Ski Families, #116

John Christie:

We're the fortunate ones to a live here in Maine, b be able to have the platform to write about it and C have the kind of relationship that lets us do it together. Yeah.

Josh Christie:

And D keep each other busy too, because I think otherwise we'd go crazy if we didn't have a lot to do.

Cooper Friend:

It's a great family sport. It's a life sport and really the coolest thing is the connections that you make.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 116 ski families, airing for the first time on Sunday, December 1, 2013. Today's guests include Josh and John Christie, who are outdoor riders and longtime Sugarloaf skiers, and also Cooper Friend, another longtime Sugarloaf skier who has enjoyed the Sugar Sugarloaf ski scene with many members of his family. Is your family ready to hit the slopes? As we head into winter, many of us are preparing to enjoy one of our state's favorite seasonal activities. Today's guests are admitted snow lovers and longtime ski aficionados. Why does skiing and main ski areas such as Sugarloaf engender such loyalty? Listen in to our conversations with Cooper Friend and Josh and John Christie to find out more. Perhaps you will find yourself planning your own family excursion to the slopes this year. Thank you for joining us. Anyone who's lived in Maine for a period of time recognizes Sugarloaf as being a major ski attraction and not only just for the state of Maine, but also really for the rest of the country. So we're privileged to have with us today Josh and John Christie, who are a I guess it's a son and father team, Josh being the son, John being the father, who are columnists for the Maine Sunday Telegram, writers and in fact, John is a Sugarloaf historian, having written the book the Story of Sugarloaf. Josh is also an outdoor writer and has written the book Maine Brewing in Vacation Land, which I guess is technically not an outdoor book, but, well, in some ways. In some ways, it's all about you

John Christie:

can do it outdoors.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that's right. You could drink beer outdoors. So it's really all about enjoying yourself in this great state of Maine. And we appreciate your coming in and talking to us today.

Josh Christie:

Well, thank you so much for having us.

John Christie:

Yeah, Lisa, thank you. We really appreciate the good chance for Josh and me to get together. We don't have that much opportunity until ski season starts, which for him started three weeks ago at Sandy River.

Josh Christie:

Yeah, that's what it is now.

John Christie:

So far, I'll be skiing on the 22nd Friday for my first day, but Josh has gotten ahead of me so far. But that won't maintain because I have this goal. I don't know if we had chatted about it ever before and have had now for the last several years of skiing my age. So that means I have to ski at least 77 days this winter, which would be no problem at all.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

All right. Did you do it last year? Have you been able to meet ski?

John Christie:

I skied 82 last year, and I'm not even going to take credit for that extra six days that I skied, which I probably technically could, but I won't. So we'll get in 77 days at least.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And, Josh, obviously, you've managed to ski your own age pretty easily.

Josh Christie:

Yeah, it's pretty handy. You know, I'm not a retiree, so I don't have quite the time in my calendar to ski. The dad does, but I try and get a lot of days in.

John Christie:

Yeah, I'm sort of. Sort of a retiree. I work 26 weeks a year for the Maine Department of Conservation as a ranger in Camden Hills State Park. That gives me and Marty. My wife, Josh's mother works in a school in Little Village School in Appleton, the Appleton Village School. So she's working. In fact, someone stopped by the park to see me two or three weeks ago before the season ended and said, we thought you were retired. And I said, well, I am, but I'm still a go getter. My wife works and I go getter. So that's so where I am now. But it gives me a chance to get him plenty of skiing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you are a busy family. I mean, I know that this writing that you do for the Maine Sunday Telegram, it's not just about skiing. You actually are writing about being outdoors year round, and you have a book coming out very soon.

John Christie:

Exactly. In fact, the writing that Josh and I do. Together all started. This will be the fourth winter that we are doing the Skiing in Maine column for the Sunday Telegram, which also runs in the Kennebec Journal and the Waterville Sentinel on Thursdays, I believe, of each week. But that resulted really from an interesting friendship and contact with Deirdre Fleming, who's an outdoor writer at the Portland Papers. And she had come to Sugarloaf to do something. We had met, and she had been tasked with helping Joe Grant, the sports editor, find a ski columnist. And so it seemed obvious that Josh would be an appropriate one to do that. And so that began to bubble up as the prospective ski column for the winter four winters ago. And then Joe Grant said, well, you know, wouldn't it be interesting if we got the old man so we could do this kind of.

Josh Christie:

I don't know if he said old man?

