CAMDEN — Either this summer or next summer — it wasn’t completely decided — the double chairlift at the Camden Snow Bowl, which goes partially up Ragged Mountain, may likely be outfitted with hardware so that mountain bikers can attach bikes and ride up the hill to access the extensive, and growing, system of trails there.

It is a plan several years in the making, as mountain biking enthusiasts, including the Midcoast Chapter of the New England Mountain Biking Association, collaborate with the town-owned Camden Snow Bowl and larger Ragged Mountain Recreation Area to broaden its four-season appeal.

“We believe the improvements can be accomplished at a reasonable cost and when completed will enable the area to remain a featured asset of the Town of Camden for many years to come,” wrote those on the Mountain Bike subgroup of the Camden Four Season Committee, in a report to the Camden Select Board.

That committee, consisting of citizens, Snow Bowl staff and a Select Board liaison, was tasked in 2016 with exploring other revenue streams to support the town’s Snow Bowl and larger Ragged Mountain Recreation Area, and grow the facilities in line with the outdoor economy that town leaders have been citing for almost a decade.

Lift-served mountain biking is seeing large growth at several ski areas throughout the U.S., members of the subgroup said, as they presented a plan to get mountain biking even more established in Camden.

That subgroup includes Morgan Laidlaw, of Camden, with help from John Anders and Jeff Charland, of Rockport, who stood before the Select Board Feb. 6 urging the town to invest in what could, they said, be a positive revenue stream for the Snow Bowl.

The subgroup cited a 2017 Outdoor Industry Participation Report, produced by the Washington, D.C.-based Outdoor Industry trade organization, and which said 8.6 million Americans age six and older participated in mountain biking in 2016, representing a 26 percent growth over 10 years.

“Mountain biking is an easily accessible, rapidly growing sport with a low cost of entry,” the report said. “Ski areas like the concept because weather volatility such as fog, rain, and warm temperatures don’t adversely affect riding conditions.  Many significant costs like electricity and snow making costs do not come into play.”

While the Select Board endorsed the subgroup’s bike plan, there was no conclusion about who would provide the necessary capital improvement funds to for lift-off. With the proposal presented just as the 2018-2019 municipal budget is getting crafted, the town is hoping for private donations to help fund the pilot lift-serve program, said Town Manager Audra Caler-Bell.

Meanwhile, the Four Season Committee subgroup is refining its financial numbers to again present to the town, but they want the Snow Bowl to include the program on as part of its overall operations plan.

Much of the groundwork is done: Hooks for affixing to the chairs of the Snow Bowl’s double chairlift have been forged, and were donated by Rockport Steel, the trails almost complete, and the ramps for loading and unloading bikes are already in place. What’s left is trail work on some corners and slopes, “to make the trails environmentally sustainable and bike friendly,” the report said.  

The Four Season biking subgroup has projected that $25-per-day lift tickets, along with season passes for local mountain bikers, would create a consistent revenue stream, as experienced at other mountains across the country. To break even, the report has proposed that the mountain would need 39 riders a day in order to break even.

The costs associated include electricity to run the lifts, and labor. 

“This is a scalable plan,” Laidlaw told the Select Board, after some questioned why the plan did not include outfitting the triple chairlift.  “If it does take off, we can explore using the triple later.”

Riding the trend

 Mountain biking at the Snow Bowl has grown in popularity over the last decade. At first, it was a handful of adventurers who went up the mountain in the spring, summer and fall. Then, the Camden Hills Regional High School began training its mountain bikers on the slopes of Ragged Mountain, and soon, fat tire bikes, which handle snow conditions, became a mountain presence.  (Click here for a map of the mountain biking trails throughout Camden and Rockport.)

At the same time, the network of hiking, skiing (Nordic and Alpine) and biking trails has expanded. For two years in a row, the Camden Snow Bowl hosted a Trail Fest in September, in collaboration with Baxter Outdoors, Trail Runners of Midcoast Maine, and Midcoast Maine New England Mountain Bike Association.

The anticipation of the Round the Mountain Trail, a nine-mile trail project envisioned by Coastal Mountains Land Trust that would wind around the base of Ragged Mountain through Camden, Rockport and Hope, has added to the broader regional vision of getting more people outside, connecting to trails on Ragged Mountain and the Georges River Land Trust trails, and making the Midcoast a destination for outdoor economy.

While the Four Season Committee admits that the double chairlift goes by partially up the mountain, and that more trail-making is necessary to accommodate that leg of the network, they see it as a boost to encouraging beginner mountain bikers, and their families, to enjoy the sport. A larger plan calls for putting bike hooks on the Snow Bowl’s triple chairlift and transporting bikers to the top of the mountain — but that is a later development, they said.

The plan’s origins

In March 2017, the Four Season Committee listened to a representative from Highland Trails LLC describe how a mountain in Northfield, New Hampshire, became a destination point for mountain bike enthusiasts. Mark Hayes had been hired by the Snow Bowl, with approximately $6,000 of funding from the nonprofit Ragged Mountain Foundation, to produce a similar proposal for Camden.

The Bike Park Master Plan for Ragged Mountain Recreation Area-Camden Snow Bowl identified the area as a natural draw for mountain bikers seeking wholesome, outdoor adventures in beautiful places.

This past winter, the Four Season Committee bike subgroup scaled down that master plan to a seven-page action plan for Camden to outfit the chairlift for bikes.

The Bike Park Master Plan, the subgroup said: “was comprehensive but expensive. From the Highland Plan, the committee has come up with a more scalable version that is practical for the Snow Bowl facility and maintains compatibility with other users of the Snow Bowl as well as surrounding residents.”

The new plan is simpler, and incremental. And, they said, “If it’s decided that lift served mountain biking does not cash flow, the Snow Bowl is not at a substantial loss.”

The subgroup added: “Snow Bowl management will need to draw on volunteers for labor and talent, seek contributions from private donors, and apply for grants that may be available.”

Initially, the idea is to run the lift on Saturdays and Sundays through the summer months. 

“There is strong local interest in the sport and with strong effort put forth by the Snow Bowl management team this could be a great opportunity,” the report said. “Additionally there is a large group on Snow Bowl ski pass holders who understand the significance of community skiing. This group of pass holders will understand the importance of helping to support a summer operation. A successful summer operation will help make a successful winter operation.”

The chairlift, according to the Four Season Committee subgroup, “will provide an avenue to venture into the Coastal Mountain Land Trust Ragged Mountain Preserve, descend into the Rollins Road Trails, and allow riders to return to the Snow Bowl.”

In the January Four Season Committee subgroup report, there is included a Lift Served Comparative Analysis that compares other New England mountains with the potential Snow Bowl operation.

By the end of the discussion, the Select Board verbalized support for the mountain bike lift-serve idea, while Laidlaw urged the town to include the proposed numbers in the town budget.

“We need your support so Beth [Ward, Camden’s Parks and Recreation director] and her team can take this plan and run with it,” he said.

Year One, he said, may have a little bit of risk, but said there would be volunteer labor to help with trail work.

“I like this plan,” said Ward, who was also at the meeting. “I think this is right way to save it and see if it is going to be sustainable.”

She commented positively on the idea of starting with beginners, not building anything new, and “fixing what we have.”

Select Board Chairman John French then asked Ward about the possible return of the snow tubing activities at the Snow Bowl.

“I have some ideas for that,” she said.

Caler-Bell counseled for budget restrain, and said, “I don’t want to set it up to fail.”

At that point, everyone agreed that another round of financial projections were necessary and that the conversation would continue.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657