BIG MOOSE TOWNSHIP – An ambitious plan by the owner of Big Squaw Mountain Resort and Ski Area to upgrade the facility seems to have stalled, much to the dismay of Moosehead Lake region businesses and winter enthusiasts.

While James and Karen Confalone of Florida have made extensive repairs and improvements to the resort and the ski area’s snow-making equipment since they purchased the facility in the mid-1990s, the resort has yet to be turned into the “first-class” place that James Confalone promised.

In fact, skiers and local officials weren’t even sure the resort and ski area would be open this winter.

The Moosehead Region Chamber of Commerce, which fields calls and e-mails asking about the mountain, learned only recently that it would be open this winter on a limited basis and that the upper mountain would be closed.

“It has been an important part of our economy,” Bob Hamer, the Chamber’s executive director, said Wednesday.

He called it “disappointing” that the ski trails at the top of the mountain would be off-limits again this year. He said the Chamber routinely checks with officials at the mountain and had received a couple of different scenarios in recent months about the mountain’s operation, the first of which was that the resort and mountain would not be open.

William Charles, resort manager, confirmed this week that the resort and the lower mountain and its chairlift will be operational on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting Dec. 23, and on holidays and vacation weeks. He said he was unsure if the restaurant at the resort would open, and he had no comment when asked about the status of the upper mountain.

Some local officials say that Confalone, with help from Rodney Folsom, is concentrating his efforts on a plan to develop Squaw Bay, Moose Island and Mount View Pond, rather than the mountain. This land, which Confalone owns, lies in unorganized territory.

Scott Rollins of the Land Use Regulation Commission said recently that the only document filed thus far with his agency is a forest cutting permit.

Contacted Thursday, Confalone declined to comment on the status of the resort.

Nor has Confalone been willing to share his plans with local officials. Greenville Town Manager John Simko said Confalone has not been forthcoming with any information about the mountain, which is “disappointing.” Even though the mountain and resort is outside of the town, what happens there affects the local economy, the town manager said.

Over the years, Confalone has told the media and local officials that he planned to make the ski resort into a facility unlike any other in the state.

“We haven’t seen anything of yet,” Simko said.

Among Confalone’s plans were to create the longest ski trail in the United States that would incorporate a beginners trail at the top of the mountain and to ferry in passengers by air. Confalone announced in 1999 that he had purchased Chalks International Airlines, believed to be the only scheduled seaplane airline in the world and the oldest, so he could offer flights to and from Bangor International Airport as a tie-in with the resort.

While those are ambitious plans, Simko said he would just like to see the ski resort operational.

“We would love to see the mountain come back to even a semblance of what it was like in its heyday,” he said.

So would members of the ski patrol, the mountain’s ardent fans. Although he said he was “frustrated” that the lift to the top of the mountain would not be operational, Sandy McFarland, head of the volunteer patrol, said Thursday he would continue to dedicate his time to a sport and mountain he loves.

McFarland wrote a successful $25,000 grant from the Tabitha and Stephen King Foundation in recent years to purchase a new rescue snowsled and a new warming hut for the mountain. With the lift to the top not in operation, McFarland said he has been unable to get the hut assembled.

“I’m embarrassed about it,” he said, of not having the hut in place. Water ran through the roof of the old warming hut which has since been razed, according to McFarland. Once the lift is operational, McFarland said the hut would be in place at the top of the mountain.

“We have masons on the patrol, we have pipe fitters, we’ve got a plethora of people with skills that want to jump in to do it,” he said.

Dave Bouchard, another member of the ski patrol, said he hopes that Confalone will continue his work to improve the mountain. “It saddens me that we have such a beautiful recreational resource as Squaw Mountain and not be able to take advantage of it,” Bouchard said.

Simko agreed. “Both as manager and as a longtime resident of this area growing up, you know, I know what the potential of the mountain is and a lot of the longtime residents know that potential, when realized, is great,” he said.

“The Fermata study and a bunch of other studies all point to the need to have something like Squaw Mountain developed, so I think there are a lot of willing partners out there, but the owner has not reached out for help from the town, county or state,” Simko said.

Simko said that if the mountain’s potential were realized, it could “only enhance our wintertime economy and we would love to see that happen.”

“Unfortunately, our hands are tied unless the private owner wishes to make an investment.”