John Christie:

His father. So we did that. And then come spring, I was meeting with Joe, and he said, well, now ski season's over. What are you doing the rest of the year? And I said, well, you know, ski season's a piece of, winter's a piece of cake. I don't have to make any decisions. I just go skiing. But in the summer, I said, let me tell you, it's tough because I don't know if I'm going to hike a bike, a camp, a kayak, a fly fish, a canoe. He said, you do all that stuff? And I said, oh, we do all that and more. And then that led to something I'd been thinking about for a long time, and that is that there are all these outdoor treasures that Maine people don't seem to appreciate. They don't. And as an example, I said, like, we used to camp when the boys were young down on the Schoodic Peninsula. And I mentioned Schoodic to Maine people who ought to know where Skoodik is. And they say, where's that? We've never been there. And as part of that, I said, I'm reminded, growing up in Camden, I was down on the town landing one day, and there was a great old sage local Sage Peanut Alley was down there, and he knew all the secret fishing holes and everything. And he said to me, and it resonated with me, and I've never forgotten. He said, you know, Joe, it's amazing how many people spend their lives in Maine and never really live here. So I said, you know, I think we were just kind of chatting about that. And then Joe said something about, what did you think about writing about that under the heading of it's worth the trip, which was a phrase, I guess, in our conversation I had used. And I said, well, you know, and Josh does all kinds of stuff in the summer, too, and people like his writing. In fact, one day last spring at Sugarloaf, I was up at Bullwinkle's, and people beckoned me over to that table and they said, john, we've got to tell you, we really love those ski columns that you and your son write. And said, you must be very proud. He does write quite a lot better than you do. I am. And you're right. So we started that three summers ago, and then with my friends, our friends at Down East Books, who published my Sugarloaf book, conceived of the idea of perhaps assembling all of those columns and other outdoor things that we've written into a book. And now it in fact, I'm meeting it down east this afternoon on tidying up some loose ends. But that book will come out in May, and it will be called the Maine Outdoor Adventure Guide. I had been lobbying to have the book called Maine Summers Done Right. That may end up as a subtitle. I'll know this afternoon.

Josh Christie:

It's now public.

John Christie:

I'll know this afternoon.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Josh, what is it like to have such an active father and to have such a close relationship with your father? My father is also a doctor, so we share this sort of father, daughter, doctor thing, and that's kind of an interest. That's always been a very interesting thing for me. What's it like to be both of you be writers, both of you be outdoors people?

Josh Christie:

It's incredible. It was odd growing up. It's not necessarily what you would expect because generationally, we're split by about two generations rather than one. I'm in my mid-20s and dad's in

John Christie:

his, usually thought of as his grandfather,

Josh Christie:

but I didn't ever really feel that way, growing. He was always so active, and it just he was able to instill a great love of the outdoors in me and my brother. I should say that as he mentioned, my mom, Marty, she also loves the outdoors and is a great hiker. And we grew up in a little town called Washington, which is in the mid coast. And it was perfect because you're about half an hour from the coast, you're half an hour from the capital, hour and a half or so from Portland and from Bangor, two hours or so from Sunday River, Saddleback, Sugarloaf, squaw. So everything is all right here. And as we've said in our columns for the last couple Years really worth the trip. And the benefit of a. What's the term? Not aged, but seasoned. A seasoned father was. He knew where all these places were, so he was able to introduce not just Jake and I, but also our friends to all these places growing up.

John Christie:

Well, and it, you know, on the other side of the coin is that I was just so blessed that when I was about 50 to have that we had these twin sons born. And it gave me a whole new life of being able to share the outdoors and Maine and everything that there is. And to be really reintroduced to alpine skiing, which I had pretty much retired from after I'd been in the business for a long time. And I had owned saddleback in the 70s. And that had been a difficult experience emotionally and more importantly, financially. And I connected the business and the sport together. And somehow in my mind, skiing seemed to have been a bad idea. And so I stopped alpine skiing, but stayed cross country skiing from our farm in Washington, the local snowmobile club had a trail at went from right by the farm across two ponds and about a seven mile loop. So I cross country skied all the time, but hadn't thought much about alpine skiing. But then when the boys were young, we're only 15 minutes from the Camden Snow bowl, which is where I learned to ski. So it was skate and where I learned ski full circle and took them back and took them over and said, gee, this looks like fun, maybe I'll try this again. Then I just started doing it all the time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now, there's a strong sense of history that runs throughout your books. The Sugarloaf book, obviously is the story of Sugarloaf, so there's a strong sense of history and we'll talk about that. But also, Josh, I'm looking at your book Maine Brewing in Vacation Land, and you actually talk about the temperance movement and prohibition and General Neil Dow, who is the mayor of Portland and architect of the prohibitionary Maine law known as the Napoleon of Temperance. So it must be very interesting for you to be each of you traveling around the state and not only see what's in front of you today, but also have a sense for what has come in the past.

