Big Squaw Maine Cat Skiing

[doublediamond]

4 runs off the summit was cleared this summer — 3 by machine and 1 by hand.

You can skin (with an uphill pass) or you can pay per ride or buy a discount 10 cat ride punch card.

 

[deadheadskier]

Interesting. I guess I missed that you can buy single rides. I assume if reservations aren't sold out you can get on? I bought a 12 ride pass. It will either be 2 or 3 of us. Maybe if it's 3, we buy a few more singles.

 

[raisingarizona]

I hope they aren’t worried about turning a profit.

 

[deadheadskier]

Sad news

We would be lying if we said everything was fine. It’s not fine. We knew the rain was coming and were gearing up to turn all of this water into snow. The deluge of rain was more than our mountain was ready to handle.

Overnight, the force of melting snowpack was so strong it broke concrete walls. What you see is only the a part of the damage at the base. The ground is still too soft for equipment to inspect the trails. Now 100% dependent on natural snow, we will open for skiing when the snow accumulates. Other than that, we have never been more ready.

 

[jimk]

Cat made it from CO to Squaw

View attachment 59449

Nice cat. Different color, but very similar design as one I rode a few years back at Keystone. The seating is quite nice inside with giant windows.

 

[deadheadskier]

Unfortunately this is pushing to next year for my group. The weekend we were planning on going was taken by one of the $2500 sponsors. It would have been nice if they opened reservations earlier in the year instead of two weeks ago so we could have planned better.

I wasn't expecting much sophistication from a largely volunteer run area, so I'm not too disappointed.
What was amusing though is the worker I spoke with was surprised we couldn't make it another weekend. Um, Greenville is a helluva a journey from just about anywhere. One of the guys in our group was planning on traveling 6 hours for this trip. It's about 4 for me. That does in fact take planning for most people.

She was very nice though and said they're actually considering securing a second Cat for next year. That surprised me. I figured the point of this first one was to try and improve business and maybe attract investment in a new summit lift. Maybe it will always remain a Cat operation

 

[LoafSkier19]

That’s a bummer. Had a feeling they were going to run into this issue. Especially with not many early season opportunities to run the cat. I assume they are letting you rollover the prepaid cat rides?

I’m sure they would like to put in a lift. Just doesn’t make sense investing that much with the complication of not owning the property and still running on short term leases.

 

[deadheadskier]

That’s a bummer. Had a feeling they were going to run into this issue. Especially with not many early season opportunities to run the cat. I assume they are letting you rollover the prepaid cat rides?

I’m sure they would like to put in a lift. Just doesn’t make sense investing that much with the complication of not owning the property and still running on short term leases.

Yes, I can roll our 12 pack to next season.

The problem with their current practice is they give the $2500 sponsors their choice of dates before opening it up to the rest who bought in. That is totally reasonable . So, this particular company chose Saturday, March 9th. But that effectively wiped out the whole weekend because they also give those sponsors a backup day, which they selected Sunday the 10th.

The worker said, in all likelihood we would be good on Sunday, but I'm not traveling that far without some kind of assurance. It's one thing to show up and run into weather or mechanical issues getting in the way. But I still think most folks will not travel 4+ hours without reservations when there's not very compelling lower mountain terrain to travel such distances to ski.

My hope is for next year they sort things out earlier in the fall so people can plan better

 

[LoafSkier19]

For sure. I’d never drive up just to ski that lower portion. However, I did enjoy warming up on those trails before getting the skins on and hiking to the summit on my handful of days there.

Just read this great article about the mountain from this month in Downeast Magazine . Sounds like the Perry Williams deal is still on the table albeit revised and not nearly as extravagant as originally planned, a good thing in my opinion. Worth a read.

 

[LoafSkier19]

Some Big Squaw News confirming Perry Williams is still in the process of buying the property and what his development plans are.

