March 19, 2007
Nordic conundrum | Maine's cross-country ski areas fight to hang on amid pressure from nonprofits
By Kerry Elson
Can you still run a for-profit cross-country ski center in Maine? That's the question Nordic ski center operators around the state are asking as they watch former customers head for a growing array of nonprofit ski areas run by towns, volunteer groups and charitable foundations. The competition is beginning to put the squeeze on some ski operators, and many of Maine's 22 for-profit Nordic centers are making sometimes costly upgrades to keep up.
In the last five years or so, David Carter, owner of Carter's XC in Bethel and Oxford, has made improvements at both of his locations to keep customers happy. He's spent $27,000 to widen his trails, to almost double their former size. In the Bethel location, he even cut into a mountainside to flatten a trail and make it easier to ski. The investment hasn't yet paid off, he says. "Most people don't know about the changes," he says. To stay afloat in the meantime, he relies on sales at his ski equipment shop.
Nordic skiing has become more popular over the past decade, as new ski techniques and the prohibitive cost of downhill skiing have attracted more people to the sport. From 1997-2005, visits to New England Nordic centers rose 17%, from 360,000 to 421,000, according to the Cross Country Ski Areas Association, based in Winchester, N.H.
That increased interest has led a wave of nonprofit groups to open ski centers of their own, from town-run areas like Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland to Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, a world-class facility funded by the Portland-based Libra Foundation.
Mom-and-pop Nordic operators cite the Libra-funded areas ˆ including the nonprofit Maine Winter Sports Center, which opened trails in Presque Isle and Fort Kent in 1999, and Pineland and Rumford's Black Mountain in 2003 ˆ as among their most formidable competition. "The dragon that raised its head was Pineland Farms," says Tom Gyger, owner of Five Fields Farm in South Bridgton, which began offering Nordic skiing in 1999 to supplement income from his apple orchard. Twin Brook and Black Mountain even offer snowmaking.
That competition is unfair, say some for-profit operators. The nonprofit centers can offer well-groomed trails for free or for the same price as for-profit centers, they say, with donations or foundation money helping to subsidize the cost of equipment and maintenance. In recent months, concern about the number of nonprofit centers has grown, leading some Nordic center owners in January to launch an email discussion group to share ideas and marketing tips. "Those of us who pioneered the XC center concept are no longer able to get by charging [the] skiing population the ticket prices necessary to support $150,000 groomers and the staffs to make them go," wrote one operator.
Andy Shepard, CEO of Maine Winter Sports Center, is not apologizing for the nonprofit centers. In fact, he says, they could boost the industry. "If these community trail systems are successful ˆ if these efforts to create a healthier Maine are successful ˆ think how many new customers these touring centers are going to have," he says. Others, however, are unconvinced, and worry newcomers will choose the nonprofit centers. Steve Wight, who owns the Sunday River Inn & Cross Country Ski Center in Bethel with his wife, Peggy, says ski visits at his area have shrunk by half since the 1980s, from 150-200 per day to about 50 per day this season. The Wights have run the inn/ski center for 37 years; they've put the property on the market for $1.5 million, and are planning to retire this year. They say the inn has traditionally carried the ski concession, and that only occasionally has the ski business been profitable.
"I don't believe [skiing] can possibly function as a stand-alone business," Steve Wight says. "The nonprofit has taken over."
"The skiers know the difference"
Competition among for-profit centers is a factor, too. Stan Hujsak ran Ski-a-Bit, a Nordic area located on his West Buxton hay farm, for 14 years before calling it quits two years ago ˆ he was losing Portland-area customers to the ski business run by Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook. "There just wasn't enough business," Hujsak says.
And not every for-profit ski center is losing customers to the nonprofits. Harris Farm Cross Country Ski Center, located in Dayton, 10 minutes west of Biddeford, sees about 500 skiers per week, says co-owner Dixie Harris. Its southern Maine location helps, she says, as does a willingness to spend money on upgrades. Ten years ago, she and her husband spent $90,000 building a new skiers' lounge and retail shop. They're still paying off the investment, she says.
Harris Farm, like many cross-country ski areas in the region, is a working farm; a winter ski business can be a logical way to further expand an already diversified family business. Harris is quick to tout the business aspect of her ski center, and argues that volunteer-run municipal trails, such as those at Riverside golf course in Portland, can't compete with what she can offer on her farm's 1,000 acres. "The free places don't groom as often. They can't possibly do as good as we do here," she says. "You pay for what you get. The skiers really do know the difference."
Other Nordic centers, though, have seen a drop in customers since the nonprofit areas opened. Carter says some former customers now ski at Pineland Farms, which offers wider, well-groomed trails that are closer to the Greater Portland area. "The first year they opened Pineland it just changed [for us] overnight," Carter says. Attendance dropped to 50 per week at the Oxford location, he says, down from 150-200 per week. Pineland Farms currently sees about 5,500 skiers per year, according to Scott Bevins, who runs the facility's visitor center.
Some for-profit centers are holding special events to attract new customers. At Five Fields Farm, Gyger noticed that skier visits at his center leveled off at about 1,500 per year after Pineland opened. So last year he hosted the town's annual Musher's Bowl dog racing event, which attracted 400-500 people to his property. "All last year my name was in the paper and it helped," he says. In recent weeks, several dog sledding teams have asked to practice on his trails.