Josh Christie:

Yeah. And Maine is incredible in terms of the main estate, historic sites, I think of the forts like Fort Knox or the fort at Pemakwood, which are these wonderful places that are open to the public and not just provide hiking and kayaking and stuff you can do outdoors, but this great sense of this long history, the centuries long history we have

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

in Maine and even the really recent History. I mean, when I was reading about the story of Sugarloaf, this actually, it's not a very old mountain.

John Christie:

Oh, that's right. And as a, you know, as a major resort, it was really in the. It was, there was a local group up there that hacked a trail out on the mountain after having to abandon Bigelow, which is where the first trail was, up there, because central Maine power, in its wisdom, dammed up the Dead river and created Flagstaff Lake. And they couldn't get to the trail that they had cut, which was an old trail that led up to the Appalachian Trail. And in fact, just this past Columbus Day, Josh's brother Jake and I and Deirdre Fleming from the Portland Papers hike to the summit of Bigelow, which has become another one of my traditions. In fact, now this was year number 30 consecutive Columbus days that I've climbed Bigelow, but gave me a chance to show Deirdre kind of where the old original trail went. But then they went over, cut a trail on Sugarloaf, put in a little rope tow in 1951, and then in the early 50s built, put in a couple of T bars. Then in 1961, which is when I got there, added three more T bars. Then Sugarloaf sort of became what it began to become, what it is now with the construction of the gondola, which was built in 1965. So that's not that long ago. Although, interestingly, I was just doing a little research. There are only two ski areas operating ski areas in Maine now that predate the Second World War. One of them is now called Shawnee Peak, which I still have to refer to as Pleasant Mountain because that was when I was at Bowdoin. That's where we skied. The other was the Camden Snowball, which has become another, always was, but even more of a great love of mine. And in a couple of weeks in the Sunday Telegram, one will read about the six and a half million dollar redevelopment project going on there as a result of the townspeople in November voting affirmatively for the town to raise $2 million, triggered by the fact that we have raised 4.5 million in private funds in Camden.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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John Christie:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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John Christie:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that is the story of ski areas in Maine in general, at least initially. In the Sugarloaf story there was a time when people were being handed out at the same time they were getting their ski passes, they were being handed out potential shares in the company.

John Christie:

That's how Sugarloaf really it was. Those original thousand dollar shares that one could buy in the Sugarloaf Mountain Corporation is what built that and modest retained earnings. Built the first two T bars and got the access road built and bought a couple of snowcats. And yeah, it's very much grassroots, you know, in Maine, I mean there were once 80 ski areas in Maine, all rope toe ski areas. And as I say, and that was all before the second World War, none of which for a variety of reasons, liability insurance being perhaps the most significant one just stopped operating. But I mean there were three ski areas in Augusta, two in Belfast. It's interesting history and it was fun doing the Sugarloaf book to kind of because I was there not the earliest of times but knew all the early players and talk with Them. And then also I've been president of the Ski Museum of Maine. And this year was our 10th annual Maine Ski hall of Fame induction ceremony in October. And that's allowed me to understand more the whole fabric of Maine skiing. And a lot of the early 20th century Nordic skiers, especially from not only just Rumford and Andover, which is kind of the hotbed, but in Aroostook county, where it was. I mean, they used to run a cross country ski race from Fort Kent to Bangor, if one can imagine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's a very long race. I'm assuming that was multiple days, three

John Christie:

years in a row. Yeah, they went 24 hours. It took more than 24 hours, I think. But, yeah, it's. And that really derives from the Scandinavian population that really populated New Sweden and a lot of Aroostook County.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Josh, tell me about growing up near the Camden Snow bowl and having that be your primary mountain and knowing that that was your father's primary mountain before you.

Josh Christie:

It was. You know, it's one of the great things about the Camden Snowball is one of the same things that my father and I both love about Sugarloaf, is that it has a single base area, all the trails dump down to, so you can feel free to leave kids there for the day. And, you know, they'll be safe. You know, they'll end up in the right place. And it's a lovely mountain anyway. It's the only mountain on the east coast that you can see the Atlantic while you're skiing, which is a beautiful view. But there's something about these community mountains, which, as much as I love Sugarloaf and Saddleback and Sunday river in these places, that's lost as mountains get bigger. This community, right down to the fact that the food is all cooked there on a big grill down the base lodge, which you don't see at the larger mountains. It feels very friendly and welcoming. And it's worth mentioning both when I was a kid and now, either through school programs or through a program like Winterkids, that it's an affordable way for people to start skiing. And that is hugely important. I've been very lucky in that I've had some connections through my father being in the industry, that I've been able to ski some. And then being in the Ski Industries program at the University of Maine in Farmington and interning for the Ski Main association, now writing for the paper. I have a little bit of access either as industry or press. But I try, especially when I'm writing, never to forget the fact that it's not a sport. It's a sport that can be very unaffordable. And it's important to get started early, I think, to get that bug in you. So it's a important line item on your budget every year that you want to be able to go skiing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is something that you also experienced. John, you came from a family where I believe your father wasn't really present. And so your mother was largely raising you. Is that.