Some parts that stuck out:

Williams said this week he is again working with James Confalone, the property owner, to buy the ski area and redevelop it using a state permit approved in September 2022. He and his partners at Big Lake Development Co. want to “go with the exact same package as we had before,” though it would be “phased in over time,” he told Piscataquis County commissioners on Tuesday.

Williams hopes to begin work this summer on the snowmaking system, which was damaged during a devastating wind storm in January. He also wants to tear down old structures on the property that have asbestos, including the hotel, using funds from the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council’s EPA Brownfields revolving loan fund.

The lower portion of the mountain will operate this winter, similar to how it was run by the Friends group, Williams told commissioners. If he orders a new chairlift this summer, installation could begin about a year from now and take from four to six months.

 

[BodeMiller1]

Never Cat skied. Still avoiding fixed grip. Anything that get's me to the top without getting mauled by a bear...

 

[deadheadskier]

September 2024 Update
Big Lake Development Corp has formally withdrawn their agreement to purchase Big Moose/Big Squaw Mountain in Greenville, Maine.

 

[Newpylong]

Shocker

 

[doublediamond]

Sure it's in the middle of nowhere and interest rates are through the roof. But it's my understanding the owner is a real pleasure to work with.

This is what, the third deal to publicly fall through?

 

[raisingarizona]

A snow cat operation there couldn’t ever be profitable. It’s a crazy idea. Maybe a cool hobby gig for a bored mega millionaire or billionaire but other then that Fuhgettaboutit.

 

[Cat in January]

There is some money backing the volunteers that run the mountain. They do an amazing job. I don’t think they loose money on the cat skiing. Cat is paid for. So just fuel.

Yeah the owner is a jerk. He lost his shirt when his poorly maintained airline had a plane fall out of the sky and the resulting lawsuits took all his money. No idea how it didn’t take the mountain too. The deal has only been with the same snake oil salesman that has fallen through. They are made for each other.

Somehow the volunteers keep it going hoping someone sees the value in the place. It was fun to skin and ski the upper mountain last year

 

[deadheadskier]

Maybe if Saddleback does well and shows a profitable and sustainable business, another company takes a look at Big Moose and makes a go of it. While it looks way far North, it's only about a 15 minute further drive from the south than Saddleback.

Isn't the owner of the property getting up there in years? Wonder if he has a next generation that wants anything to do with the place. At least he hasn't appeared to be too much of a roadblock for the volunteer team keeping it going.

I just hope next season the Cat operation is better organized. They need to open the reservation system in the fall, get the corporate buyout weekends established and allow individual buyers time to plan their visit.

 

[bigbob]

I think he has an agreement he signed when he bought the place from the state of Maine that he has to run the ski area. Any improvements the volunteers do to the property is free value to him. Why not be nice?

 

[LoafSkier19]

Funny as I drove by there to spend the weekend in Rockwood and golf at Kineo. I was wondering where that deal was at. Sure enough this news comes out the next morning.

A lot of people in the Greenville/Rockwood area for the annual sea plane fly-in weekend. Every place we went to was packed. Was nice to see some life up in this area compared to the winter time.

I’m curious where the State of Maine lawsuit currently is at with the owner. Last I knew he was appealing the court’s decision?

 

[thetrailboss]

There is some money backing the volunteers that run the mountain. They do an amazing job. I don’t think they loose money on the cat skiing. Cat is paid for. So just fuel.

Yeah the owner is a jerk. He lost his shirt when his poorly maintained airline had a plane fall out of the sky and the resulting lawsuits took all his money. No idea how it didn’t take the mountain too. The deal has only been with the same snake oil salesman that has fallen through. They are made for each other.

Somehow the volunteers keep it going hoping someone sees the value in the place. It was fun to skin and ski the upper mountain last year

Holy crap you’re right. There’s an episode of Air Crash Investigations on it.

And maybe I’m wrong, but didn’t the summit chair have a catastrophic failure that resulted in folks needing to be evacuated before it closed for good?