Officials at several ski areas in central and western Maine said Monday that they were forced to shut down chairlifts because of wind gusts of 25 to 50 mph.
The National Weather Service in Gray issued a hazardous weather outlook early Monday morning for areas in Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties until noon, predicting winds of 10 to 20 mph and gusts up to 35 mph.
Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley was forced to close its ski lifts for the day because of dangerous winds, General Manager Chris Farmer said Monday afternoon.
“These things happen once in awhile, and it’s unfortunate, because we don’t like to have to shut down from wind,” Farmer said. “However, whenever we have windy days like this, the following day is usually a powder day. The temperature is going to be a little higher and the sky should be clear, so we’re expecting a good ski day on Tuesday.”
Farmer said the lift mechanics at Saddleback decide whether ski lifts need to be shut down.
“They look at it from a safety standpoint, and we certainly don’t question them when they make that kind of recommendation,” Farmer said.
Despite the loss of a ski day, Farmer said Saddleback is enjoying “some of the best skiing we’ve had in years.”
“We never like having to close, but this time of the year is the perfect time to go skiing if you haven’t been in awhile,” Farmer said.
Mt. Abram ski area in Greenwood put a temporary wind hold on all its ski lifts at 10 a.m., and later decided to shut down for the day after strong winds continued into the afternoon.
Jim Carter, general manager for Black Mountain Ski Resort in Rumford, said the ski patrol keeps an eye on chairlifts and determines “what level of wind is tolerable, and what is not.”
“We had wind gusts that were over 50 mph this morning, so we decided to temporarily shut down the chairlifts,” Carter said. “Around 10:30 a.m., we ran the lifts and the ski patrol reported that the wind gusts had subsided.”
Carter said the major problem on Black Mountain is when the wind comes at the ski lifts from the side, rather than straight down the mountain.
“Sometimes, those wind gusts get the lifts rocking back and forth, so whenever we see that, we shut it down,” Carter said. “Right now, I think the highest gust we’re seeing is 20 mph, and it’s due to get lower as the day goes on.”
Lost Valley Manager Phil Brushwein said both of the ski lifts at the Auburn facility were running all day.
“We’re pretty well-protected from the wind compared to some of the other ski slopes,” Brushwein said. “The wind was a little mean early in the morning, but otherwise, we haven’t had any issues. Our maintenance crew and ski patrol inspects the movement of the chairs as they go up the mountain, and if they saw anything worth noting, they would let us know.”
Sarah Devlin, director of communications for Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, said the early morning wind was “tremendous,” and the ski lifts on the lower mountain were running, though several of the upper-mountain lifts were temporarily shut down until the wind subsided.
“The thing about the wind is that at the base lodge, it’s usually not too bad, but when you get near the summit, the wind gusts are powerful,” Devlin said. “We get some skiers who are impatient because they can’t feel the wind, but it gets really bad at the summit. I noticed this morning that some of the ski lifts were running to the summit, but nobody was on them.”
Although Devlin said wind has not been an issue for Sunday River this winter, she added that it always gets a little worse following a storm.
“I know the brunt of the storm missed our region, but they tend to carry these windy tails that bring huge gusts of wind,” Devlin said. “Our lift operators are sitting right at the controls, ready to turn on the lifts as soon as the weather allows.”
Devlin said that according to weather forecasts for Monday evening, the wind was supposed to die down around noon.
“The last I heard, the evening wind would be around 10 or 12 mph, which is much better than 30 or 40 mph gusts,” Devlin said.
Sugarloaf spokesman Ethan Austin said there were a number of wind holds on their lifts Monday, but they had no plans to completely shut down the slopes.
“We’re currently running the Double Runner, Sawduster, Skidway and Moosecalator lifts,” Austin said. “All other lifts are on wind hold.”
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