It is always rewarding to see positive results when making changes to our mountain. Today, we hosted our first MARA Giant Slalom race on our newly widened Grey Ghost trail. This past summer, we widened the trail considerably in order to get an FIS trail rating. In case you don't know, FIS is the International Ski Federation (translated to English), who governs ski racing around the world, now in their 50th year. We received our FIS rating and today was the first event on that trail.

The race went off without a hitch! Today's racers were 13 and 14 year olds. Between the first and second runs, I heard many very positive comments from the kids about the course and the trail. Grey Ghost is a long trail, about 4,900 feet long with some interesting pitches & rolls, making ideal terrain for Giant Slalom and even Super-G events. The trail has a deep four to five foot base of snow cover and is in beautiful shape. The visiting coaches and racer parents from other ski areas were also impressed and said so to members of our staff. The race ended well, and I am confident that racers will look forward to future events on Grey Ghost.

If you would like to contact me, please send your remarks to cklefos@saddlebackmaine.com