Outdoors
Downhill Skiing

Maine Sunday Telegram - SKIING

January 2007

"Raising serious Dough on Snow"

January 28, 2007

One of the things I love about skiing is that skiers are positive people. Skiers are doers, gregarious and for the most part - generous. I’m not referring to taking turns in the lift line (that doesn’t always happen on a powder day). I am talking about skiers that volunteer their time or donate cold, hard cash for those less fortunate. There are more charitable events than I can name taking place here in Maine, in winter, on snow.

“We all love our time at the Loaf, and one of the many wonderful things I love about the Sugarloaf community is that we are always there for each other, when the snow is great, and also when we are personally challenged with health issues like breast cancer,” said Meredith Strang Burgess of Cumberland. Burgess is a coordinator of Sugarloaf’s annual Charity Summit, held last weekend, which raised over $180,000 for cancer care and research.

“The Charity Summit is a fun event for a serious cause, benefiting the Maine Cancer Foundation and the Martha B. Webber Breast Care Center. Best of all, all the money raised at Sugarloaf stays in Maine,” said Burgess. This fun fundraiser at Sugarloaf entertains skiers and non-skiers alike, kicking off with a “Laugh-in at the Loaf” comedy night with Maine humorist Gary Crocker.

Saturday’s on snow events are silly but serious moneymakers. Skiers and snowboarders raise money to race against Sugarloaf’s mascot Amos the Moose, former Red Sox Jim Lonborg and former Governor Angus King. Racers who drum up $1,200 are dubbed “Snowfield” level and receive new Rossignol skis or a snowboard. The “Eat Crow Race” pits the Perfect Turn ski instructors against the Ski Patrol to hash out this age-old rivalry in the gates. The “Hunt for a Cure” is a pay to play on-snow scavenger hunt for families.

Saturday evening’s Charity Ball is Sugarloaf’s social event of the season, with dancing to a band and an auction where you can bid on a snowboard date with Seth Wescott, a Harley Davidson or an authentic chair from the Spillway lift.

Sunday River is currently hosting the 2nd annual Lenny Clarke Celebrity Ski Classic. TV Comedian Clarke came to the resort last year to host the first event and raised over $70,000 for The Genesis Fund, which benefits New England children born with birth defects. This year’s event brings former Patriots Quarterback Scott Zolak and Tackle Max Lane to the slopes along with Bruin Jay Miller to add to the weekend of comedy and Poker Runs.

Shawnee Peak participates in numerous charitable ski events, the biggest is the Feb. 2 Moonlight Charity Challenge, which has raised $350,000 in its twelve years to benefit Shawnee Peak’s Adaptive Program and Camp Sunshine - a Casco retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

If you put a team of four together and raise at least $300, you can compete in Friday’s Moonlight Race. Imagine how good it feels to race under the lights knowing that your fun run may help send a sick child to camp this summer on Sebago Lake. Fellow fundraisers socialize in Blizzards Pub after the race over dinner and an awards ceremony.

Shawnee Peak is making fundraising a weekly event now by hosting “non-profit days.” That’s not a joke about how unprofitable the ski business is this season. Each Thursday, Shawnee Peak will donate 10% of the day’s lift ticket revenue to a designated non-profit including Big Brother and Big Sister organizations, Animal Welfare, The American Heart Association, and The Red Cross. The charity of the day is on hand to educate the skiing public about how their donation helps.

I can’t write about volunteerism and people-helping-people without mentioning Maine Handicapped Skiing, now celebrating 25 years. MHS is a quarter-century success story, providing over 1,200 ski and snowboard lessons completely free at Sunday River and Sugarloaf to handicapped individuals each year. The MHS staff of over 350 volunteers is the epitome of a do-good operation.

Their biggest event of the year, providing 65% of MHS’s funding, is the March 24 Ski-A-Thon at Sunday River. In its 22nd year, the goal is to generate more than last year’s $330,000 in pledges – admittedly lofty. But this gusty group of volunteers and handicapped athletes has a 25-year reputation of overcoming limitations and doubts, turning them into incredible on-snow triumphs. Now is the time to form a team, raise money, and get ready for a feel-good day of Ski-A-Thon fun.