John Christie:

Absolutely, yeah. He was not present because he died when he was 29 years old. And so my mother raised my brother, who was four years old. I say was four years old. He passed away back in the 90s. But she raised the two of us as a single mother in Camden. And Camden was by a strange set of circumstances. I'm proud to be a Mainer. I was born in Presque Isle, but not because we lived in Presque Isle. We lived in Bethesda, Maryland, the family did. But my grandfather was a radiologist, in fact, and this was in the early part of the century. I mean, he was missing parts of two fingers from. Burns knew William Roentgen, now Burns, because

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

of being a radiologist back then when the X rays were very strong.

John Christie:

But he was and in fact was the president of the American Medical association in the late 30s. And I remember hearing him at the family's, his summer outdoor compound up on Portage Lake, which is up in Aroostook, where he and his doctor friends would all come for fishing. He was a great fisherman. Of hearing him rail against this demon Franklin Roosevelt, that was going to socialize. And I can still hear that. In fact, the camping that the boys and Marty and I did so much of when they were young, coming back from a trip up to Fundy National Park. We stopped at Campobello, which has become a special love of ours. And we were after the second time that we'd been camping up there at Herring Cove Provincial park, somebody asked me what I thought of the Roosevelt cottage there and the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. And I said, well, I. I got to tell you, I was afraid that if I went in there, my grandfather Christie would roll over in his grave. So it wasn't until our third trip that we finally went there.

Josh Christie:

Well, there's too much to do outdoors on Campo Bella.

John Christie:

Yeah, exactly. But it just happened that driving up to Portage Lake one spring, it was a three day drive the first day from Washington, D.C. to Newburgh, N.Y. then across the Mohawk Trail to Portsmouth, N.H. the third day was right up Route 1, all the way to Portage. But driving up the coast and driving through Camden, my father just remarked casually, that boy that looked like would be a great town in which to retire. Then, as I say, he tragically died at age 29. And my mother rather I think remembering that packed up my brother and me and he was I was three and he was seven and moved us to Camden.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Josh, you were up at University of Maine at Farmington, so your educational path was maybe a little bit more straightforward.

Josh Christie:

Well, I went almost the opposite route because inspired by my father knowing as a high school student all of the kind of glory stories of skiing and none of the Arab oil embargo and the financial collapse and losing money in the ski business, I went to the University of Maine in Farmington chiefly to go into the Ski Industries Program, the sadly now defunct Ski Industries Program, and to ski at Sugarloaf. So I was fairly certain I was going to be in the ski industry and then again got kind of an education, a deeper understanding of myself and thought I can probably just write about it and continue to enjoy the sport without the financial investment that would be involved with being at a mountain. But to go back to the idea of family involvement, Farmington was great because you would go through Farmington. Coming from Portland, where my brother went to school, you would go through Farmington on the way up to Sugarloaf. And coming from the mid coast where dad and mom lived, he would come through Farmington on the way to sugarloaf. So early 2000s is when gas prices really started to rise and we were able to carpool most of the of the way going up from the resort, from the campus there.

John Christie:

When Josh went up to college there, he asked me about what I thought about him getting into the ski business. And I said, yeah, it's delightful. Just run somebody else's ski area. Don't buy one, don't build one, don't buy one.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think it's also worth noting this is a little bit of a sidebar, but you went to Bowdoin, not because your family had a lot of money to send you to Bowdoin. You got kind of like our former senator George Mitchell. You were sort of discovered, in a way. You got a very nice scholarship and you were, I don't know, enabled to go to Bowdoin. There was some good fortune there.

Josh Christie:

I love the story. Yeah, the greatest paper boy in the state of Maine. Right? That's the idea behind the scholarship.

John Christie:

Yeah, it was. We had no money. My mother was a school. His grandmother. My mother was a schoolteacher raising two boys all alone there in Camden. But I delivered the first, the main Sunday Telegram when my brother had the daily route for the Press Herald. And then he gave to me his daily route when he stopped delivering papers. And I did that all through junior high school and high school. And then back then, the Gannett Publishing Company and the family every year had one principal scholarship. They gave to One News then Not Politically Correct. One Newsboy they called them then. So I got that, and that really was what that was enough to get me into Bowdoin and underwrite my freshman year. And then. And I think this is also part of why I realized after having spent two winters in graduate school in Stockholm, that I really didn't like that kind of cloistered environment, that there was an entrepreneurial side to me. And a good friend of mine, Gene Waters, who's down here in Portland, classmate of mine, we got the hot dog concession at the Whittier Field, the football stadium. And so we had that. And just by fortuitously, in my sophomore year there Was a new hockey rink built. So we got the hot dog concession at the hockey rink. And then there was. I don't know if they had Gordon Linen Service back in your day, delivering sheets around everybody. Gene and I had the Gordon Linen concession as well. In fact, my senior year, I made money, made more money at Bowdoin than it cost me to go there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, and this is why I'm so fascinated, because of course I went to Bowdoin, but I wasn't trying to sell hot dogs or deliver linens. I think I was a lifeguard at the pool. So I did do something on campus, and I think for a little while I lived with my family to save some money. But it certainly wasn't what you've described or in the show that we did with former Senator George Mitchell. I think he was working in sort of construction or in a gravel. Out of a gravel pit. I mean, you really had to work very hard for your education in a similar way that you had to work in order to ski. You had to decide that this was a priority and you were going to move forward with it.

