendors in Portland and Bar Harbor.

Java Joe’s, his two cafes in the region, bring in a little extra in the winter, he said. The Farmington shop on Main Street sees a little increase early in the morning primarily on weekends, but the store on the mountain is only open when the mountain is.

“Winter is just gravy,” he said.

As for the mountain itself, Swain said he expects to have a great season.

There are more season pass holders this year than in the past – more than 7,000, a 5 percent increase over last year.

“A lot of people anticipate opening day just to get on skis,” he said.

He anticipates a good turnout for opening weekend, particularly with the Tin Mountain Round Up event. Snow riders donating at least three cans of food over the weekend can purchase a day ticket for $21 – the usual price is $61 for adults. Typically the mountain collects 3,000 cans over the weekend, Swain said.

“Sugarloafers are great people,” he remarked. Even season pass holders typically donate during the event, he added.