Ladies, if you can’t attend these events, but want to feel better about buying new skis, check out K2’s “just cause” product line of women specific gear. First, it’s pink. Second, when you purchase the pretty skis and accessories with the ribbon emblem - a donation is made by K2 toward the fight against breast cancer.

These charitable activities redefine the expression “earn your turns.” If your wallet is deeper than this year’s snow pack, or you have a little time to volunteer at one of these worthy winter events, contact the resorts to help raise some dough on snow.

"Early bird gets first chair"

January 21, 2007

She loves skiing enough to get to the ski resort before 6am, hours before they open. She’s willing to ski every day, in every kind of condition imaginable. She then shares the goods and emails the word out to everyone in her address book, many of them complete strangers. This is a day in the life of a Team Snow member at Sunday River.

Kate MacBain of Hanover is amid her first season on Team Snow. MacBain graduated Colby College last spring, and became Sunday River’s snow reporter this November.

“Most of the time I have a dream job,” said MacBain. “I like being up early, I love to ski and I have an interest in writing, so the job has a nice mix with plenty of outside time.”

“It has been a tough winter as far as snow,” said MacBain. “It’s a challenge reporting on the snow conditions we have had at times, but it is all the more important to get the word out about the skiing and the snowmaking progress in a season like this.”

MacBain reports for duty 2 ˝ hours before the ski area opens. She begins her day by checking the ski area specific weather forecast, which updates hourly, and reviewing what happened overnight on the mountain. She checks in with patrol, snowmakers and groomers to make sure the plan was executed according to the previous day’s snow plan meeting. She then sends her report to various websites like snocountry.com, skimaine.com, ski shops around New England, and area hotels.

MacBain said, “I can get my work done before the chairlift even starts running. That way I can be on first chair. It’s definitely nice to be able to sample the snow at that point.”

After a few runs and capturing photos to post on the website as “photo of the day,” MacBain writes her firsthand snow report to be emailed to subscribers. Another snow reporter duty is to record a snow phone message two times daily for skiers and riders who call in for up to the moment conditions. Then it’s time to attend today’s snow plan meeting to learn from mountain operations where snowmaking and grooming will occur tonight for the following day. And the cycle repeats itself.

Despite the obvious first track privileges, there is a certain pressure to report an honest, accurate, up to the minute snow report every morning, knowing this description of the day’s conditions could determine a recipient’s plans of whether or not to hit the slopes.

“I do feel a certain pressure,” said MacBain. “I sometimes joke with my friends that I always find the skiing good, I just love to ski and so I can always find something great to report about it. But I know I have to be honest. If it’s raining, I am not going to report that it’s sunny or snowing. I want to be credible.”

MacBain, known on line and in her emails as “Kate, Team Snow”, says there are several sources for a virtual snow fix if you can’t make it to the slopes on a given day. “We have lots of photos on the website, updated all the time, and there are videos, and a snow phone you can call.” MacBain says her consistent message to people this season is “Just because there isn’t snow in your backyard, there’s a ton of it here. We have made so much snow at Sunday River, we brought truckloads to Portland last week and set up an urban terrain park.”

MacBain said she has received positive feedback concerning her snow reports. “I get emails from people saying they feel like they know me and that we’re friends, which is nice. And they look forward to getting my reports. That’s a rewarding part of my job. Sometimes people even recognize me in the lift line and say, “you must be Kate,” and that’s fun.”

Sound like the ideal job? MacBain says snow reporting comes with a dose of sleep-deprivation, making socializing in the evening difficult, given the perpetual early morning. But the wake-up call typically promises fresh groomed corduroy.

MacBain says in her first season she continues to find new favorite trails, “I liked Monday Mourning for a while, then Upper Downdraft when that opened with fresh snow. Every time we open up new terrain I find something I like more. I hope to stay in the ski industry.”