John Christie:

And mine, you know, it was really through the kindness of strangers that I. That scholarship that I had from Gannett got me started. And then there was a. I don't know if the Charles Irwin Trevelli Fund existed when you were in school, but I got that scholarship. And then there was a scholarship that wasone had to be a Portland resident to get it. The board chairman of Maine national bank at the time was responsible for that particular scholarship. He was friendly with friends of ours in Camden that were Bowdoin people. Because of my mother's accident, I had no real legal at home address. There was two semesters that my address for the purposes of that scholarship was the Portland ymca. But that was all just through people who took an interest and thought, well, this kid deserves a chance.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So all of this seems to kind of come through as, I guess, an acknowledgement that life is not always that easy, but it's always possible to enjoy it. Which is something that you both write about with the Maine Sunday Telegram column that you do and also with this upcoming book that you have. What are some of your favorite outdoor places here in Maine that people can very easily get to and really enjoy?

John Christie:

Josh has some great ones.

Josh Christie:

Yeah. Perhaps my favorite, which is a bit of a drive from Portland, but still an easy trip, is Tumbledown Mountain in Weld, which is this beautiful alpine lake that's surrounded by three peaks that are all reachable by hiking trails just off from The Mount Blue State Park. But since it is, I think the Tumbledown Land Trust or something, that effect owns the land. So it's free to access. Very easy to get to. Well described in Carrie Kish's version of the Appalachian Mountain Guide, which is out now and then. A lot of the ski areas actually have great hiking during the summer. Pleasant Mountain, Shawnee Peak, is a great hike as well. And I have a great affection for Wolf's Neck State park, which is right near my home in Yarmouth. It's just a great little network of trails. It's easy to get to, to fairly inexpensive to access. It's a couple bucks to get into the state park there and just beautiful.

John Christie:

And I did a recent column fairly recently about kayaking on the Harrisika, which I tend to do more in Penobscot Bay and further east and down east and out around Bar harbor and there, or out around the island in Penobscot Bay. But you know, that paddle from the South Freeport, from the Freeport town, landing there at high tide anyway, is a great place to go down around Wolf's Neck. In fact, in my column I remarked that this business of skiing my age, I was riding a chairlift one day, last window with someone. I was telling them that's what I do. And he said, well, you know, he was a sailor and whom I've known for quite a few years. And he said, well, you know, us old sailors, our goal is to always have a boat that's the length of our age. So I remarked in my column as I paddled down by South Freeport there that it looked like there were a lot of old sailors in South Freeport because there were a lot of 60 and 70 foot boats moored there. But another great hike is Borstone Audubon Preserve east of Monson, which is just a. That's a beautiful hike. And I mentioned the islands of Penobscot Bay. I think just the, you know, the main ferry service with its ferries to Vinalhaven, North Haven, Islesborough, Swan's island and even Matinicus, you know, great trips to just. And there they are just off the coast. And I remember my freshman year at Bowdoin. My roommate Charlie Graham was from Marble Head and his parents were coming up for homecoming and said they're going to be around Maine for a few days. Can you think of some things for them to do? And I said, well, let me think about that. He said, well, they've been talking about maybe going out to Vinyl Haven. You grew up in Camden. What's Vinyl Haven like. And I said, christ, I have no idea. Why would I ever go up to Vinylhaven growing up? I said, now, full circle. Vinyl Haven is one of my favorite places in the world. We had a lobster boat for years moored in Rockport harbor, and Marty and I, before the boys were born, did a tremendous amount of gunking around every nook and cranny of for about every place from Pemaquid to Bar harbor in that lobster boat. And the whole the Portage and the Dubulli Preserve, which is one of Maine's public land preserves north of Portage, up very near the Allagash and the Canadian border. That's spectacular as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Fortunately, people who want to learn more have lots of different ways to do this. They can read your book about the outdoors, whatever it ends up being titled when it comes out in May. They can also read John your book the Story of Sugarloaf. Or they could read your book Maine Beer Brewing in Vacation Land, which I guess you can drink outdoors.

