I enjoyed reading about the skiers (boys and girls) to watch in Southern Maine. Our Alpine skiers have benefited from man-made snow for decades, but Nordic teams have been stuck with Mother Nature’s fickleness. This winter started strong, quickly became bare ground, then luckily bounced back with a large storm.

Weeks of poor conditions is the norm; cross-country skiing is losing feasibility as a team sport. Southern Maine Snow & Trails is a new nonprofit with the goal of preserving this heritage sport. We hope to create a trail network with snowmaking on terrain that caters to all abilities. We invite anyone who loves spending time outside in the winter, especially on cross-country skis, to explore our project at somesnow.org.

We have done much background work on snowmaking, trail building and potential venues, and our goal is to open in December 2026. No longer will the January thaw send our Nordic skiers back to the asphalt for cross-training. We should all be lucky enough to spend time on snow through the entire Maine winter.

New England already hosts several successful snowmaking venues: Quarry Road in Waterville, several in New Hampshire and Vermont and Weston Ski Track outside Boston.

Portland’s Payson Park  is an excellent pilot project led by Portland Nordic and the Portland Parks and Recreation Department. We will follow their lead and create a larger trail network that will allow for recreational skiing, school practices, racing, high-end training, college events and beyond.

Ben Lewis
Cumberland