Sugarloaf #169

Kip Files:

this week's program, but I could stay right at Sugarloaf. The skiing is great. It's the best skiing in the East. It's the best mountain in the east and I ski lamal. But it is a special place. It really is. I can't say enough about it.

Jamie Goduti:

It's an interesting job and it's just another twist on the skiing or riding adventure. So you know you're not just skiing the trails over and over every single day. You're actually going out and being part of the process and being part of the mountain. So it's fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine radio show number 169, Sugarloaf. Airing for the first time on Sunday, December 7, 2014, Sugarloaf in Carabasset Valley is one of Maine's favorite mountains. The first trail was cut in 1950 by the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club and a group of locals known as the Bigelow Boys. Since then, Sugarloaf has become a close knit community of skiers, snowboarders and outdoor enthusiasts. Today we speak with Sugarloafer and schooner captain Kip Files and Jamie Gaduti of the Sugarloaf Ski Patrol, both of whom are featured in Maine Magazine's December issue. We know you'll enjoy hearing more about the Sugarloaf family and perhaps be inspired to take a trip up there yourself. Thank you for joining us. On Love Mean Radio.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We really enjoy talking to people who love their lives. And in front of us, I have one of these individuals.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I can tell just by having spent

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

a few minutes with him before getting on the air. This is Kip Files.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Kip was born in Bangor, Maine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

He is the owner and captain of the Schooner Victory Chimes he's been doing

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

windjammer cruises on the coast of Maine for 25 years and has been a sugarlover since 1961.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

During the winters, he works at WSKI TV, Sugarloaf, Channel 17. Channel 17. So you're a roll before you go. So you have a life that I think many people would envy. And Susan Connolly wrote about this in the Sugarloaf issue. So people can read about this and the close relationships you've had with people at Sugarloaf. But this is a very intentional life on your part.

Kip Files:

Oh, but it is. You know, it wasn't something I planned, but it just. My lifestyle allowed me to do it. And so I just. The sailing aspect of it, it wasn't when I started in sailing and got into these commercial sail. I mean, the opportunity to grow in that industry was small, unless you owned your own vessel. But as it went on, the more vessels were built after 1976, and more of this traditional stuff came in. And then one thing led to another and ended up with the victory chimes. That's a long story. That'd take a half an hour how I ended up with that. But all that time that I was doing the sailing part, I had this passion for skiing. I was never a great skier. I'm an accomplished skier, but not a great skier. But I had this passion for it. And in 1961, it started when I went with some friends from Bangor to Sugarloaf. We'd drive over. We were weekend skiers. We'd drive over on a Saturday, drive back to Bangor, get up on Sunday and drive over. Didn't have a place there. And so that sort of opened up. You know, you live in Maine and you're in the winter. What are you gonna. You gotta. If you're a kid, you want to be outside, you have to embrace winter. And so here it is, snow. And so I had this, and I just loved doing it. And I did it all through high school and then in college. And then right after college, I moved to Sugarloaf after taking a. This is after taking a vessel, delivering a vessel to the Bahamas. And then I left the vessel there, and then my flight took me back to Sugarloaf. Well, it took me to Portland or to Bangor. I can't remember which one. But then after that was done, I knew I was going to head to go skiing because I didn't want to have a season without having skiing. And I had fallen in love with Sugarloaf as a young man because that's where we skied. And then as I got older. I mean, I could have gone anywhere, anywhere in the world to ski. But the reason you get to Sugarloaf is one is the mountain. And then you stay because of the people. The people that I met there are just. There's no other place like it. You drive up to 27 or come in, and you get to Kingfield, and you just feel this release, and you get up there. It's just. It's a way of life. It really is. I mean, that sign care about your life will never be the same. That's pretty much it. That has been pretty much it for me. And what's amazing is that the people that I settled with there after I got out of College in the 70s, a lot of them are still there, never left, and some of them never skied. Go to a ski resort and never ski. Figure that one out. There's gotta be something there. And I don't know if I could talk about what it is or write a book about what it is. It's one of those abstract things that you just gather in your mind and pick it out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We had Josh and John Christie on the show last year, and John is an old friend of yours?

Kip Files:

Yes, he is. I wouldn't say old. That's the wrong term, isn't it?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How about longtime friend?

