Area ski promoters say ‘Let it snow, let it snow’

AUGUSTA – Snow guns are humming again and more of the region’s ski resorts are opening their slopes this weekend, amid hopes of new fortunes in an industry determined to stop its downhill slide.

Maine ski promoters are focusing more and more on youths, hoping to reel in and keep new enthusiasts who will take up the sport for life.

Vermont ski areas have spent millions of dollars adding new ski and tubing trails, expanding snowmaking and improving lodge services to entice old and new customers.

New Hampshire resorts have come up with creative promotions, such as Ragged Mountain’s “Carload Fridays,” in which $40 gets as many people who can squeeze into any vehicle onto its slopes.

But everybody is watching the weather, the most fickle factor in northern New England’s premier winter recreational activity.

Tom McAllister, manager of Saddleback ski area in Rangeley, said he would rather see people shoveling snow than raking leaves this time of the year.

“If you’re raking leaves in December, you’re not thinking about skiing,” said McAllister, whose western Maine ski area was scheduled to open its main trail the day after Thanksgiving.

With weather at least partially to blame, New England’s ski industry followed the national trend as the number of skier and snowboarder days headed downhill for the second consecutive season in 1999-00.

Compounding the trend is a scarcity of available workers, which has at least one Maine resort, Sunday River in Newry, tapping the Australian labor market, according to Greg Sweetser of the Ski Maine Association.

American Skiing Co., which owns Sunday River and five other northern New England ski areas, needs a big lift to recover financially after a string of difficult seasons. Spokesman Skip King is optimistic the weather will turn from foe to friend.

“The weather picture is much improved. You look at most of the long-range forecasts that are out there, and this looks like it’s going to be a normal winter across the nation,” King said.

Snowy weather aside, the industry is going all-out to get the attention and entice skiers and snowboarders. Resorts are especially aggressive in setting out to capture and keep the youth market.

The Maine Winter Sports Center has improved smaller, family-oriented ski areas in northern Maine as part of its mission to promote the skiing lifestyle, especially among youths.

It has helped Quoggy Jo in Presque Isle to acquire more rental equipment and upgrade its rope tow to a t-bar. And it bought Big Rock at Mars Hill, where a maximum price for family passes is being set to keep prices affordable, said Max Saenger, executive director of the sports center.

Shawnee Peak in Bridgton is rewarding high school seniors who get on the high honor roll for the first quarter with a free season pass, valid day and night, for the 2000-01 season.

Shawnee Peak, which plans to open in early December, has increased the seating capacity of its main base lodge by 75 percent and expanded snowmaking, among other improvements.

Sunday River added 30 snowguns to its White Heat Trail, put in a new double-diamond glade trail and a competition half-pipe. And, in response to the burgeoning interest in tubing, it expanded its lighted tubing park.

In New Hampshire, this has been a big week for ski area openings. Attitash-Bear Peak and Loon Mountain opened Wednesday, Bretton Woods opened Thursday, Wildcat opened Friday and Cranmore planned to open Saturday.

Some Granite State resorts are offering interchangeable passes allowing skiers to use different resorts’ slopes. Some offer two-for-one weekday skiing. Dartmouth Skiway has a new $3.5 million 16,000-square-foot base lodge.

Looking to the younger aficionados, Ragged, Cannon, Loon and Waterville Valley have new or expanded tubing areas. Attitash/Bear Peak has opened a “Family Fun” zone for children and Cranmore has a park for its own version of the Extreme Games.

In Vermont, American Skiing’s Killington is expanding snowmaking by 30 percent this season, and installing a half pipe at its base. Jay Peak boasts new aerodynamic tramcars, and Bolton Valley has a new lighted tubing park.

The Ascutney Mountain Resort has a new summit area on its North Peak, and a new mile-long detachable quad lift and six new trails, for an increased vertical drop from 1,530 to 1,800 feet.

Ascutney, Jay Peak, Killington and Bolton Valley are among the 11 Vermont ski areas that planned to operate by Thanksgiving, thanks to a spree of cold temperatures that is letting the resorts power up their snowmaking equipment.