Maine’s Big Squaw Would Become Moosehead Lake Ski Resort Under New Owners
Improvements would include a new upper mountain quad, expanded terrain and snowmaking, a base village
January 25, 2021
And he set sail for Florida on a boat hewn from bootleg timber
If all goes well, the negligent and incompetent owner of Maine’s Big Squaw ski area will soon be exiled to Florida and the mountain transferred to new owners. Its Homestead-era name would give way to the more palatable Moosehead Lake Ski Resort, a new quad would re-open the long-dormant upper mountain, and new snowmaking, lodging, and trails would expand and modernize the whole operation.
This $75 million investment would come courtesy of local developer Perry Williams and Provident Resources Group, a nonprofit out of Louisiana. Why a Baton Rouge-based outfit is involved or even what they would do (their website opaquely states that they “serve our charitable missions by undertaking a broad range of services, activities, and programs”), is unimportant at this time. Money can do amazing things, and $75 million is a lot of money.
What’s important is that James Confalone could soon be gone. He is indisputably the worst ski area owner in New England, and probably on the continent. Despite clear requirements in the 1995 sales contract that he maintain the ski area, he has allowed it to deteriorate. The upper mountain hasn’t been accessible since a 2004 chairlift accident. The ski area sat dormant for years afterward, until a local Friends of the Mountain volunteer group resuscitated the lower mountain. In November, a judge concluded the State of Maine’s four-year lawsuit against Canfalone for tax delinquency, illegal timber harvesting, and negligence by ordering him to restore the place to its mid-90s condition or sell.
Thankfully for all of us, he seems to have chosen to sell. A Facebook comment from the Friends of the Mountain administrator indicates that “the resort is under contract.” Of course, plenty could still go wrong. And not just with the sale. The goal of opening by next winter may be overly optimistic. This is not Saddleback, which had sat dormant for five years but had been showered with tens of millions in upgrades by the Berry family in the decade before that. They upgraded lifts and snowmaking and dramatically expanded the trail network. The bones were there. It’s hard to say what state of osteoporosis Big Squaw’s upper mountain is in.
Still, the potential here is enormous. The restored ski area would tower 1,700 vertical feet, with a developable footprint of up to 1,700 acres. New buildings would anchor a “Mountain Village.” The resort swallows the current trail network, suggesting plenty of room to expand:
On the plus side, the lower mountain has been maintained and the Facebook group’s 10,000-plus followers suggest a dormant passion for an abused asset. On the flip side, the ski area is so remote that it makes Sugarloaf seem like Times Square, and Maine is littered with failed ski areas and failed ski area revitalization efforts. I’m choosing cautious optimism.
