Our Legacy
Saddleback Mountain History
In the six decades since the first T-Bar started spinning, a lot has changed at Saddleback. And while every ski mountain has its own history, we think it’s pretty safe to say that few have experienced quite so many twists and turns as ours. Here are just a few highlights from the past 60 years.
The Early Years
After years of planning and months of trail work, Saddleback officially opened to skiers on December 31, 1960, with a single T-Bar serving the Wheeler Slope. By the end of January, a second, upper mountain T-Bar opened, giving skiers access to Grey Ghost and Hudson Highway. For the ‘63-’64 season, Saddleback installed the 4,600-foot Mueller double chairlift, which at the time was the longest chairlift in Maine. This achievement was followed by two dismal winters (the ‘63-’64 season lasted for five weeks, while ‘64-’65 saw a whopping two weeks of operations). The mountain was put on the market, and in 1965, Saddleback was acquired by J. Richard Arnzen for a reported $140,000. Arnzen owned Saddleback until his untimely death from cancer in 1972, at age 53.
The Middle Years
Over the following three decades, Saddleback changed hands five times, including to Massachusetts businessman Donald Breen, whose aspirations to create the “Vail of the East” were thwarted by a legal dispute with the National Park Service. The Park Service sought to seize 3,000 acres of Saddleback land as part of its conservation efforts for the Appalachian Trail, which runs across the mountain.
After years of negotiations, the National Park Service and Saddleback reached a deal in which the Breens donated 570 acres along the Appalachian Trail corridor while selling the 600-acre back bowl for $4 million. While the deal meant Breen could move forward with his development of the resort, the long battle with the government had consumed millions of dollars and nearly two decades of his life. Now in his 70s, Breen was ready to retire. In 2001, the massive resort property was put on the market for $12 million.
The Next Century
Following the 2002-2003 season, the Breen family announced that they would not operate the ski area in 2003-2004. And as fall approached, it looked like Saddleback would indeed cease operating. In September, a Saddleback skier and condo owner named Bill Berry approached Breen and offered to buy the ski area.
Following their first season as owners, the Berry family started an aggressive expansion plan. For 2004-2005, the main lodge was dramatically expanded, the main chairlift refurbished, and the lower mountain expanded into the novice South Branch Area with a new quad chairlift. Dramatic long-term plans were also released, involving the development of new real estate and multiple new trail pods and lifts.
The Berry’s continued investing in Saddleback for the next several years, but in December 2012 the Berry family announced Saddleback was for sale. In September 2015, the family announced they were in negotiations with multiple potential buyers, but a deal remained elusive, and the mountain did not open for the ‘15-’16 season. An effort to establish a non-profit cooperative to operate the ski area also failed to materialize, and the area sat idle during the 2016-17 season, as well.
On June 28, 2017, the Berry family announced they had reached an agreement to sell Saddleback to the Australia-based Majella Group. Majella had plans to “turn Saddleback into the premier ski resort in North America.” However, despite announcements that “physical work” had started in September and that the company was “committed to opening in some capacity for the 2017-18 ski season,” the area remained idle that winter, and the sale was not completed.
New hope emerged in March of 2019 when Boston-based Arctaris Impact Fund made an offer. Talks continued for months, culminating in the purchase of Saddleback in January 2020. With the purchase, Arctaris announced plans to install a high-speed quad and reopen the ski area for the 2020-21 season.
This brings us to today, and the resurrection of Saddleback, which could not have been possible without the efforts of all who have come before, and the remarkable support of the Rangeley community, the donors who gave so generously, and to Arctaris Impact Fund, who support us now. For all of this, we are grateful and honored to be giving the Saddleback family its home back.
Being owned by an impact fund, our mission goes beyond changing the financial trajectory of the mountain. Our responsibility includes helping the region solve some of the challenges facing every rural community: affordable housing, affordable childcare, workforce development, and transportation. We have also convened task forces to develop strategies for getting seasonal workers year-round benefits, which don’t exist anywhere in the country, and to increase access to health and wellness care in rural communities.
