Maine Ski Areas Adding More And More Trails As White Fluff Piles Up!

     Swish...(carving sideways, lifting outside ski) swish...Maine skiing is a sport you can do for life.  With your family no matter what the age, you can step into a set of boards and without a ton of effort head up the hill, enjoying the beauty and quietness of winter. Get your head and lungs filled with crisp, clean Maine winter air while you enjoy time away from the office / business.  When you get to the top, suddenly go speechless as the view blows you away.  Maine has a slew of mountain options for every budget.  Sugarloaf and Sunday River are the disney land of Maine skiing but other medium and smaller community scale mountains offer just as much fun.  Often the little mountains for the beginner ski family give you a real sense of community as you end up pitching in to help run the down hill youth races or organizing the night skiing and snack shack!  May Mountain in Island Falls was a "bump" like that and years ago Hovey Hill in Houlton Maine offered basic skiing.  The Hovey Hill ski lift consisted of a tractor with the tires jacked up and made into a fix position rope tow.  I know I know, it sounds primitive.  It was but when skiing is introduced for the first time to a novice, it is all a hoot just the same as you have no perspective from the glitz and expense of the heavy weight mountains.  Visit Ski Maine for a list of mountains and details on weather, elevations, number of trails, etc.  Our youngest child Elliot started skiing at three and would hang onto my hand, not needing poles being that close to the ground.  He would mirror my outside ski.  I have seen two long canvas tether lines on younsters to help puppet them down the hill.  But my youngest got the knack quickly and I had a chore to stay up with him as he zipped down the hill.  Luckily Dad's extra weight was the engine to help gravity make it possible to catch him.  The next season, forget it, had to keep telling him to slow it down young fellow.  Skiing is also a sport that you could pick up in adult life easily. After four trips to the slope and a few lessons, you are not a black belt skiier but you have fun and at the pace and trail difficulty you feel comfortable with.  In college at the University Of Maine at Orono it was fun on thursday nights to zip out to Hermon Mountain outside Bangor for night skiing.  Music going, lighted trails, horsing around as a diversion from classes.  Very affordable skiing at Hermon Mountain too.