NEWRY, Maine — Sunday River was the first Maine ski resort to open to passholders this fall for one day, on Halloween, before starting the season on Nov. 14.
Sugarloaf staff opened the Carrabassett Valley resort on Saturday, Nov. 23. Rangeley's Saddleback Mountain, twice consecutively voted "Maine's best ski mountain" by Down East Magazine readers, aims to open on Friday, Dec. 6.
It's not Sunday River's earliest opening day, and 10 days after opening, only one lift and a handful of trails were open. Skiers could not make it all the way down before getting back on the chairs returning to the bottom. But without any snow in the forecast, the lift was turning, thanks in part to some brand new, shiny snow guns.
General Manager Brian Heon was thrilled to see visitors making turns and to see the company's latest multimillion-dollar investment bringing returns.
"Snowmaking technology over the past 10 to 12 years has come leaps and bounds," Heon said, standing near the whirring lift. "It's 100 percent more efficient, if not more. So, really embracing this new technology has just allowed us to make snow much faster and much more efficient than 10 or 12 years ago."
Just down the road from the base lodge, a sold-out crowd of more than 300 people who work in Maine's outdoor economy met for their third annual summit.
Jenny Kordick is the executive director of Maine Outdoor Brands.
"This has been an incredible opportunity for people to come together, to connect, and to really celebrate the industry, as well," she said.
It is a celebration that includes a high-energy fashion show featuring 40 brands, but it's also a chance to evaluate how these wide-ranging businesses are doing.
The U.S. Commerce Department reports Maine's outdoor recreation industry contributed $3.3 billion to the state's economy in 2023, amounting to about 4 percent of Maine's total gross domestic product.
Kordick and Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation Director Jeff McCabe also shared they were thrilled Maine voters just approved a $30 million trail bond earlier in the month.
"That's a great opportunity to think about how we design trials. Those are trails for hiking, biking. Those are trails for motorized use, when you think about snowmobiling, when you think about ATVing," McCabe explained. "These are trails that we need to build in a manner that they are more resilient."
Resilience is becoming a word used more and more often in the outdoor recreation world.
In a ballroom of Sunday River's Grand Summit Hotel, the weeklong conference closed out with a panel on climate change. The previous December, the access road to the very same hotel was ravaged by a freak storm, stranding guests and workers until a construction company quickly built a temporary span.
"We recognize that we're gonna have to change and adapt as the climate changes," Kordick said. "We're already seeing that we are resilient. We are innovative. I think looking to all of the four seasons and how can we stretch that?"
Keeping up with big brother
Thirteen miles from Sunday River is Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford, which prides itself on being the more affordable option in the area. It's a nonprofit operation with one-quarter of the trails at a ticket price families can more easily stomach. Roger Arsenault is chairman of the board at Black Mountain. He and the staff recently secured a grant for roughly $1.5 million in snow making equipment. He said some of their existing snow guns are from the 1980s.
"Every piece of it works and adds to the horsepower we have," Arsenault said confidently.
They have to put up $150,000 as well, to get the grant, so local businesses and people donated money and items for an auction.
"The whole community is behind us," Arsenault smiled. "The town fathers as well as businesses."
Sometimes, it takes a village. While the future weather is uncertain, as far as industry passion, the kids are alright.
Jake Tobin and Troy Fowler are students at the University of New England. They joined the summit to pitch their classroom inventions: snowshoes made from used lobster traps and a camping bed made from old surf boards. They showed these ideas to Maine business leaders during the summit.
"We did good. The two of us did good," Tobin joked. "I don't know about the rest of our group, but the two of us definitely did good."
The moment Tobin and Fowler finished speaking with me, they tossed their inventions in the back of a university van and headed up the mountain, catching their first chair of the year.