CARRABASSETT VALLEY — Building snow-making capacity continues to be a top priority for Sugarloaf/USA, said Steve Kircher, eastern operations director for Boyne, the resort’s parent company.

Kircher said at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting that until Boyne was satisfied that the resort’s snow-making capacity was where it needed to be, the company couldn’t justify building new lifts at the state’s biggest ski mountain.

“That has to happen first, before you talk about providing another lift
because you can’t justify a lift if you can’t open and you can’t
ski,” Kircher said. He said improvements to allow at least one lift to run in windy conditions were being made.

Changes to the snow-making system over the next four years are on track to cut the resort’s energy costs in half while doubling the snow-making capacity, Kircher said

“We are well on the way to making that happen,” he said during the meeting. “We’re trying to solve what we think are the most critical issues.”

Sugarloaf/USA CEO John Diller said that additional water needed for snow-making might be drawn from the dam in Caribou Valley, roughly 7 miles away. This would be served by a new pump house.

The creation of a pond midway up the Access Road had initially been thought of as the best answer, Diller said. However, after consultation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maine’s Land
Use Regulation Commission, the Maine Department of Environmental
Protection and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, raising
the level of the pond in Caribou Valley by as much as 5 feet seemed to be the
best solution to the resort’s increased water needs.

At the meeting, based on an inquiry from Selectman John Beaupre, Kircher also discussed adding to or improving the resort’s chairlift system. Kircher said purchasing a new high-speed chairlift, at an estimated cost of $5 million, was not a consideration at this time. However, if an opportunity presented itself — used equipment came up for sale, or if a lift was no longer needed at one of Boyne’s other resorts — the company would consider it.

Several improvements to lifts are possible for the future: replacing the two-passenger Spillway Chair, expanding or modifying the chair on West Mountain or replacing the Timberline chair that services the mountain’s summit with a high-speed lift, Kircher said.

Another possibility under consideration is a low-capacity lift that would take skiers and riders to the top of Burnt Mountain. This scenario might include new terrain or a glade-only area.

When the question of a new $5 million to $7 million lift was pursued, Kircher said the cost of a new lift could mean $100 to $200 more per season pass.

“Is that what Sugarloafers want?” he asked.

Wind-hold and mountain shutdowns were also discussed. Depending on the wind direction, Spillway Chair is shut down when wind speeds reach between 40 and 50 mph. But the resort’s SuperQuad lift is able to keep running in wind speeds of 60 mph or more.

“Do you really want to be up there when the wind is blowing 50 or 60 mph?” Diller asked.

He announced that Sugarloaf was going to enter into a new lease agreement with Keenan Auction Co., where it currently has a Sugarloaf Sports Outlet in Kingfield.

Although it’s not official yet, Diller said that this location might be the future home of the Maine Ski Museum, currently in Farmington.

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