Josh Christie:

So technically Baxter puts it right on the table to be enjoyed outdoors.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I like it. And then people in general can read about Sugarloaf in the December 2013 issue of Maine Magazine, which is indeed the Sugarloaf issue. We're fortunate to have people who are out in the world doing what you're doing and writing about it. So those of us who aren't able to quite get to as many places are inspired to go find those places. We've been speaking with John and Josh Christie, father and son outdoor writer, life loving team. We appreciate your coming in and talking to us today.

John Christie:

We're the fortunate ones to A live here in Maine, B be able to have the platform to write about it, and C have the kind of relationship that lets us do it together.

Josh Christie:

Yeah, and D keep each other busy too, because I think otherwise we'd go crazy if we didn't have a lot to do, as you can tell from our resumes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you are doing great work and you have a great relationship, I can tell that. So congratulations to you both and stay close.

Josh Christie:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The goal of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour is to help make connections between the health of the individual and the health of the community. The goal of Ted Carter Inspired Landscapes is to deepen our appreciation for the natural world. Here to speak with us today is Ted Carter.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast understands the importance of the health of the body, mind and spirit. Here to talk about the health of the body is Travis Boyer of Premier Sports, a division of Black Bear Medical.

Josh Christie:

Black Bear Medical knows the toll skiing can take on a person's body, especially since we aren't able to enjoy it year round. Stop by our locations in Portland and Bangor and check out our full line of compression socks for skiing and other winter sports. They provide cushion and support as well

Cooper Friend:

as increased blood flow to keep your muscles loose and help avoid soreness.

Josh Christie:

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Cooper Friend:

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Josh Christie:

Bear Medical it's your life.

Cooper Friend:

Define it your way.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's always my pleasure to spend time with people from different parts of the state who are doing slightly different things but have something in common with me because of course, I think we're all interested in people who have something in common with ourselves. This individual sitting across the microphone from me is somebody who really enjoys skiing as I do. And we thought it would be a nice thing to bring him in and talk about skiing and how being a skier at Sugarloaf with his family, in fact his parents and now his children and his grandchildren has really brought joy and happiness into his life and the lives of those he cares about. So we're talking to Cooper friend and we're really glad you're here today.

Cooper Friend:

Thank you. My pleasure to be here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now, Cooper, we were talking and your house was actually featured in Maine Home and Design last year and they talked about the fact that your family has been coming there since I believe it was the 50s.

Cooper Friend:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And originally your parents built a house up there?

Cooper Friend:

Yes, my dad started skiing at Sugarloaf in the mid-50s through his good friend that lived in Newport, King Cummings, who was one of the founders of Sugarloaf. And King convinced my dad that he needed to go to Sugarloaf. So my dad would trudge up to Sugarloaf from Newport on snowy days. And then King built a camp at Sugarloaf. And my mom and dad and I and my sister would stay with the Cummings in their camp. And after several weekends of that, my mom said to my dad, we need to build our own camp. This is pretty nice up here and everybody seems to enjoy it, so we need to have our own place. So my dad in the summer 1959 built a camp.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this camp was it a year round camp that they were able to. You were able to use in the summertime as well or mostly just winter?

Cooper Friend:

It was predominantly used in the winter, but we did go up in summer and had some work bees around and we'd re shingle. I remember one summer we had to reshingle the roof and just do some work bees around there. But we did go up some summer, but not a lot.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what are some of the memories you have growing up from this camp and from spending time skiing with your family at Sugarloaf?

Cooper Friend:

Oh gee. I remember every Friday afternoon loading up our station wagon with, you know, five gallon jugs of water because we didn't have any running water. And driving up Friday night and getting there when it was dark and cold and building a fire and getting it warmed up and waking up and then going to bed when it was cold and waking up at like midnight at one and you were roasting hot and going outside to go to the bathroom. But it was just so many families did that. We weren't unique. Everybody did it, and it was great. And when we would stay up there Christmas vacation week and February vacation week, my dad was friends with the people that owned the Sugarloaf Inn. And we'd go up like midweek and take a shower.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So this was common, that people didn't have running water and they didn't have indoor toilets.

Cooper Friend:

Very common. Very common, yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that didn't seem. I mean, by then you're talking about 1959 and 60s, and it didn't seem that unusual to you?

Cooper Friend:

No, even in through the early mid-60s.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how did the Sugarloaf Inn feel about everybody descending upon them to take a shower?

Cooper Friend:

Well, you know, I was pretty young, so I don't really remember. My dad was real good friends with that family that owned it. And so I just thought that was a high weekend. But I'm sure there are other families that did the same thing. But it was a great experience. And, of course, skiing, we've just met so many wonderful people through there, through Sugarloaf. It's been great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Were your parents skiers before they decided to start going up to Sugarloaf?

