billski
Active member
Someone asked for a report on the Saddleback Mountain (Maine) presentation at the ACE Ski and Board Club meeting last week. Here are the major speaking points of interest:
Mark Robie, Director of Skier Services, Ski School and Rentals presented. Mark is of the old-school born-in Maine, keep it honest, wry down East humor and style. He is however very much on top of modern technology and methods, but never slick. Mark was selected to present because he was the "most comfortable" with public speaking, which is saying a lot. Very humorous down-east stories (I had forgotten about how good the stories are.) Ask him about the 80-year old he taught to ski last year.
1. The owners, the Berry family are intent to preserve the "old-style" ski trails - long, narrow and winding. No boulevards.
2. The owners are committed to keeping skiing affordable. "We want the guy who makes $10/hour to be able to afford to ski/board." Lift ticket prices did not increase this year. They sit at $40 for holiday rates, dropping to $25 on mens and ladies days midweek. So don't expect any further discounting. They are not interested in marking up to mark down prices.
3. They pride themselves on boundless skiing and boarding. According to Robie, their glades are second to none. From his map illustrations at the meeting, there are many glades areas, having been "developed" over many years.
5. They pride themselves in the high skier/rider to slope/acreage capacity. Robie illustrates with numbers: 10K annual visitors 5 years ago now up to 40K. Well, seems huge but then compare that against Sunday River which has an uphill capacity of 25K per hour. In two hours, Sunday River can haul more people uphill than Saddleback has all year!
6. The amount of skiable terrain is vast. Saddleback has 8,000 privately-held acres. The ridge trail itself is more than 3/4 of a mile. Access to it is slowly expanding, with more chairs proposed.
7. They have been attracting (stealing) significant, experienced management talent to move the area from "unknown" to known. Warren Cook was named CEO last month. Cook was the former President and co-owner of Sugarloaf until it was bought by ASC. Cook served two years as COO for ASC. (My sense is that Cook, a lifelong Maine resident and operator will not bring the Les Otten-style management to bear. I believe the Berry family has made that clear. What he does bring is modern operating principles and development practices. Others, including Robie were 'stolen" from Sugarloaf USA.
Other significant points:
8. Expansion will come slowly but steadily. the first chairlift to the top, replaces the "triple black diamond" t-bar. While this risks wind holds, they believe it necessarily opens up more of the mountain to more skiers.
9. Snow making is steadily increasing. The land is entirely privately owned, including a private lake, which is the source of "unlimited" water for snow making.
10. On mountain lodging is admittedly rather limited, with a small set of condos. Their master plan includes further expansion. Robie suggests how even doubling the number of beds will barely impact the on slope experience given the size of the area.
11. High elevation matters. Snow comes early and stays late. Robie proudly pulled out a photo from October 22nd where the entire mountain and trails, down to the base were blanketed generously with snow. The base lodge begins at 2000 feet. It's clear they see Sunday River as a major competitor, as many of the benchmark comparisons are against SR (including a sign mid-mountain which states, "If you were at SR, you'd be at the top."
12. They’ve gone back to their regional roots. Rangeley lake, is known for its incredible fishing. They ditched the “cowboy” marketing image and re-named their trails for various fly-fishing lures.
13. They don't groom everything, there is plenty of untracked snow. You can even find fresh lines late in the day any weekend.
14. The beginner's area is downslope from the new post and beam lodge. And the area is big, nearly 1/2 mile in length. Keeps the speedsters out of the way.
15. Brand new board park (first ever). It's not the biggest, but it's clearly one of Mark's pride and joy. Basically designed by kids. USSA asked to use it for competition last winter. When USSA first saw a photo of it, they thought it was photo-shopped from somewhere else.
16. The experts-only trails are sequestered into a separate area; You can spend all day on blacks if you want to.
By the end of the meeting, Mark had created quite a "buzz", and had quite a few questions and people stopping by to chat. One fellow even talked to him about organizing a trip.
I too, had the buzz. Last time I was there was about 1988. I've improved skill-wise quite a bit as a skier since then, and would like to take advantage of the expanded areas and glades. The notion of a new "adventure" appealed to me. The drive is a long one, set aside a couple days for this one. Saddleback is definitely a hidden beauty.