"Where's winter? El Nino spells El Problema"

January 14, 2007

It’s all the boy’s fault. Lack of snow and unbelievably warm temperatures that have plagued Maine ski areas so far this winter are a result of an El Nino (Spanish = boy) according to Meteorologist Russ Murley.

El Nino is a naturally occurring cycle of warm weather emanating from the Pacific, but in Maine’s ski country it is “El Problema.” When it doesn’t snow, ski areas spend more money and man-hours to cover their otherwise bare trails. It’s compounded when it is too warm to make snow, like last weekend’s 60-degree spike. The dilemma continues, when less skiers visit these resorts due to their own brown (even green) backyards.

“It’s been well over a year since there’s been a significant snow fall in Portland,” said Josh Burns, owner of Mount Abram Ski Area. “Without a big storm, we aren’t going to see the day skiers which are our bread and butter.”

It’s mid-January, amid another important holiday weekend, and ski trail counts are 30-50% at resorts with adequate snowmaking capability. Ski areas with less sophisticated equipment and smaller budgets struggle with 1- 4 trails open, while a few Maine ski areas haven’t even opened yet due to the weather.

“I can’t remember past years seeing such low trail counts at this point in the season.” Burns said. “We managed to open top to bottom skiing at Mount Abram before Christmas, one of the few areas to do so.”

The big guns, Sunday River and Sugarloaf, and also Shawnee Peak and Saddleback, have been able to produce snow, but have had to resurface trails to maintain quality conditions while pushing forward to open new terrain.

Sugarloaf’s communication director Bill Swain said, “Obviously we don’t have as much terrain as we typically do by this time of year, but we’ve got quite a bit for every ability, including legitimate steeps such as Skidder.”

With Saddleback’s recent snowmaking upgrades and higher elevations, they have been able to cover about 18 of their 60 trails. “We continue to groom nightly and when the temps are right we continue to pump out snow,” said JoAnne Taylor at Saddleback. Despite the weather challenges, Taylor reported a 13% increase in ticket sales over Christmas versus the previous year.

Sunday River reported over 50 of their 131 trails open for the holiday week (versus last year with about 100) and nearly as many skiers as last season, according to Sunday River communication director Alex Kaufman, with more trails than any other resort in Maine or New Hampshire.

“While we do see more committed skiers and riders from other resorts when the skiing is lean in the East, we see less fair-weather folks who wait for snow in the cities,” said Kaufman. “The fair-weather folks are the ones that tend to make a ski season succeed, so anything that gets the occasional skier thinking snow is a bonus."

Roger Arsenault, Board Chairman of Black Mountain in Rumford said, “Skier visits are down as people do not expect the conditions to be good - but they are.” With only 30% of the normal cold temperatures for snowmaking, Black has managed to make snow on their alpine, cross-country and tubing terrain. This weekend Black is hosting the Eastern Cup Chummy Broomhall Nordic race on 2 kilometers of manmade Nordic trails.

Andy Shepard, Executive Director of Maine Winter Sports which operates Black, said, “We are making snow to the top of the mountain, but like most areas in Maine, it will either be the next big storm or late January before we have the whole mountain open.”

Shawnee Peak’s spokesperson, Melissa Rock said, “Snowboarders and freestyle skiers come out in all temperatures and weather conditions. We are skiing from the top with several avenues down the mountain and two terrain parks open. We have made tons of snow and will continue to.”

Vermont and New Hampshire have been in the same no-snow boat.

Sugarloaf’s Swain said, “I think people who ski regularly in good snow years, and not so good, know that we are pretty darn good at making our own snow to create some great skiing. Folks who don’t get up here as often have been pleasantly surprised by how good the conditions are.”

On the bright side, Maine skiers were spared the typical dark and cold December. So many ski days have been spring-like, 40-degrees and sunny. And so far, there has been no heavy shoveling, no frostbite or below-zero cold snap.

