JAY — Spruce Mountain Ski Slope will not open this season due to the prohibitive cost of getting a power supply to the mountain to run the tow ropes and snow machines.

The Otis Mill, formerly owned by Wausau Paper, has provided electricity to the nonprofit ski area since 1960 when it opened. But when the mill closed in June, it sent Spruce Mountain Ski Club members scrambling to find a way to obtain power to operate.

“We will be refunding all memberships and appreciate the support of the community,” Club President Judy Diaz said.

The ski area, which was to open for the season on Dec. 26, is located on the banks of the Androscoggin River. It offered 11 trails.

Some families involved with the ski area were devastated by the news.

“This blows my mind,” Carmen Hayford of East Livermore said. “The first thing that went through my mind was the kids. Spruce Mountain is like Grandma’s house. Everyone wants to go, and looks forward to spending time at Grandma’s with all your siblings and cousins.”

Spruce Mountain has provided generations of families with good, wholesome community involvement, Hayford said.

“(It) pulled the community and its members together, like family,”she said. “We
have trusted Spruce for so many years, to help raise our children and
enable them to take part in enjoying the outdoors and skiing.”

Club members own the equipment and oversee the operations while the towns of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls own the mountain and the buildings.

The club is exploring options to try to keep the junior ski club and the high school ski team practicing there, even if it means running the kids up the mountain on snowmobiles after each time down, Diaz said.

She said getting a so-called three-phase power supply to the mountain had hit an impasse.

“Given the numbers being quoted for the transformer, it doesn’t appear that we will be able to resolve the power supply for this year,” she said. “We are still exploring avenues and found a generator, but we don’t have the corresponding transformer to ramp it up to 600 volts to run our motors.”

Two transformers in the former Wausau Paper parking lot ran the mill’s operation and provided power to the ski area’s motors. It cost the mill $12,000 a month for the use of the transformers, she said.

“We had hoped we could continue, but the numbers (Central Maine Power Co.) is quoting the new mill owners are cost-prohibitive, and for us to run three-phase power from the (Route 4) bridge to the mountain, I estimate a minimum of $100,000,” Diaz said.

Club members, along with new Otis Mill owners, Mary Howes and Tim DeMillo, and Verso Paper representatives, another paper mill in Jay, have worked together to try to provide power.

However, the power Verso Paper produces is 480 volts, Diaz said, and the club would need a transformer to increase it to 600 volts.

“We are very disappointed at the outcome,” she said. “We have worked closely with those parties involved and the economy has hit everybody significantly this year. We have a couple Hail Marys in the works, but it doesn’t look promising.

Diaz was concerned about the effect on children.

“It’s usually 200 families,” she said. “I’m not looking forward to telling my kids.”

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