Big Squaw Maine Cat Skiing

[raisingarizona]

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

Ok but you still have to pay the cat driver, insurance, a guide with at least first aid first responder to get people safely down the mountain during an incident or someone capable for that and then there's the cat and ski run maintenance etc. Besides all of that how many days a season is the natural snow skiing good enough for people to justify spending money for cat rides there? If it's not soft snow skiing then you'd have to groom the runs, that's another large expenditure and if you can afford to drive there to pay for such an experience why not just fly out west to a location that can better guarantee quality conditions?

I just don't understand how north eastern United States cat operation could possibly make any sense. The weather is way too fickle and the overhead way too high imo. I'm a simple poor man ski bum so maybe I don't have a grasp on how many rich people skiers are actually out there with nothing better to do.

 

[doublediamond]

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?

Yes. March of 2004 a grip failed and a loaded chair slid backwards. the chair it hit then failed and they both slid further. 4 injuries.

 

[doublediamond]

I just don't understand how north eastern United States cat operation could possibly make any sense. The weather is way too fickle and the overhead way too high imo. I'm a simple poor man ski bum so maybe I don't have a grasp on how many rich people skiers are actually out there with nothing better to do.

The non-profit Friends of the Mountain offer cat rides for fundraising. IIRC $50 a trip up. The cat is paid for. The trails were cleared. They dream of eventually having the top serviced by a lift but that is millions of dollars they don’t yet have. The non-profit is also trying to shore up what little remains possible of the Hotel and upper lodge. However the non-profit got royally f*****d by the Christmas floods last year: they complexly lost their ability to make what limited snow they could make.

The owner has been in public talks with multiple development groups to redo the whole place: HSQ, new hotel and lodges, expansion. But they’ve fallen through. No for-profit group would run cat rides to the summit.

These two points are completely separate.

 

[thetrailboss]

Yes. March of 2004 a grip failed and a loaded chair slid backwards. the chair it hit then failed and they both slid further. 4 injuries.

This guy clearly can’t take care of mechanical things.

 

[Newpylong]

This guy clearly can’t take care of mechanical things.

I doubt he was the one out there re-torquing grips 20 years ago.

 

[thetrailboss]

I doubt he was the one out there re-torquing grips 20 years ago.

Of course. That's not my expectation. My point is that the buck stopped with him for both Big Squaw and Chalk's Airways and in both cases there were massive mechanical failures that were the result of inadequate maintenance/sloppy work/cutting corners to save money. As to the former it ended that ski area. As to latter, lives were lost in addition to that company completely falling apart. He does not have a good track record.

 

[2Planker]

Jackson XC Center is trying to buy their Cat

 

[Cat in January]

The trail boss nailed it. He lost most of his money when the plane fell out of the sky. Problems with maintenance were extensively documented.

He has lost his last appeal on a State of Maine lawsuit that timber was illegally cut and he has not lived up to the terms of sale by the state to him that he maintain the ski area. Hopefully this brings some more pressure to remove Canfolone as owner of the land.

I did not know about Jackson trying to buy the cat from the friends of the mountain. They have worked tirelessly to improve the infrastructure of the area. Twice now they have been put on hold while Williams tries to work a deal mostly based around state guaranteed loans. His whole deal was cashing in on multimillion dollar homes down on the lake. The ski area was the curtain in front. Once the sewer, road, electrical infrastructure was in, the resort was to be spun off as a nonprofit. Folks weren’t seeing that part and weren’t paying too much attention to the play for expensive housing. Glad he’s gone.

RA the cat rides as mentioned above were cheap relative and allowed folks to ski the old trails they loved. If you check photos pretty simple gear and clothes.

 

[raisingarizona]

The trail boss nailed it. He lost most of his money when the plane fell out of the sky. Problems with maintenance were extensively documented.

He has lost his last appeal on a State of Maine lawsuit that timber was illegally cut and he has not lived up to the terms of sale by the state to him that he maintain the ski area. Hopefully this brings some more pressure to remove Canfolone as owner of the land.

I did not know about Jackson trying to buy the cat from the friends of the mountain. They have worked tirelessly to improve the infrastructure of the area. Twice now they have been put on hold while Williams tries to work a deal mostly based around state guaranteed loans. His whole deal was cashing in on multimillion dollar homes down on the lake. The ski area was the curtain in front. Once the sewer, road, electrical infrastructure was in, the resort was to be spun off as a nonprofit. Folks weren’t seeing that part and weren’t paying too much attention to the play for expensive housing. Glad he’s gone.

RA the cat rides as mentioned above were cheap relative and allowed folks to ski the old trails they loved. If you check photos pretty simple gear and clothes.

Haha, I meant someone operating the business in relation to being wealthy. As in, you'd have to be already financially comfortable to take on such a business.

Mount Lemon Ski Area in Arizona is an example of such a business. It doesn't make any money but the owner is extremely wealthy and enjoys opening the place up when there's enough snow.