New England What's up with Saddleback - 2019 ?

[LiquidFeet]

....I also remember a couple of ridiculous straight cut, wide trails from the top that were designed so that all the snow would blow off them and you could experience eastern boilerplate on what I am guessing was supposed to be a western style trail.

You have just described Profile at Cannon.

 

[Tony S]

Guess I'll finally have to ski Muleskinner.

Didn't Saddleback have a thing where on a certain day of the season if you could ski a certain run nonstop top to bottom they would comp your lift ticket? Or is my memory both fuzzy and faulty.

Only skied there 2 days and I remember some really nice glades and good soft snow. I also remember a couple of ridiculous straight cut, wide trails from the top that were designed so that all the snow would blow off them and you could experience eastern boilerplate on what I am guessing was supposed to be a western style trail.

There was a period in the 80s when virtually all the areas in New England were trying to create "fall-line skiing". Saddleback was apparently one of them and ended up with that trail. I agree that it was a mistake. At the time it was called Bronco Buster and it so happens that it's the same trail on which they held the nonstop run competition. It was typically bumped up. More recently it has been called "Tightline." Recent competitions have been hardly worthy of the name, since they groomed it out. Basically they wanted it to be a fun family event, not a competition. And you got a free voucher for another visit, not a refund for "today."

Back to the wide fall-line trail thing, I feel the need to point out that while Saddleback has one of these trails, many other eastern areas have bunches - looking at you, Sunday River and Sugarloaf - and they are mostly failures, too, IMHO. The only thing that makes some of them okay at times is being repeatedly blasted by snowmaking guns - not a strength at Saddleback, I'm perfectly happy to say.

 

[Green08]

the replacement of the antiquated Rangeley Double chairlift with a high-speed quad chair

That is a major capital investment, and massively increases operating expenses.
I would have anticipated a fixed grip quad for cost (possibly used) and operational expenses. But only fixed grip lifts puts a resort in mom-n-pop territory most often.
HSQ is a gamble, and a big play to massively lift the profile of Saddleback.
I hope they get a good marketing manager in, and squeeze every drop of media coverage they can out of the resurrection, improvements, and lift install.

 

[Wilhelmson]

So if the qoz fund has to have 90% in qualified assets does this fall in the 10%? Bet somebody has an answer.

 

[Tony S]

I hope they get a good marketing manager in, and squeeze every drop of media coverage they can out of the resurrection, improvements, and lift install.

I hope they get a good marketing manager in and create a fabulously popular hotel and craft brew restaurant down in town, where all the skiers will gravitate by 2:00 every afternoon and wake up so hungover they're not on that high speed quad until 11:00. I hope it makes tons and tons of money so that the mountain can stay operational.

 

[KevinF]

I hope they get a good marketing manager in...

I hope they get a good marketing manager in who wants the New England Gathering to do a Saddleback revisit and who wants to comp us (or at least the gathermeister... ) lift tickets, etc., in exchange for some praise here on Pugski.

Only slightly kidding... I'd love to chat with them.

 

[x10003q]

I hope this works. HSQs are not cheap and not cheap to operate. They have already made a smart decision by not trying to open this year.

 

[ScottB]

I drove there once from Bethel, ME. Its about a 1 hour 30 minute drive (75 miles). About 2/3 of the way there, we climbed a small mtn and it seemed like we were out in total wilderness, not a human or house in site. Eventually we got to Rangely, which is small but developed. I would be surprised if Saddleback will ever draw a huge crowd. Hopefully they will spec the new lift to handle the appropriate capacity and not break the bank.

 

[ScottB]

From my house in MA, its a 4.5 hour drive. It would need to have accommodations like Jay or Sugarloaf to make it attractive for that long a drive. From Sunday River, at a 1.5 hour drive it is a day trip alternative, similar to going over to Wildcat or Attitash

 

[Green08]

They might try and find something in the used market. The old Keystone Montezuma and WP Zephyr were build in 90, and Whistler has replaced Emerald and Harmony. Emerald is the newest of the replaced chairs, being from 97.

They could also get in on the bidding for the Hermitage bubble chair.

Kennebago and South Branch are both Doppelmayr lifts. Could be a likely manufacturer. Whistler’s Emerald from 97, and Hermitages 2015 bubble are both Doppelmayr

 

[Green08]

Saddleback really has two options.


A massive cash infusion that bring the lifts and snowmaking up the state of the art.

Or they could take the slow sustainable road like Magic has been doing.

Cash worked at Crotched, but has not helped Balsams get open, or Burke become sustainable. Slow and sustainable has a good track record in Northern New England.

Hermitage is private. Jay is fraud.

 

[Tony S]

They might try and find something in the used market. The old Keystone Montezuma and WP Zephyr were build in 90, and Whistler has replaced Emerald and Harmony. Emerald is the newest of the replaced chairs, being from 97.

They could also get in on the bidding for the Hermitage bubble chair.

Kennebago and South Branch are both Doppelmayr lifts. Could be a likely manufacturer. Whistler’s Emerald from 97, and Hermitages 2015 bubble are both Doppelmayr

I think they need to just hire you to manage the process.