Kip Files:

Longtime friend, yes. And John. The first time I met John, he used to do this. He was director of Sugarloaf, and he used to come over to Bangor and do the Bud Levitt Show. And of course, he was from Sugarloaf, and he was one of our idols as a kid growing up. That makes John a lot older than I am. And so they used to plow the back of the. The parking lot, and John would do some turns and we'd go over and just, oh, it's John Christie. Look, look. And he'd get about two turns in, and he'd talk, and he was. His manner. He's always been a funny guy. He's got a great wit. And there was a turn at the time that they were teaching called the Stem Christi. We thought he invented it. This is how we knew. He won't deny that he didn't, but I don't think he really did. So I've known John since then, and then we have a lot of mutual friends. And then when I finally moved back up to Sugarloaf, he'd gone and departed the skiing industry for a while. He was over at Saddleback, and then finally came back and we sort of reignited that friendship. He's a great man, he really is. He's fun to ski with, too. He's just fun to be around.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's amazing to me that we have such a dichotomy. You know, I'm a doctor. I see patients who are older and many of them are very sedentary, and I couldn't imagine them walking down the street without assistance, never mind getting on the slopes. But when you go to Sugarloaf and some of these other mountains, you see people who have been skiing for years and years, and they're 80 year olds,

Kip Files:

they just get up, they don't ski as they used to. But I think it's all about. Well, there's a passion for skiing and there's a passion for Sugarloaf. And I think through all this turmoil that Sugarloaf had and the skiing industry had throughout, the passion of the people and the mountain kept it alive. But there was part of their life that they're not willing to give up. And besides the fact it's fun, it really is. Put two pieces of wood on your. Or metal or fiberglass on your feet and slide down the hill. You know, it's a youthful thing to do, so people do it until they can. I mean, my dad skied with me when he was in his 80s. He's 97 now, but he gave it a whirl in his 80s. I mean, he went down the small slopes, but he wasn't a skier growing up, but he did it as a young man. It's winter. Get outside. Yee gads. Imagine sitting in front of a TV all winter long or something. I'd go nuts.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, there's also something about the setting.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And in Maine we're so fortunate because after a snowfall, you can go up and you can be one of the first ones on the mountain. And you see what you see the trees, you see the mountains around you. You know, you get to see. Sometimes you get to see the sun set really early. But there is so much beauty to be found in winter in Maine. And I think if you're a skier and you're in the right place at the right time, you get to see that beauty.

Kip Files:

That's. I was up at Sugarloaf this weekend at home, and it snowed and it went from fall to winter, and the personality of the forest immediately changes. It's winter. You look around where you were looking at gray and trees with no leaves and stuff like that that became white. It's a complete personality change. And then there's a buzz around the mountain because it's the Snow that. Not that it'll last or anything, but the snow guns went on and stuff. And so it's this rebirth of this wonderful industry that's just coming alive. People gnar at the bit to go. I'm fortunate enough that in my job at ski, I get to go up with a ski patrol in the morning. And so I'm up there sometimes at sunrise, and to be up on that mountain and look over at the Bigelows on sunrise, some of those, you know, it's. I don't. My vocabulary is not good enough to explain it. You know, I take pictures of it and we show it on the TV and so forth. But I'm not that. I don't know what the words are. I can't explain what that feeling is. When you're up there looking, you look over that Bigelow Range, you look around and you go, my. Where else would you want to be? I mean, I've skied the Rockies, I skied Europe, and it's all beautiful. But maybe it's because I look across that and I say, ah, this is home. You know, Maybe it's that feeling that makes me. It's so special. I don't know. I can't tell you what it is. But, you know, in the water, they call it sea fever. In the skiing, I don't know what they call it. Ski fever. I don't know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you mentioned the ski patrol, and

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I was able to go up and be with the ski patrol to write an article for Maine Magazine, which is in the Sugarloaf issue, along with the article that you're in, written by Susan Connolly. And that's also a very interesting thing. What I noticed about the people who are on ski patrol is the same camaraderie that you've described with your friends in the Sugarloaf community.