For now, some operators are unsure if the extra effort will pay off. And even with the extra investment, they say, no one can ski if there's no snow on the ground. Except, that is, skiers who frequent Twin Brook or Black Mountain.
In the last five years or so, David Carter, owner of Carter's XC in Bethel and Oxford, has made improvements at both of his locations to keep customers happy. He's spent $27,000 to widen his trails, to almost double their former size. In the Bethel location, he even cut into a mountainside to flatten a trail and make it easier to ski. The investment hasn't yet paid off, he says. "Most people don't know about the changes," he says. To stay afloat in the meantime, he relies on sales at his ski equipment shop.
Nordic skiing has become more popular over the past decade, as new ski techniques and the prohibitive cost of downhill skiing have attracted more people to the sport. From 1997-2005, visits to New England Nordic centers rose 17%, from 360,000 to 421,000, according to the Cross Country Ski Areas Association, based in Winchester, N.H.
That increased interest has led a wave of nonprofit groups to open ski centers of their own, from town-run areas like Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland to Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, a world-class facility funded by the Portland-based Libra Foundation.
Mom-and-pop Nordic operators cite the Libra-funded areas ˆ including the nonprofit Maine Winter Sports Center, which opened trails in Presque Isle and Fort Kent in 1999, and Pineland and Rumford's Black Mountain in 2003 ˆ as among their most formidable competition. "The dragon that raised its head was Pineland Farms," says Tom Gyger, owner of Five Fields Farm in South Bridgton, which began offering Nordic skiing in 1999 to supplement income from his apple orchard. Twin Brook and Black Mountain even offer snowmaking.
That competition is unfair, say some for-profit operators. The nonprofit centers can offer well-groomed trails for free or for the same price as for-profit centers, they say, with donations or foundation money helping to subsidize the cost of equipment and maintenance. In recent months, concern about the number of nonprofit centers has grown, leading some Nordic center owners in January to launch an email discussion group to share ideas and marketing tips. "Those of us who pioneered the XC center concept are no longer able to get by charging [the] skiing population the ticket prices necessary to support $150,000 groomers and the staffs to make them go," wrote one operator.
Andy Shepard, CEO of Maine Winter Sports Center, is not apologizing for the nonprofit centers. In fact, he says, they could boost the industry. "If these community trail systems are successful ˆ if these efforts to create a healthier Maine are successful ˆ think how many new customers these touring centers are going to have," he says. Others, however, are unconvinced, and worry newcomers will choose the nonprofit centers. Steve Wight, who owns the Sunday River Inn & Cross Country Ski Center in Bethel with his wife, Peggy, says ski visits at his area have shrunk by half since the 1980s, from 150-200 per day to about 50 per day this season. The Wights have run the inn/ski center for 37 years; they've put the property on the market for $1.5 million, and are planning to retire this year. They say the inn has traditionally carried the ski concession, and that only occasionally has the ski business been profitable.
"I don't believe [skiing] can possibly function as a stand-alone business," Steve Wight says. "The nonprofit has taken over."
"The skiers know the difference"
Competition among for-profit centers is a factor, too. Stan Hujsak ran Ski-a-Bit, a Nordic area located on his West Buxton hay farm, for 14 years before calling it quits two years ago ˆ he was losing Portland-area customers to the ski business run by Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook. "There just wasn't enough business," Hujsak says.
And not every for-profit ski center is losing customers to the nonprofits. Harris Farm Cross Country Ski Center, located in Dayton, 10 minutes west of Biddeford, sees about 500 skiers per week, says co-owner Dixie Harris. Its southern Maine location helps, she says, as does a willingness to spend money on upgrades. Ten years ago, she and her husband spent $90,000 building a new skiers' lounge and retail shop. They're still paying off the investment, she says.
Harris Farm, like many cross-country ski areas in the region, is a working farm; a winter ski business can be a logical way to further expand an already diversified family business. Harris is quick to tout the business aspect of her ski center, and argues that volunteer-run municipal trails, such as those at Riverside golf course in Portland, can't compete with what she can offer on her farm's 1,000 acres. "The free places don't groom as often. They can't possibly do as good as we do here," she says. "You pay for what you get. The skiers really do know the difference."
Other Nordic centers, though, have seen a drop in customers since the nonprofit areas opened. Carter says some former customers now ski at Pineland Farms, which offers wider, well-groomed trails that are closer to the Greater Portland area. "The first year they opened Pineland it just changed [for us] overnight," Carter says. Attendance dropped to 50 per week at the Oxford location, he says, down from 150-200 per week. Pineland Farms currently sees about 5,500 skiers per year, according to Scott Bevins, who runs the facility's visitor center.
Some for-profit centers are holding special events to attract new customers. At Five Fields Farm, Gyger noticed that skier visits at his center leveled off at about 1,500 per year after Pineland opened. So last year he hosted the town's annual Musher's Bowl dog racing event, which attracted 400-500 people to his property. "All last year my name was in the paper and it helped," he says. In recent weeks, several dog sledding teams have asked to practice on his trails.
For now, some operators are unsure if the extra effort will pay off. And even with the extra investment, they say, no one can ski if there's no snow on the ground. Except, that is, skiers who frequent Twin Brook or Black Mountain.
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