Big Squaw Mountain, Moosehead Lake Maine

bfnradford

bfnradford

Member
If anyone has ever been there, or heard of it, looks like it might become one of those lost ski areas... so sad, the place was for real, its where I grew up skiing and I miss ripping up the awesome 5 foot cliffs like these...

1264034118lift.jpg
 
nobody has, 12 years ago their main chairlift broke down and dropped a chair with people on it. It hasnt run since. heres the spread, sick skiing, SICK view, sad sad story...

1264046335sqquaw.jpg
 
Websit says its open again. the trail map shows the lift only going up halfway to the top. do you have to hike the rest?
 
the lower lift is still going and there is a small lodge operation, but the lift accesses only a few hundred vertical feet and a few trails, the real mountain has 1700 vert and hasnt had a chairlift running for like 12 years.
 
bump, this is the first year since they opened in the 60's that the lifts will not turn at all. Sadly i dont see this amazing gem of a ski hill being bought any time soon. If anyone knows someone with about 20 million or so, its quite the place. I grew up skiing there since I was 2, my mother worked there for 35 years, and it makes me wanna cry thinking that I wont ever get to send one of their 5 foot cliffs to flat ever again.
 
I did for 5 years, now i live in colorado. they have a gate on the road and call teh police on anyone who attempts to hike it.
 
Dayyum. I've skied in Maine all my life and I just heard about his a year ago. From what I hear it's a good mountain. But that is sad, it's up there, probably too far for the majority of Maine skiers.
 
it really is a sick mountain, they built like 7 glades in the last few years it was open, and there are small cliffs everywhere. Greenville is pretty far north, but its closer to Bangor and the penobscot bay area then either Sunday River the Loaf or Saddleback, and this place was one of the top 3 ski resorts in Maine in the 70's. I got a snowmobile to the top a few years back and had a sick run down.
 
That's I'll. So they are shutting it down? If that's the case you should tow people up the mountain or something. It's a bit of an ambitious dream but it would a creative idea. I've always wanted to check it out
 
its a long story, I wouldnt say they are 'shutting it down', but the upper lift hasnt turned in 12 years, and the lower lift has been open only for weekends and holidays for the last 10 years, and this year they arent even running that lift. Who knows if they will open next year, I know for sure they wouldnt let people tow up. Plus, I live in Colorado now so I cant help you there, but if Greenville gets a bunch of snow go check the place out, and bust a sick daffy for me.
 
this website must have been taken down in the last few months. its becoming pretty official now. im coming home to maine next week and im gonna hike up with my dads 210 rossis since im not flying my skis back.
 
ive never skid there but my parents are from millinocket and thats where they used to go as kids, is that gate still up? itd be nice to get a sled in there
 
just got back from Greenville with a little inside info. When they had the gate up and stopped people from hiking and snowmobiling to the top the owner was living there. He is not living there this year so a few people have skied it. There is more snow in Greenville right now then i saw in the 21 years I lived there, seriously, compared to everywhere else in maine there is probably 5 more feet of snow around the Moosehead Lake area. I was home for only about 17 hours and only had my dads 210 rossis to use, so unfortunately didnt get a chance to send it. I would say right now would be an awesome time to get after it, the mountain is in between Greenville and Rockwood, on the west side of moosehead lake on rte 15, there is a big sign that says 'ski the view.' Ski Maine is trying to force the guy to sell it, but at this point the lodge, snowmaking, lifts, and hotel have fallen into such disrepair that the first step would be to remove everything and start over. If the guy does sell, it would take around 15 million dollars to get the place back to workable shape, and whoever bought it would not turn a profit for probably 10 years or more. Tell all your rich aunts and uncles about this little gem of a fixer upper with some legit terrain and the best view this side of Heavenly.
 
awesome news about skiing it ill try to head up soon and thats soo shitty a place like that could just be disregarded for so long
 
Wonderful place. I lived about 40 minutes away and skiied it dozens of times until I left the area for college. I'm sorry to hear that it seems to be finished for the forseeable future, I had hoped to return at some point. Great view, respectable trail variety, hell they'd have specials where you could ski for free (or perhaps for $1, I don't recall) if you were from a given town in the area on a given day. They seemed to do a good little business back in the 1980's. I picked up smoking on that lift (long quit) and I'm sorry to hear that it seems to have given out - I hope nobody was killed, although to be honest the place did always seem a little snakebit; there were a few fatalies in the 5 or so years that I skiied there regularly, including a child that drowned in the pool.
 
Sorry, one more thought - I lament this most as the loss of a nice blue-collar mountain. None of us had any real money, but you could get a damned good day's skiing in here for like $12 or so as a student and I think the most expensive pass wasn't more than $25 in the late '80's...contrast that to the time we went to Sugarloaf and it was close on $60. Was Sugarloaf bigger and better? Sure, I guess...but at those rates there were a lot of people not skiing who were skiing at Squaw, I can tell you that. It was great bang for the buck, I'm ashamed to say I long for that view I took for granted back then.
 
yeah man its definitely a sad story, they just had some vandalism to the upper lodge a few weeks back, not that it really matters at this point. i can say for sure that even though i lived in greenville and got to ski there every day after school if i wanted, i never took the place for granted, and I hope to someday get to ski it again with all my buddies bustin spread eagles all day.
 
Always sad to see a classic, no frills ski area close down. They are the palces where the soul of skiing beats the strongest.

Unfortunately, the odds of this place ever operating again are incredibly slim. The infratructure is likely in a major state of disrepair, requiring massive investment to be properly functioning again. This is not to mention that the Maine market is a tough one to begin with.

Best case scenario in this situation is that the landowner eases his grip on the place and allows hike/skin/sled access. However, with vandals feeling compelled to damage private property, I wouldn't hold too much hope for that happening very soon.
 
you said it man. alot of people have been sledding and skinning it the past few seasons without permission, most of the trails are growing in with thick saplings, but all the gladed tree skiing is just as good as it ever was. the guy from new england lost ski areas project told me this is by far the biggest skiing area to ever close in new england, in terms of size and infrastructure. they used to employ a huge chunk of the town of greenville
 
We are trying to get more members on this facebook group for an abandoned ski area in Maine.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2227222678/

Big Squaw Mountain was an awesome ski area in Greenville Maine that closed down two years ago. I am from there and my mom worked there for 30 years. Ask to join this group, even if you havent heard of the place, and maybe share the group on your FB profile. Just trying to spread the word and get people talking. It needs a lot of work but it really is an awesome place. Of all the ski areas in New England to close, this one is the biggest, and the town is basically dying because of it.

Thanks

Kev
 
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