Kip Files:

Well, with a lot of the ski patrol, I are my friends, you know, and it's a passion that they have. They come from all walks of life, all economic diversity, but they have this passion. And part of their passion in the skiing is the ski patrol. And they work. Oh, my God, their day is a long day, and they're up the mountain when other people are still having a cup of coffee and going, I don't know if I want to go up there today or not, you know, but they're there. They're opening the mountain, they're closing, they're on scene for rescue. They're given directions. It's a huge, huge passion that they have and a huge commitment. I really have A lot of respect for what they do and how they do it. Because, I mean, they had training this weekend. You know, they were practicing evacuating lifts and all that type of thing this weekend. It's the same people. It's like the restaurants you go to at Sugarloaf. And it's the same people every year. It's not a huge turnaround once you get there, you know, you might as well stay there because you're really never gonna leave. Really? I don't think. Anyway, I didn't.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now you balance out your love of frozen water with your love of unfrozen water. Yeah. So you have a windjammer?

Kip Files:

I do. Victory chimes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Victory chimes.

Kip Files:

You know, if you're a state of Mainer and every state had its own Quartermate, in 2003, we printed our quarter. Every state has its own quarter. If you look on the back of the State of Maine quarter, that's my vessel. Go figure. But so the passion for historical vessels on the coast of Maine is unsurpassed in the United States. We have the largest commercially operated sailing fleet. No engines. It's a sailing fleet in North America. More than 70% of our fleet are national historic landmarks. Some of our vessels were built back in 1871. And it's. These vessels just sort of gravitated to Maine because it was the last place that these vessels could still generate income because they were all built not because it's fun to build a funky old wooden boat. It's to generate income for their owners. And some of these vessels, I mean, they just. They had no other business. And in the 1930s and 40s, this windjammer business started. So people thought, wouldn't it be fun to go out on these vessels before they all disappear? And it created enough income that people could make a living taking people on trips, overnight trips. It started at day trips and then went on an overnight trip when the day trip because the wind change couldn't get back in. So here we go. And so it started. And it's what we call a windjammer. And it's was at one time a type of vessel. And now it is what we do instead of what you were. It is now what we do. We go windjamming. And it's overnight. You know, it's sort of like executive camping at sea. It's not your cruise ship. It's a different type of thing altogether where we don't have a schedule. We go sailing overnight. Where are you going to go? Where we end up. Maine is so perfect. For this because we have 3,000 islands or maybe more at low tide and they go out almost 30 miles, so well protected. It still has this feeling of wilderness. It's the same look when you get the top of Shugalof and look over Bigelow. You get on the deck at Islahou on the vessel and look and you might see one little house. You know, it has that same feeling, this wilderness feeling. And so it's perfect for them. And it's a wonderful season because it's summertime and it's June through September and it's easy on these older vessels and stuff. So it's great. So this all gravitated toward Maine and I got into it as a young man because I don't even know. I grew up on a lake outside of Bangor and learned to sail when I, I don't know, four or five years old, with clotheslines attached to a peapod, which is a rowing canoe. And we had built a sail for it. And then When I was 9 or 10, my uncle and my dad ended up with this friendship sloop. It was a sailing lobster boat. And so all of a sudden I'm on the coast and it's opened up this world to me. And I saw these old vessels and they really interested me. I did all the racing stock, the high tech stuff, it wasn't for me. I liked traditional vessels so much more. And so I got into the windjammer business as a kid, washing dishes, doing anything I could to get on the water. And that sort of expanded into doing other things, opening other doors. I've sailed square riggers, I've sailed vessels that are from 1841 on up and been around. It's taken me around the world. I've been very fortunate about it. So it is a huge passion to me. It's a huge passion. And saving these vessels and saving this way of life is hugely important. My vessel was one of 3,000 built on the East Coast. It's a three masted schooner as far as I can tell. Now other historians may argue the point, but it was the most successful sailing vessel the North Americans ever built. If we didn't invent the schooner, we perfected it in the new world. I can go, I mean, I can take you 20 minute show right through this whole historical thing, but. And then we built two masters, three master, four, five, six, up to seven master schooners. But the Three Master was the most successful sailing vessel we ever built. One has survived, has never missed a year of commercial sail in 115 years. And that's the victory chimes. Absolutely phenomenal. And she's been in private hands all her life. She's done it on her own. She doesn't get grants. She can't. Even though she's a National Historic Landmark, she can't get grants. She can't get any tax incentives that they gave private citizens to own buildings that a National Historic landmark. So on her own, without an engine, she's A sailing vessel, 170ft long, has never missed a year of commercial sail. She made it on her own. Absolutely phenomenal. And the reason she did it is because she got to Maine at the right time. And then she always found an owner that would take care of her. And then she always found people that were interested in going without that generated income. All we'd have is pictures. Or maybe they could drag her up in Wiscasset. Do you remember those vessels in Wiscasset? We could drag her up there. You could watch her rot. But. So I don't know how I got onto that, but that's how I got into windjamming and a huge passion for that, as I do for skiing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and it's through your work with windjammers and the victory chimes and the work that you've done down in Mystic, Connecticut, that you were able to throw out the first pitch for the Red Sox.

