Index
Northwestern Wilderness Of Maine
Personal Essays
Enchanted Mountain Ski Area
During the 1960s a proposal was made to construct a year round resort on Coburn Mountain, 15 miles south of Jackman, just off route 201.The facility would be constructed in the Johnson Mountain and Upper Enchanted Townships. The name of this facility would be called Enchanted Mountain Ski Area.
Coburn Mountain is 3718 feet above sea level. The annual snowfall in this area is abundant. The view from the top was awesome. You could see hundreds of miles away on a clear day.
The spring they began construction, the access road, parking lots, lodge foundation, ski trails and lift lines were surveyed. Cutting the trees to clear the surveyed areas took months of hard work. Swarms of blackflies and mosquitos attacked the busy cutting teams, while they had both hands on the controls of their heavy chain saws. Heavy rain impeded progress. Deep mud caused by the rain and spring run off made it difficult to pull the wood from the construction areas.
An access road into the facility, two parking lots, a beautiful log lodge, two trails and lift lines were constructed the first year. The short beginners trail was located below the ski lodge. A bunny lift, that paralleled it, would be simple and safe for a young skier to use. The intermediate trail was located high above the ski lodge, on a very steep slope, that would be exciting for the intermediate skier. The long T-Bar lift, that paralleled it, could pulled the skiers rapidly up the face of the mountain.
The log lodge was built with an oversize handcrafted stone fireplace and matching mantle spanning one side of the lounge area.Two walls of the lounge area contained large windows in-line with the two ski trails. A small store was fabricated inside the lodge for sales and rentals of ski clothes and equipment. A small food bar was fabricated inside the lodge across from the small store to supply hot sandwiches and hot drinks to the frozen skiers became very popular.
Forest Hills High School started a program for students to learn ski teaching. A bus hauled the members to and from the Enchanted Mountain Ski Area. In no time at all students were learning the Natur-Teknik ski teaching technique, originated by Walter Foeger of Austria and endorsed as the American Ski Teachers Association of Natur-Teknik (ASTAN). Students could advance in the ASTAN program, after graduating from high school, by taking an exam of certification to become a professional ski instructor at Jay Peak, Vermont.
Each winter I went to every class offered by the high school. During winter weekends and holidays I continued to practiced my skiing lessons. I was amazed how fast I could master these simple natural movements. The program boasted that within ten days of training you could gracefully parallel ski down any grade slope with or without ski poles. The program kept its promise.
Most of the days I spent at Enchanted, it was either snowing or it had snowed during the night. The days it was snowing, the snowflakes were usually as large as Beech leaves. On dark days the wind and low temperatures were unbearable. I sometimes wondered why I was enjoying this artic sport, especially at this elevation. On the sunny days, it was comfortable skiing is a sweater.
The Enchanted Mountain Ski Area continued to developed. Soon a chair lift was built and expert trails weaved their way around trees and jagged cliffs. The feasibility study planned lifts and trails all over the mountain. Golf courses and several lodges were also planned along with trails for horseback riding. Ice Skating rinks, hiking trails, beaches for swimming, areas for fishing were sketched out. Futured plans endorsed something for tourist year round.
Suddenly, the economy turned, the ski area became penniless. The lodge and lifts were dismantled and hauled away to their new owners. Even the oversize handcrafted stone fireplace and matching mantle was carefully loaded onto a flat-bed trailer.
It will take several decades for the wilderness to cover the scars made by months of planning and years of construction, but the wonderful memories of those involved in the Enchanted Mountain Ski Area will always commemorate each moment.