Bigrock Mountain alpine ski area
to lose funding, faces closure
by Kevin Sjoberg
Staff Writer
MARS HILL — The non-profit Maine Winter Sports Center, which has owned the Bigrock Mountain community ski area in Mars Hill since 2000 and has administered outside financial support from the Libra Foundation, announced Tuesday morning that it is ending its relationship with the mountain.
“When we bought Bigrock Mountain in 2000, with the funding from the Libra Foundation, the intent was to give the mountain a meaningful opportunity at being sustainable for the long term,” said Andy Shepard, president and CEO of the MWSC. “At that point we envisioned turning the mountain over to a non-profit, community-based ownership. That time has now come. Bigrock has made significant progress over the past 13 years and we are proud of the work that has been done; it’s time to see if it can become a truly community-backed enterprise again, as Black Mountain recently has become.”
The MWSC announced on June 25 that it would be stepping away from Black Mountain in Rumford after 10 years of ownership. On July 19, it was announced that the community ski area had raised the necessary funding to take over operations and remain open. The MWSC and Libra Foundation then donated the mountain as a gift to the non-profit Black Mountain of Maine, which is led by a local board and has assumed responsibility for operating and funding the mountain moving forward.
Bigrock Mountain, at 980 feet of vertical, is the tallest ski area in northern Maine and the Maritimes. The Maine Winter Sports Center bought the mountain in 1999 and since that time the Libra Foundation has invested over $6 million in improvements, including a dramatically-expanded snowmaking system, a new beginner/intermediate area with a triple chair, a glade park, a magic carpet lift in the ski school park and a tubing park.
The mountain changed its business model radically last year, with a focus on making skiing more accessible to the region and on reaching profitability. It reduced day tickets to $15 and season passes to $150, significantly expanded seating capacity in the lodge and added a new retail area and pub. To help market the mountain, a new website and advertising campaign were also created.
“Season pass sales were up 13 percent last season, day tickets were up 18 percent and rentals were up 42 percent, with overall revenue up 6 percent,” said Shepard. “The mountain still required outside support to remain open last season, but I believe there is a lot of growth potential at Bigrock, with significant opportunities toward creating a stronger connection to the active population in western New Brunswick, Bangor and Aroostook County.
“Bigrock has been a fixture in the winter economy and culture of the region for over 50 years,” he added. “The improvements from the past decade-plus are now firmly in place and there should be great opportunities for the people of Aroostook County to keep Bigrock Mountain going.”
Karin Petrin, the Mars Hill town manager, said the possible closure of Bigrock would be a difficult one to handle.
“I think [Bigrock] is an icon to this community, it’s a way of life for many of the residents here,” Petrin said. “The area, including all of Aroostook County and parts of New Brunswick, really appreciates having the ability to participate in winter recreation activities and the community would be very disappointed not having the ski trails if this doesn’t turn around.”
Petrin said she has been led to believe that an announcement could be coming in the next few days that some community partners “have stepped up” and that the mountain will be opening. Still, Petrin said she is disappointed in the lack of communication Shepard has had with her office and the Town of Mars Hill during the process.
“I wish Andy had been more inclusive with the town of Mars Hill,” said Petrin, who said she was not informed of the announcement until she heard the news while attending a Rotary meeting Tuesday morning. “I’m now deflecting calls from panicked residents who think that the mountain is not going to be open this coming winter season,” she said.
“The bottom line is that whoever runs Bigrock, the town is looking forward to working with them,” she said. “I just wish we could have been in touch sooner so we could have participated, but the town has been kept in the dark just like everybody else.”