Mark Robie, Director of Skier Services, Ski School and Rentals presented. Mark is of the old-school born-in Maine, keep it honest, wry down East humor and style. He is however very much on top of modern technology and methods, but never slick. Mark was selected to present because he was the "most comfortable" with public speaking, which is saying a lot. Very humorous down-east stories (I had forgotten about how good the stories are.) Ask him about the 80-year old he taught to ski last year.
1. The owners, the Berry family are intent to preserve the "old-style" ski trails - long, narrow and winding. No boulevards.
2. The owners are committed to keeping skiing affordable. "We want the guy who makes $10/hour to be able to afford to ski/board." Lift ticket prices did not increase this year. They sit at $40 for holiday rates, dropping to $25 on mens and ladies days midweek. So don't expect any further discounting. They are not interested in marking up to mark down prices.
3. They pride themselves on boundless skiing and boarding. According to Robie, their glades are second to none. From his map illustrations at the meeting, there are many glades areas, having been "developed" over many years.
5. They pride themselves in the high skier/rider to slope/acreage capacity. Robie illustrates with numbers: 10K annual visitors 5 years ago now up to 40K. Well, seems huge but then compare that against Sunday River which has an uphill capacity of 25K per hour. In two hours, Sunday River can haul more people uphill than Saddleback has all year!
6. The amount of skiable terrain is vast. Saddleback has 8,000 privately-held acres. The ridge trail itself is more than 3/4 of a mile. Access to it is slowly expanding, with more chairs proposed.
7. They have been attracting (stealing) significant, experienced management talent to move the area from "unknown" to known. Warren Cook was named CEO last month. Cook was the former President and co-owner of Sugarloaf until it was bought by ASC. Cook served two years as COO for ASC. (My sense is that Cook, a lifelong Maine resident and operator will not bring the Les Otten-style management to bear. I believe the Berry family has made that clear. What he does bring is modern operating principles and development practices. Others, including Robie were 'stolen" from Sugarloaf USA.
Other significant points:
8. Expansion will come slowly but steadily. the first chairlift to the top, replaces the "triple black diamond" t-bar. While this risks wind holds, they believe it necessarily opens up more of the mountain to more skiers.
9. Snow making is steadily increasing. The land is entirely privately owned, including a private lake, which is the source of "unlimited" water for snow making.
10. On mountain lodging is admittedly rather limited, with a small set of condos. Their master plan includes further expansion. Robie suggests how even doubling the number of beds will barely impact the on slope experience given the size of the area.
11. High elevation matters. Snow comes early and stays late. Robie proudly pulled out a photo from October 22nd where the entire mountain and trails, down to the base were blanketed generously with snow. The base lodge begins at 2000 feet. It's clear they see Sunday River as a major competitor, as many of the benchmark comparisons are against SR (including a sign mid-mountain which states, "If you were at SR, you'd be at the top."
12. They’ve gone back to their regional roots. Rangeley lake, is known for its incredible fishing. They ditched the “cowboy” marketing image and re-named their trails for various fly-fishing lures.
13. They don't groom everything, there is plenty of untracked snow. You can even find fresh lines late in the day any weekend.
14. The beginner's area is downslope from the new post and beam lodge. And the area is big, nearly 1/2 mile in length. Keeps the speedsters out of the way.
15. Brand new board park (first ever). It's not the biggest, but it's clearly one of Mark's pride and joy. Basically designed by kids. USSA asked to use it for competition last winter. When USSA first saw a photo of it, they thought it was photo-shopped from somewhere else.
16. The experts-only trails are sequestered into a separate area; You can spend all day on blacks if you want to.
By the end of the meeting, Mark had created quite a "buzz", and had quite a few questions and people stopping by to chat. One fellow even talked to him about organizing a trip.
I too, had the buzz. Last time I was there was about 1988. I've improved skill-wise quite a bit as a skier since then, and would like to take advantage of the expanded areas and glades. The notion of a new "adventure" appealed to me. The drive is a long one, set aside a couple days for this one. Saddleback is definitely a hidden beauty.
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