 

[Tony S]

I drove there once from Bethel, ME. Its about a 1 hour 30 minute drive (75 miles). About 2/3 of the way there, we climbed a small mtn and it seemed like we were out in total wilderness, not a human or house in site. Eventually we got to Rangely, which is small but developed. I would be surprised if Saddleback will ever draw a huge crowd. Hopefully they will spec the new lift to handle the appropriate capacity and not break the bank.

It's not as godforsaken as it seems the first time to you go there "from away." Certainly no more so than Sugarloaf. If your mental geography has NYC at its center, then yeah. You'd be surprised whom you meet on the lift. Sure, lots of people from southern Maine, like me, but also people from places like Halifax and Sherbrooke.

 

[sparty]

From my house in MA, its a 4.5 hour drive. It would need to have accommodations like Jay or Sugarloaf to make it attractive for that long a drive. From Sunday River, at a 1.5 hour drive it is a day trip alternative, similar to going over to Wildcat or Attitash

It certainly feels like a much longer drive than Attitash or Wildcat, but part of that is just how remote the roads feel. Especially since they redid Rt 2 towards New Hampshire, Sunday River to Wildcat is all well-maintained, high quality roadway. Heading up over the Height of Land to Rangely isn't the same kind of road, and if you need to be there for first chair, it's safer to plan on two hours. It will be less most of the time, but a little bit of weather and couple of slow-moving vehicles in front of you can quickly increase the travel time to match the Google estimate of two hours.

Or at that that's the way I remember it, been there for a bunch of races but I don't think I ever drove myself.

 

[TheArchitect]

I've never skied at Saddleback so I'm glad to hear it's re-opening. A weekend split between Saddleback and Sugarloaf (another place I've never been to) sounds like a great plan.

 

[HardDaysNight]

Sounds like everyone should be happy except, if @Muleski is correct, the limited partners of Arctaris.

 

[Muleski]

Sounds like everyone should be happy except, if @Muleski is correct, the limited partners of Arctaris.

It's an exciting development for the area, and for Western Maine. Saddleback has some great skiing, always has. It's also been a struggle to operate from day one, with a long line of optimistic owners. I do not know a THING about Arctaris. The "plans" that they have articulated seem very ambitious, and will require some serious capital expenditure, in addition to simply getting up and operating.

I hope they are tremendously successful. I keep coming back to the number of skier days that every single bit of research says the State of Maine can yield. I hope that Saddleback can cross that 100K mark, and beyond and ticket and pass prices that can sustain the place. That has never happened.

The general thinking that was expressed to me was that to hit that number, you had to grab your customers from the other Maine areas, which tend to have fiercely loyal customer bases.

I WANT it to work. I love to ski there a half dozen days a season. Best of luck!

 

[LiquidFeet]

The latest on Saddleback, Jan 8 2020, from theirregular.com. I found this on the nelsap forum.
Some text has been bolded by me.

Saddleback Update: fundraising goals outlined
| January 08, 2020
By Annie Twitchell
Irregular Staff Writer


People in Rangeley and beyond anxiously wait for news of a successful closing on Saddleback Mountain. Arctaris expects to complete the sale in the second half of January. (Annie Twitchell photo)
RANGELEY — While the closing date on Saddleback Mountain was pushed back to January 2020 instead of Dec. 23 2019, Jonathan Tower from Arctaris Impact Fund shared with The Original Irregular that the $2 million fundraising goal set for December had been met.

“Arctaris expects to complete the purchase of Saddleback Mountain and the New Markets Tax Credit transaction during the latter half of this month following the Jan. 16 Finance Authority of Maine board meeting,” Tower stated in email correspondence with the Irregular.

Arctaris will be working to raise an additional $2 million by the end of January, and a further $1 million by the end of 2020, for a total of $5 million. The fundraising efforts are necessary to unlock the larger New Markets Tax Credits benefits, as they require matching funds from non-government sources. Once the sale is completed, the process begins to reopen the mountain in time for the 2020-2021 ski season.

Under the guidance of former LL Bean executive Andy Shepard, tentative plans include renovations in the base lodge and repairs on the lifts. Donations may be made through the Saddleback Mountain Foundation, a non-profit which has recently partnered with Arctaris to work towards the goal of getting the mountain operational once again.

The Irregular spoke with Wolfe Tone, president of the Saddleback Mountain Foundation, about the deal with Arctaris. “We want this to be the beginning of a new chapter for the Foundation,” Tone said, going on to explain that he feels the new role of the Foundation is to support Shepard, and create a link between the community and the mountain.

For more information about Saddleback, visit www.saddlebackmtnfoundation.org.

https://www.theirregular.com/articles/saddleback-update-fundraising-goals-outlined/

 

[Tony S]

the other Maine areas, which tend to have fiercely loyal customer bases

Which fact has long been a bit of a mystery to me. They all have such profound shortcomings. Not that Saddleback doesn't. But the River? Really? As @aveski says, "It's a quality skiing product."

 

[James]

So, let me get this straight. The last co that “bought” the place. (Did that happen?) Made a big speech saying how it was going to create the top resort in North America. It was so absurd it wasn’t actually funny.

Now, the company that bought the place is looking for donations. Is it going to be a not for profit entity?
Just weird, but at least it’s progress.