Cooper Friend:

Yes, my mother was a little bit of a skier. My dad was a very avid skier. He had skied in high school and in college.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Was he also originally from Maine? I know you grew up in Newport.

Cooper Friend:

Yes, he was born and brought up right in Newport, Maine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So skiing back in the 50s and 60s, it wasn't quite what it has become now. It wasn't quite as expensive, quite as fancy. The equipment was definitely very different. What are some of the differences you see between then and now?

Cooper Friend:

Well, obviously, the equipment is so much better now and the snow is so much better. With grooming equipment. The grooming is the biggest, by far the biggest change. And the artificial snow, now, you can make snow when there's no natural snow, but the grooming and the snow making are the two huge differences.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So were you back then using the skis with sort of the boots that weren't exactly ski boots and the leather straps and you were using. Were you using those kinds of things?

Cooper Friend:

Yeah, they were ski boots. They were leather ski boots, but, yeah, they had the big leather strap that went around the boot for the safety binding. So if you came out of your binding, the ski still stayed with you and wouldn't go down the hill?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But yeah, well, these are the kinds of skis, because I was on the ski team in high school, and these are the kinds of skis we would see when we would go to a ski shop as, like, the antique skis that were put up on the walls. And we always wonder, well, how could people ski in those without getting hurt? But it sounds like you could just. If that's what you had, that's what you worked with.

Cooper Friend:

Yeah. And then in the 60s, they kind of went to metal skis, and it was all relative. They were making big advances. It all seemed like state of the art stuff back then.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Did you ski with your parents and your sister, or did you ski with other friends when you were up there?

Cooper Friend:

I skied with my dad, but I skied with friends most of the time that were my age. And some of those people are still there today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you still have relationships with them.

Cooper Friend:

Absolutely. Yeah. Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we go from you living with your parents and your sister, getting a little bit older yourself, going to Nassau in Springvale. This is the college that doesn't exist anymore.

Cooper Friend:

That's correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But moving to Ellsworth, opening up your own motorcycle dealership.

Cooper Friend:

Yes. In Ellsworth.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In Ellsworth. Getting married, having some children yourself, and deciding somehow that the Sugarloaf thing, you got to keep doing it.

Cooper Friend:

Yeah. Actually, I had gotten out of the sport a little bit through high school and college years. There was probably 18 years that I probably had only skied eight or 10 times. And then actually, my wife, who's from Cincinnati, Ohio, back in 1986, her sister called her and said, I just went to Sunday river, and they had a Learn to ski free day. And we just had a blast. You got to come do this. So my wife met her at Sunday river, and she came back from that day just really pumped and enthused and said, we've got to do this for the kids. And I said, hey, you don't. You're preaching the choir. I'd love to get back into skiing. And so we had some. The first winter, we rented a place at Squaw because I was a little budget conscious, and we wanted to just make sure everyone was going to enjoy it. Well, at the same time, we had real good friends of ours with children that were the same age as ours were renting a place at Sugarloaf, and they asked us up for New Year's, and once we went back to Sugarloaf, that was it. I mean, I just. It was great. And the next season, we started renting at Sugarloaf, and then we purchased a Place in 1993.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Being a Sugarloaf family is a commitment. It's something that, I mean, you've already described it from your childhood, where you kind of pack up on Friday and you're gone for a weekend away from your friends at home, and then you're back again on Monday. But it's a commitment, and it's many, many months at a time. How does that feel?

Cooper Friend:

Oh, it sure is a commitment. I mean, it's when, you know, either if you find a rental or you purchase a condominium or a home up there, you know, you feel you need to. You want to be there as much as possible. And our children went to cva, went to Carabasa Valley Academy, the ski academy, and. Which is a great school. And it was very good for both of them. And my wife lived there in the wintertime to be with the kids, and I would go up on the weekends.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And do you feel like it contributed to your family staying pretty close?

Cooper Friend:

Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What happened when your kids got to be. And I'm assuming because they went to cva, when they got to be better skiers than you, did you still ski with them?

Cooper Friend:

Well, you know, when they get to that age, skiing with their mom and dad is not a whole lot of fun because, yeah, they were definitely way better than us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What do you think it is about Sugarloaf that engenders such loyalty? It seems like people are Sugar Loafers, and they're Sugar Loafers for life.