Murley provides meteorological hope for skiers based on previous El Nino winters. “The 1992-93 season was largely a warm and discouraging November and December, the pattern changed dramatically by the middle of January, ”said Murley. “February and March brought record amounts of snow to parts of the Northeast.”

Bill Swain at Sugarloaf said, “Even though it’s green where you are, it’s white here. I think most of our guests are pleased with the winter experience they are getting. Of course a little help from Mother Nature would be greatly appreciated.”

"Ski Yourself Slim"

January 7, 2007

How’s that resolution going? Are you one of the millions who resolved to lose extra pounds and get in better shape this year?

As I looked around the liftline recently, surrounded by fit, trim skiers and boarders, the thought occurred to me – maybe skiing should be part of more people’s “New Year, new you” plan. Skiing is a phenomenal calorie burner, burning around 500 calories an hour, trouncing walking at 150, and aerobics or biking at about 400.

I think this skiing statistic could provide motivation for millions. Would you rather spend hours in a fitness facility, breathing in the pungent scent of other people’s feet, or be out in the fresh air atop a snow-covered mountain? Tough choice, I realize. Why diet when you can downhill? I would much prefer to carve one trail after another than to go to Curves moving from machine to machine.

Diet programs and products are a $40 billion business; just a slender slice of that bread could do wonders for the lightweight $3 billion ski industry. Americans are spending big bucks on exercise equipment that ends up as clothing hangers and health membership cards that go un-punched. A season’s pass to a ski area is much more social, and far less static than a stationary bike.

If skier growth is flat and our population is growing wider, maybe we need to get more people on the healthy hills. Perhaps the ski industry needs to promote the skier’s svelte waistline. Adults might be more tempted by the high-speed fat burning facts than high-speed lifts and snowmaking stats. As for our younger generations, kids should be encouraged to learn the lifetime sport of skiing or snowboarding, instead of being allowed to lounge on the couch developing fat cells (which also last a lifetime).

Skiing is a lifestyle, and a healthy one at that. Ski area ads currently tout their number of snowmaking guns and snow covered runs. I have every reason to believe that marketing message is only reaching folks who already ski. A “ski yourself slim” slogan could be the ticket to reaching non-skiers.

Mainers complain about the inevitable winter weight gain, cabin fever, and sunlight deprivation. Skiing addresses all of these seasonal symptoms, and it stretches from December through April – longer than most diet programs last.

At some point in the past few decades, the perception of skiing has become “expensive, difficult, and risky.” You could attach those same adjectives to dieting I suppose.

I remember a time (now I am sounding old) when skiing was alluring, popular, and social. Tight black stretch pants were all the rage on the slopes for the gals, and men wore form fitted sweaters. While I don’t wish for the return of stirrup pants that allow snow into your boot cuffs, I think the baggy snowboard and ski clothes may be a disservice (or at least a disguise) to the healthy inhabitants underneath those puffy layers. Maybe we need to repackage the appeal of fall line fitness.

Bode Miller is a potential poster boy, he can consume all night, and ski all day, and he is fit as can be. The women on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard teams aren’t supermodel thin, but they are being featured in more ads wearing less and less, showing off their toned, muscular bodies.

Perhaps American Skiing Company should partner with Weight Watchers for a season - converting dieters to downhillers. Women in particular have always been a chilly sale for snow resorts but top the scale as dieters.

Ski area cafeterias may need to hide the chili cheese fries from the buffet line and offer more calorie conscious cuisine. Not-so-healthy aprčs ski treats can easily wipe out any gain you made on Fitness Mountain.

Skiing could be the new “North Beach” diet and exercise program. Warren Miller’s next film could be the sequel to this year’s “Off the Grid” with working titles like “Off the Scale.”

I hope this concept takes off, and people hit the slopes to take off the weight. Skiing could be the new resolution solution in winter.

 
©All Rights Reserved on all Stories and Photos on this Web Site. Stories and Photos can not be reproduced in anyway without the express written permission of the Author and/or Photographer.
 
Web Developer: IMS-21