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Before we can finish grabbing our gear out of the back of the car, we are intercepted by the resort's Operations Manager. He informs us that the power is out, which means the lifts aren't spinning. No skiing today, unfortunately. And tomorrow the resort will be closed due to the wind. That's not exactly the kind of news you want to hear when you're trying to film a ski movie. Instead we take refuge in the massive lodge, and warm ourselves with cups of coffee by the giant hearth. The lodge is beautiful and doesn't have the opulence and glitz of some resorts. Instead, it has a welcoming and relaxed vibe.
Typically Saddleback has one or two of these wind events a year, and our timing was just unlucky. But looking back it was a blessing in disguise because it gave us the opportunity to sit down and really explore Saddleback's story. The resort opened in 1960, and was envisioned to become "the Sun Valley of the East." It wasn't an audacious claim considering Saddleback is one of the bigger ski resorts you can find in New England. It has the highest base elevation of any ski resort in the Northeast with the summit sitting at an impressive 4,120 feet. But it never became as developed as other resorts due to a series of permitting battles.
There are bits of Saddleback history sprinkled all throughout the lodge. | Katie Lozancich photo.
In hindsight it was probably a great thing for the resort—it preserved its iconic winding trails. As a result, Saddleback has quite the reputation for its advanced skiing. The glade Casablanca in particular holds a special place in many New Englanders' hearts for its steep perfectly spaced trees. For the less experienced skiers reading this, don't fret. Saddleback still has plenty to offer and a variety of approachable terrain.
Saddleback is a winter paradise hidden away in Maine. | Katie Lozancich photo.
Originally, Saddleback was built with the hopes of making the surrounding Rangeley area a four-season destination. It seemed like a no-brainer idea since the tiny charming community is perched on the shores of Rangeley Lake, which you can see from the resort. It has all the right ingredients to be a perfect New England getaway: quaint cabins, no shortage of fly fishing, plenty of bodies of water for canoeing and kayaking, and miles upon miles of hiking. When winter comes around, the town doesn't shut down, and instead it becomes a thriving winter getaway. Rangeley is famous for its XC skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and of course downhill and backcountry skiing at Saddleback Mountain. The region typically receives about 200 inches or more of snow annually, so the odds are good for scoring a good day on the mountain. With all this in mind it's no surprise that Saddleback boomed and became one of Maine's most popular ski resorts. At its peak, the resort drew in about 110,000 skiers in a season.
But popularity doesn't always equate to viability. In 2012 the resort was put on the market due to some financial problems. A buyer never came, and eventually, in 2014 the resort closed and its absence was felt throughout Rangeley. We tend to think of ski resorts as these isolated entities, but in reality, they're more interwoven with the economy and its surrounding community than we can even imagine. When a resort closes it's like a factory shutting down. Saddleback was the primary employer in the town, and when it closed hundreds of people lost their jobs. What came next was a mass exodus. Many residents moved to other cities in search of work, and the town population began to dwindle. Home values dropped, and many young families were forced to relocate. Restaurants, hotels, outdoor gear shops, and even the hospital were dealt a heavy blow from the drop in tourism. What was once a vibrant community became a ghost town.
Mountain Manager Jim Quimby never lost hope that Saddleback would return. | Katie Lozancich photo.
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During the second day of wind we visited the resort while it was closed, and you can only imagine how this massive building stood empty waiting for someone to inject new energy into it. Despite the hard times, the Rangeley residents never lost hope in Saddleback. And their faithful optimism was rewarded in March of 2019. The Boston-based Arctaris Impact Fund made an offer, and eventually purchased the mountain in January 2020. Shortly after, during the height of the pandemic, Arctaris spent the time renovating the lodge, removing old lifts, and installing a new high speed quad lift. By the time they were ready to reopen for business on December 15, 2020 Saddleback was back and better than ever. One Rangeley local who never lost hope was Jim Quimby. Quimby is the mountain manager and is a Saddleback superfan. His office is a little makeshift museum full of Saddleback memorabilia he's collected from over the years. The walls are adorned with old photographs, posters, and all kinds of trinkets from the mountain. For him, losing Saddleback was devastating, but he never fully accepted that it was gone for good.
On our third day in Maine, Mother Nature finally calmed down and graced us with calmer weather. We woke up to blue skies and snow flurries and got ready for a day on the slopes. At the base of the mountain, we followed a crew of locals onto the Rangeley Quad. The lift is a great spot to take in Saddleback's 440 acres of diverse terrain. While the wind added a hiccup in our plans, it ultimately worked out in our favor. The snow was wind-buffed and buttery, and there were plenty of pockets of untouched powder in the glades. After warming up on the lower part of the mountain we headed to the Kennebago Quad to explore the goods of the summit. Saddleback might be a small independent ski resort, but it skis like a big mountain. From the summit we've got 2,000 feet of vertical to ski back to the lodge, and our local guides lead us to Tightline—one of the steep double black runs on the mountain. On the cat track, it felt like we were standing on the edge of the world. When we dropped in we had uninterrupted views of the lake below, and it almost made it hard to focus on the skiing because it was so beautiful. After a few more laps from the summit, we head back to the lodge for drinks and a hearty plate of "tachos"—also known as tater tot nachos. The restaurant is bustling with other skiers from the mountain and all kinds of locals and employees.
On top of the great skiing, the views are hard to beat from the summit. | Katie Lozancich photo.
It's easy to take things for granted, especially ski resorts like your local hill. You figure that they've been around for 50 years or so and that they'll always be there. But as we learned with Saddleback's story, life is unpredictable and ever-changing. It's rare for little ski resorts to come back after being closed, but Saddleback prevailed—largely in part because of all the folks we met during our visit. It's their passion and commitment to the mountain that Saddleback is back better than ever, and I have a feeling it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
