Big Ski Country

Just three days before last Christmas, 55-year-old Eric Hendrickson was worried that he wasn’t going to get the thing he wanted most: snow. Hendrickson, a chemistry teacher at Presque Isle High School, had just returned from his usual night-skiing outing at the nearby Nordic Heritage Ski Center, and conditions were grim.

"It’s horrible," the die-hard cross-country skier joked. "There’s just no snow." Making matters worse was the upcoming event at the Nordic Heritage Ski Center’s sister facility, Fort Kent’s 10th Mountain Ski Center: the Olympic biathlon team trials, which would decide who would represent the U.S. at the winter games in Torino, Italy. Even 55 miles to the north, snow was sparse. Hendrickson, who often handles the timing at races for both centers, knew what that would mean—without more snow, local volunteers would take matters into their own hands, and shovel the white stuff onto the race course.

Of course, the shovel brigade never materialized—because the snow did. Lots of it. Just days before the Olympic trials, the northern reaches of the County were pounded by a major winter storm that left more than three feet of snow in its wake. The overdose of powder is a symbol of the luck of northern Maine’s dedicated skiers. Not only did the nick-of-time storm create ideal conditions for the Olympic trials, but it also formed a base that’s sure to stick around well into April—meaning that, even now, the locals (and anyone else who makes the trip north) are enjoying world-class skiing—for free—on breathtaking trails at state-of-the-art facilities that are the envy of hardcore skiers around the world. If you don’t believe it, you obviously haven’t been. Lucky for you, there’s still time to change your mind: The season’s best skiing is happening right now.

Nordic renaissance

Skiing has been a part of the 'big sky' landscape of northern Maine since the late 1800s, when Swedish settlers proved to locals that skis surpassed snowshoes as winter transportation. In fact, the County is so steeped in skiing history that it inspired Andy Shepard to dream up the Maine Winter Sports Center (MWSC) and its lofty goal—to reintroduce skiing as a lifestyle in Maine. It was 1998. Shepard, who’s now MWSC president and CEO, was in Fort Kent to watch his son, Walt, compete in the state ski championships, on trails that would later become part of MWSC. "I’d never been to Fort Kent before, and I was impressed with the landscape and the people and the history of Nordic skiing there," he recalls. At the time, Shepard was working for L.L. Bean, and was a liaison to the United States Biathlon Association, which Bean was sponsoring. Max Cobb, the liaison for the United States Biathlon Association, was one of Shepard’s best friends. The two had collaborated on skiing projects before and, during a conversation about the Fort Kent ski scene, the two came up with an idea that became the basic outline for the MWSC.

The rest is history: Thanks to grants from the Portland-based Libra Foundation (and a tremendous amount of work by local volunteers), the MWSC completed its first major project, the biathlon-friendly 10th Mountain Ski Center in Fort Kent, in 2001, followed in 2002 by the cross-country-oriented Nordic Heritage Ski Center in Presque Isle. In 2004, Fort Kent hosted its first World Cup Biathlon—which drew 20,000 spectators and was televised live to 20 million European viewers— and cemented the center’s reputation for excellence in the international ski community. This year, in addition to the Olympic trials in Fort Kent, the County hosted big-name events such as January’s Biathlon Junior World Championships, as well as the United States Ski and Snowboard Association Spring Series and the U.S. Long-Distance Championships, both held this month. World-class athletes stay here (from Germany, Russia, and other ski-loving countries) because the venues are among the best in the world, and nobody here bothers them. The truth is, most of Maine’s Nordic enthusiasts have yet to recognize how spectacular the skiing here is.

"The further away you get from Presque Isle, the better known our facility is," says Hendrickson. "International athletes say this place is outstanding—one athlete from Norway recently said this was the secondbest facility he’s ever skied at. We’re still working to get people in Maine to recognize it."

It’s not just Presque Isle that gets overlooked by Mainers. The 10th Mountain Center—home to that 2004 World Cup—still gets visitors from the Fort Kent community who finally want to see the venue for themselves.

"There are local people who have never been here," says Jeff Dubis, lecturer in forestry at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and avid 10th Mountain skier and volunteer. "But, more and more people are curious." And when they finally do visit, the ski centers don’t disappoint. Indeed, though he was first introduced to skiing nearly 25 years ago, Dubis didn’t truly fall in love with the sport until he moved to Fort Kent.

Free for the taking

When more southerly climes (read: south of Bangor) are thinking spring thoughts, the northernmost reaches of the state are still deep in winter. Yet the combination of longer days and a consistently deep snowpack make late-winter skiing here some of the best of the year.

But the biggest difference in the facilities isn’t in what the lodges offer. It’s the trails. The 10th Mountain Center’s 25 km of trails wind and roll through typically dense Maine forest, thick with evergreens like spruce and hemlock. And, because the trails were cut first and later reconfigured for racing, there are plenty of connectors, which means lots of turns, both left and right. In Presque Isle, that’s not the case. The Nordic Heritage Ski Center’s 35 km of trails were designed—and cut— specifically for cutting-edge racing. From the lodge, there are essentially two big loops (known as the Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield loops) that form the basis for all the area’s trails—making it easy to find your way, especially in the heat of competition. What’s more, as the trails wind through a hardwood forest (unusual for northern Maine), the surroundings are surprisingly open—there’s no thickly woven undergrowth or dense greenery. It doesn’t actually feel like you’re skiing in Maine. But Maine it is.

Kick, glide—and go.

Although both ski centers are race-oriented, you don’t need to be a Lycra-clad, aerobically gifted, elite athlete to enjoy what they have to offer. On any given day, you’ll find a wide range of skiers on the trails, from professional athletes-in-training to moms and dads skiing with their kids to average 9-to-5 folks out for a quick after-work loop. Even with the wide variety of skiers and growing number of visitors, "we’re a long way from being crowded," says Dubis.

It all adds up to a magical experience. In fact, according to Hendrickson, Bangor-area skiers would be hard-pressed to make a more worthwhile trip. "You could easily spend a day in Presque Isle, and a day in Fort Kent, and then spend another day skiing several of the community ski areas in between," he says. "If you’ve skied the Bangor City Forest or the University Forest in Orono and you want to check out something really top-notch, our area is for you."

And if you find yourself out for a bit of night skiing at the Nordic Heritage Ski Center, keep an eye out for Hendrickson—he hopes to ski 150 days this year, so there’s a good chance he’ll be there. He’s easy to spot because of the big smile on his face. After all, he got what he wanted for Christmas.

"In March, you can pretty much bet that all of our trails will be open," says Dubis of the 10th Mountain facility. "Last year, there was pretty good skiing right into April. I put my skis away on April 17, and I probably still could have skied even then."

"Classic skiing is probably the nicest in March and into April," adds Presque Isle’s Hendrickson. "Toward the end of March, though, night skiing ends because it gets icy once the sun goes down."

That’s right, night skiing. In keeping with the idea of making the centers as cutting edge as possible, while still being user-friendly, both Fort Kent and Presque Isle have trails with lights. Both centers also offer wax rooms where skiers can tune their skis, locker rooms to change, and showers for when the skiing is done, plus a sauna to ease aching muscles. Charge for all the amenities: nothing. It’s all free, and open to the public seven days a week.