CARIBOU – Alpine ski enthusiasts have a dream of developing a training hill for the Caribou High School ski team adjacent to the school.

And in an area noted for community enthusiasm when it comes to youth, they’re not about to let the lack of little things – like a sizable hill and funding – get in their way.

“We know, there aren’t any hills,” Sam Collins, a Caribou businessman who is among those spearheading the project, said last week. “But skiing is really growing in Aroostook County and we are trying to bring it back as a lifestyle.”

Currently, Caribou is surrounded by an impressive array of skiing venues. Libra Foundation funds have helped construct world-class Nordic and biathlon trails at the Winter Sports Centers at Fort Kent and Mars Hill.

Those two communities also boast popular alpine ski hills and routinely field top-caliber ski teams.

In Caribou, volunteer labor and materials were combined with donated funds two years ago to develop that city’s Nordic trail network, warming hut and waxing facility.

“Caribou, with the help of individuals, has allowed Nordic skiing to blossom,” Collins said. “Now it’s time to do the same for alpine skiing.”

The high school currently has 25 boys and girls on an alpine team, but the lack of local training facilities means a 45-minute bus trip north or south to train in Fort Kent or Mars Hill, Collins said.

“They have to spend all that time driving there, get in a few runs, then turn around and come home,” he said. “They leave around 3 p.m. and get home around 9, then do homework.”

The last time CHS had a championship alpine team was in 1974, Collins said, when the team practiced on the old Prestile Ski Hill, an area now under private ownership and unavailable.

Preliminary plans call for putting the hill at the south side of the high school near the tree line, where Collins said there is already about 60 feet of elevation.

With the addition of hundreds of truckloads of fill, Collins said, an additional 40 feet can be added and a 500-to-600-foot run created.

It won’t be a world-class slope by any means, but it will be plenty to get her skiers out and active, Andrea Swanberg, team coach, said over the weekend.

“This is a great idea,” she said. “Right now the only way we have to practices is to get on the buses and go, and that means tons of logistics.”

It also means students show up the first day of competition who may not have been on a hill at all that season. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm here but not a lot of base,” she said.

And while the Nordic skiers are enjoying that new warming hut and wax center, the alpine skiers do their waxing at Swanberg’s house.

“Some nights I have to kick them out around 9 p.m.,” she said. “This would really give us the boost we need. Even 600 feet would give us a lot more than we have now.”

The project has received conceptual support from the school board, and Collins said the next step is fund raising. He’s confident it will be an easy sell to get the $25,000 in seed money needed to get the project moving.

Along with the new hill, plans call for a T-bar type pull and warming lodge.

“This is something that will enable kids to get into a sport early and learn skills that lead to a lifelong sport,” he said. “It will also allow youngsters and their families to come out and give the sport a try.”

Collins knows it’s a big undertaking.

“This is a community known for pulling together,” he said. “And this will be a worthy addition to our community.”