Do You Remember the First Time You Saw Sugarloaf?

'Sugarloaf' Author John Christie Answers Five Questions

Rosemary Herbert

Do You Remember the First Time You Saw Sugarloaf?

The Story of Sugarloaf, published by Down East

    Once upon a time, the skier’s paradise known as Sugarloaf consisted of a single path, hand cleared by a small group of avid skiers. They shared the dream of skiing down the mountain named for the wide-open snowfields that made it appear sugar coated well into the spring. In the summer of 1950 they devoted their weekends to carving out a ski slope on this special Maine mountain. That slope – which they named “Winter’s Way”– became the first attraction in a place that has grown into a four-season, multi-sport resort.

    John Christie fell in love with the place in 1954 and he’s been a Sugarloafer ever since, even serving as general manager of SUGARLOAF/USA . In The Story of Sugarloaf, he tells all about the mountain’s ups and downs, including the resort’s explosive growth during the 1960s, the financial slide that followed, and finally Sugarloaf’s comeback and expansion.
Christie is a member of the Maine Ski Hall of Fame and president of the Ski Museum of Maine. He has served as general manager of both Sugarloaf/USA in Maine and Mt. Snow in Vermont. He was also owner of Saddleback Mountain in Maine and a president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. Knowledgeable about both the sport and business of skiing, Christie is the inside source for the story of one magnificent mountain.

    Herbert: Your connection with Sugarloaf began 53 years ago. Will you share with us your earliest memory of encountering the mountain?

    Christie: My first memory of Sugarloaf is one that made such an impression on me it is as if it happened only last year. But the fact is it was on a February day fifty-three years ago that I got my first look at the snow-capped summit and surrounding snowfields of Sugarloaf.

    I was spending a high school vacation week skiing in Farmington, and took a day to drive north through Kingfield on Route 27. I rounded “Oh-my-gosh” corner and there she loomed, with just a couple of narrow trails ski trails cut into her face. I drove in the rough two mile access road, put on my skis, rode the short rope tow up a piece of Winter’s Way, and then climbed to the summit…getting in just one top-to-bottom run.

    And I was hooked!

    Herbert: What are some of the most outstanding changes you have seen at Sugarloaf over the years?

    Christie: Since I left Sugarloaf in 1968 to go to Vermont, the biggest change is one of scale: more lifts, more trails, more slopeside housing and commercial activity, and more development of the surrounding area.

    In addition, the birth of the Town of Carrabassett Valley, the creation of a superior secondary school, Carrabassett Valley Academy, and the construction of a world-class 18-hole golf course are all quantum leaps forward for the area.
The popularity of snowboarding, and the iconic stature of CVA graduate and local restaurateur Seth Wescott as an Olympic Gold Medalist in the sport represent, for me, a major change in the tone and focus of the area – all for the good.

    Herbert: How did the mountain come to be called Sugarloaf, and how did it later gain the name Sugarloaf/USA?

    Christie: The name derives what appears to be a sugarcoated summit in the winter snow. In 1965, when we built the 8,430 foot gondola to the summit, we felt that the mountain had achieved world-class status, capable of hosting international-caliber competitions and able to attract skiers from afar. Appending “/USA” to the name turns out to have been, in retrospect, perhaps the best marketing decision that was ever made at Sugarloaf – and it’s certainly one of the things that was created on my watch, of which I’m most proud.

    Herbert: What is your wildest memory of time spent on Sugarloaf?

    Christie: Without question, my wildest memory is of the gargantuan effort exerted between the spring of 1965 and February of 1966 in erecting the aforementioned gondola. Eighteen-hour days, sleepless nights, constant concern regarding deadlines and the weather, and the always-present, nagging concern that the task a few of us had taken upon ourselves could never be successfully executed, made that year perhaps the defining twelve months of my life. And the day we loaded our first passengers still stands out, next to the birth of my children, as the proudest moment of my life.

    Herbert: How did you come to write a book about this beloved mountain?

    Christie: If Neale Sweet, the publisher at the time at Down East Books, had not come to me with the idea three years ago, this book would never have been written – at least not by me. Neale had the vision to anticipate an eager market for the story, and the perspicacity to sense that now was the time. What the book needed, he said, was “a voice.” That he offered me that opportunity has turned out to be an act of great good fortune, for someone who has experienced many such moments in his life. I just happened to have been, trite as it sounds, in the right place at the right time. I was in the right place in the spring of 1961 when Amos Winter invited me to work on the Ski Patrol, and I was in the right place in my life in 2005 when Neale Sweet generously agreed to let me try my hand at my first book. I used to think that “a labor of love” was just a phrase. Now I know what one really is.

Register to share your memories of Sugarloaf below and become eligible to win a copy of Christie's book. Order here.

Rosemary Herbert is the publicity director for Down East.

Views expressed in blogs such as Media Mutt and others published on Down East.com reflect neither Down East's editorial stance nor the views of Down East Enterprise.