Cooper Friend:

You know, Sugarloaf, definitely. It gets deep in your soul. There's something about. Has a very unique history with a lot of colorful characters, but at the end of the day, it's still a small community of really nice people. And you have that common denominator of the passion for skiing, and it just draws. That draws everybody pretty close. And it does. It gets deep in your soul, and it's just. It's where you want to be when you're not there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You came into our studio today wearing a shirt from your dealership. It's friend and friend. And I love that the motto is the boys with the toys. There must be something, some understanding that you have that you hold, that play is important and that enjoying one's life is important. Otherwise, I doubt very much you'd be selling the toys to the boys, I.e. motorcycles, or spending much as much time as you do skiing.

Cooper Friend:

Well, yes. You know, I'm born and raised in Maine, and I think that Maine people work hard and they like to play hard. And I just. I feel that there has to be a time for recreation, and we try to provide one of those niches, one of those alternatives for that recreation as motorcycling or off road riding.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And clearly this has become very popular and something that other people have recognized the value of because now you've, you've grown significantly.

Cooper Friend:

Yeah, motorcycling has become very popular the last 15 or 20 years. It's really, really become popular.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you have dealerships in other parts of the state and also out of state, is that right?

Cooper Friend:

Yes. One in Ellsworth and one in Orono and then a Harley Davidson store in Lewiston and a Harley Davidson store in New Rochelle, New York, right outside New York City.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is there something similar to between the feeling of freedom that you experience going down a slope and the feeling that you experience being on a motorcycle?

Cooper Friend:

It is very similar, yes. It's just the wind in your face and the scenery around you and it's definitely comparisons.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And do you think that this helps you stay a little closer to the world around you?

Cooper Friend:

Oh, sure, sure. Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have two kids yourself.

Cooper Friend:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And now I believe you said you have two grandchildren, is that right?

Cooper Friend:

Two boys. Two grand boys, yes. Ages three and a half and just turning one.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And your kids skied obviously growing up themselves.

Cooper Friend:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And now you've got this three year old who sounds like he's about ready to get on skis.

Cooper Friend:

Maybe he got on skis last year. He was in several ski lessons and he and I rode the chairlift together. And it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what was his response to going out there as a little one?

Cooper Friend:

He was very eager. He wanted to, I mean, he just. You've got to understand that his dad not only was his mom a skier, but his dad was a tremendous skier. My daughter and my son in law Kyle met at Bates College. They were both on the ski team, a division one ski team. And Kyle was three time all American. And so he has a very strong passion for skiing and probably a pretty safe bet that two kids will too. It was funny because we'd been in a condominium since 1993 and in 2004, after our kids had graduated from college, our son was still in his last year or two of college, but basically the nest was empty. And you know, we had talked about getting a standalone home. And so we found this home that we fell in love with and it's big. And everybody said, why are you, why aren't you downsizing? Why are you getting this big house? And I said because it's going to, I really think and hope it's going to be the crazy glue for the family, because Sugarloaf, I feel it's gotten in their soul, too, as well as it did, you know, my wife and mine. And it will always draw them here. And that's exactly how it's played out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It must be pretty great to be the grandfather riding the chairlift with the grandson.

Cooper Friend:

Oh, it's cool. Yeah.

John Christie:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What would you say to people who are thinking about making this investment of time and money and energy to become Sugar Loafers themselves?

Cooper Friend:

I definitely feel if there's any way in their budget that they could do it, to do it, because it's a great family sport. It's a life sport. And really, the coolest thing is the connections that you make. I mean, when my daughter got married in 2005, just. I remember standing there and looking out at everybody, and there was just so many skiers there, you know?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it is a tremendous resource for Maine, so I feel like we're very lucky to. To have Sugarloaf right right up the road, not very far.

Cooper Friend:

No. Two great ski areas, really, and a lot of small, nice, smaller ones, too. But Sunday river and Sugarloaf, you know, they're two jewels, for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that's a fair point. I mean, we don't want to overlook besides even Sunday river and Sugarloaf. I mean, we've.

Cooper Friend:

There's been sort of Shawnee Peak.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Shawnee Peak, and I think Squaw was opening back up again last year.

Cooper Friend:

Yeah, boy, you're on the top of Squaw and overlooking there. It's one of the most beautiful views in Maine. Looking over Mount Kineo and Moosehead Lake, it's spectacular.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it sounds like even if people are not quite ready to make the Sugarloaf investment, there are multiple opportunities to become skiers.

Cooper Friend:

Absolutely. Yeah. It's a great sport.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Cooper, it's been a pleasure to speak with you today about the Sugarloaf experience, and I'm so glad that you're able to come in and actually make the drive down from Ellsworth, we've been speaking with Cooper Friend, who is a longtime Sugar Loafer and also owner of Friend and Friend, the boys with the Toys.

Cooper Friend:

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 116 ski families. Our guests have included Josh and John Christie and also Cooper Friend. For more information on our guests and extended interviews, visit DoctrLisa.org the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E. Newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter and Pinterest and read my take on health and well being on the Bountiful blog. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.