On Skiing: Ski clubs are a vital part of skiing

Here is a bit of trivia. Which state has the most ski club members? While most skiers might answer one of the well-known ski states the real answer was Florida. That may have changed, but the others in the top three were Texas and Georgia.

Of course, none can rival the Ski Club of Great Britain, which had 125,000 members. What these clubs all have in common is that they have to get on a plane to go skiing. Because the least expensive way to travel is in a group, skiers in places like Miami and Atlanta join ski clubs.

Here in Maine, we can just hop in the car and drive to our favorite ski area so we don’t need a ski club. In southern New England, skiers are more likely to group into clubs for travel purpose,s and a number of clubs in eastern Massachusetts are members of EICSL (Eastern Inter Club Ski League). This organization coordinates between clubs for activities and trips, and a number of the clubs have ski houses in New Hampshire and Vermont. If you drive around North Conway and other parts of the Mount Washington Valley, you can spot them by names such as the Eskimos and Ski-Daddlers.

In Maine, we have other reasons for belonging to a ski club, and indeed ski clubs play a critical role in our sport. Over the years, ski clubs have built ski areas, taught new comers how to ski and maintained community ski areas. Ski racing is another key function of ski clubs, and all the coaches and race organizers will attest that without the volunteers from ski clubs, racing as we know it would not be possible.

Possibly our biggest and most active is the Sugarloaf Ski Club, an example of how racing and ski clubs go together. When Amos Winter and his Bigelow boys were looking for another mountain after the dam forming Flagstaff Lake cut off their access to Bigelow, they looked across the valley and decided Sugarloaf would be a good choice.

At the same time, the Maine Ski Council was looking for a Maine mountain where they could cut a race trail that would rival the Taft at Cannon or Nosedive at Stowe.

The work started in 1947, and by the time the first rope tow went in there was a Sugarloaf Ski Club to operate the new ski area. In fact, the club actually owned and operated Sugarloaf for the first decade or more when the Sugarloaf Mountain Corp. took over.

While the mountain transformed into a destination ski resort, the ski club remained a critical component. The club ran races, raised money and was a center of social life at the mountain. It played a key role in the World Cup races in 1971 and has always supplied volunteers for ski racing at all levels, including the National Alpine Championships on numerous occasions.

The most recent contribution was $200,000 raised over a number of years for the new CVA/Sugarloaf Competition Center, as the ski club continues to contribute to Sugarloaf Mountain and the community.

Interestingly, a ski club that predates Sugarloaf also supplied skiers and labor in Sugarloaf’s beginning. The first recorded meeting of the Franklin Ski and Outing Club was in 1939, and in 1942, it installed the first rope tow at Titcomb Mountain, and many Farmington members traveled to Sugarloaf to get in on that development.

Today, the Farmington Ski Club owns and operates Titcomb. While there is no direct financial contribution from the town (it actually pay property taxes on the ski area), general manager Megan Roberts pointed out that local businesses support Titcomb in many ways, and the membership, which totals over 1,000, provides everything from finances to in-kind contributions. The Farmington Ski Club also partners with the University of Maine at Farmington in providing programs, and racing has always been a key component of the ski area, as a reading of the events portion of Titcomb’s website proves.

The Sunday River Ski and Snowboard Club (www.srssc.com) focuses heavily on racing, supporting both the Sunday River and Gould Sunday River programs. Many members are parents of junior racers and provide volunteers for many of the competitions. The club has social gatherings as well, and uses fundraisers to support athletes who need help with travel and other expenses of competition. This is common activity for many ski clubs.

Just down the road from Sunday River is another very active ski club. The Mount Abram Ski Club is simply a 15-member board of directors, all volunteers. A nonprofit 501 (c) (3), this club is dedicated to “encouraging and supporting snow sports education of children and youth in Western Maine and the training of amateur athletes.”

While there is no general membership, a high percentage of Mt. Abram pass holders are avid supporters. Board member Laurie Fitch told me that the club provides scholarships for the race program and ski school, based on need. The idea is to get as many kids on skis as possible, and the club helps sponsor school groups from Rumford to South Paris.

Between its February auction, a golf tournament at the Bethel Inn and other activities, the club raises and distributes as much as $17,000 annually, with the money going to scholarships and supporting race programs with equipment.

One of the state’s oldest ski clubs actually started in Portland. Right after World War II, a group of skiers teamed with the Portland YMCA to teach skiing, and they ran buses to Pleasant Mountain. This became the Downeast Ski Club and the members built a lodge just beyond the parking lot on an acre of land provided by GM Russ Haggett for $50. Over the years, this ski club has furnished ski patrollers and instructors at the mountain and has raised money of numerous causes.

These are just a few of Maine’s ski clubs that are examples of what’s out there. For those readers who by this point are saying, “What about Chisholm?” you’ll find the story of Maine’s oldest ski club and its up coming 100th anniversary right here next Sunday. See you on the slopes.