Kip Files:

Go figure. If some kid from Bangor, Maine, gets to throw the first pitch, I think Seth Westcott and I are the only two Sugar Loafers that have thrown the first pitch. The difference between Seth is he's a gold medal winner. Fun to ski with if you can keep up with him. But, yeah, I was working for mystic on the Charles W. Morgan, which is the. Which was a whaling ship, and it hadn't been sailed in a century. So they hired me to. We ended up in Boston, and they had a Mystic Seaport night at Fenway. And about three weeks before we got there, they said, asked me, can you throw a baseball? Well, when I was 10 or 11, I did, yeah. So could you throw the first pitch? And I said, absolutely. I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna miss this opportunity. So I bought a couple of gloves and a couple of baseballs, and then every port we would stop on the Charles W. Morgan, I'd take one of the crew members ashore, mark off the distance and said, throw him a baseball. So I wouldn'. And then. So I nailed it. Yeah. Yeah. 30,000 people watching. It was just to be out of that historic because it's. It's a, you know, it's not a stadium. It's. It's Fenway and the history there. I mean, it's one of those. It started at Fenway, and hopefully it'll ended Fenway baseball. But you just think of all those people that were there and saw the games and all these great athletes that were out throwing pitches and on that field that had the honor and the privilege to be out there. And then I got to walk out there. Holy smokes. It's quite humbling. Yeah, it was fun. It was a lot of fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we've Talked about the intentionality aspect. You know, you intentionally are living this life that you love. We can tell that you love it. Anybody who's listening can tell that you love it.

Kip Files:

Yeah, I have a passion, don't I?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And then there's also the fact that you've grabbed these opportunities. And I believe you were telling me about a conversation you had with your father 40 years ago.

Kip Files:

My dad, God love him, he's still alive. 97. He'll be 97 in December. My all time hero. He really is. And his way of life in growing up was always this passion for life. And he made decisions in his life after World War II, when he got, you know, when he could finally settle down and stuff, because he was a college student when the war broke out and that sort of changed everything. Became a naval aviator and he. But it was always family first and then passion for life second. And so I, although not, you know, I had a lot of. A lot of opportunities and it was given to me by my family. And not that we had lots of money, but we just did things as a family, all this stuff. It was great stuff and always an adventure. And so I remember driving down and I might have been in high school, it doesn't matter. Probably in high school, and we're driving 95 for some reason. It's like that. This is typical of my dad. I get my learner's permit and we were going to drive to. We had to go to New Jersey because he had family in New Jersey. And so he and I were going to drive down. And the day I went and passed my test back then, the adult had to be with you and stuff like that. He sits in the back seat, gives me the car keys and says, go to New Jersey. So I drove to New Jersey the first day I'd ever driven. This is my dad. And so on one of these drives, he says, kip, you know, you live in a country where you have a choice. Very fortunate to have this choice. You can go with the quality of life or the quantity of life. And he says, really, I don't think that if you're buried in a gold sarcophagus or a pine box, it makes a whole lot of difference at the end. And so it's not a dress rehearsal. If I were you, I'd go with the quality of life. Enjoy it as much as you can, because we're all one heartbeat away from having that part of the journey over. Go for it. And I took that to heart. And watching him anyway, and his passion for life he still has it. He still has it. He struggled to get around, but he still has this wonderful passion for life. You can see it in his eyes and his mannerisms. He's still at 97. Although he said the other day. He said to me the other day, you know, if you call me up and I don't answer, I'm in a happy place. Don't worry about it. But that's his passion for life, you know, he'll go, he'll be all right. You could drop me off the side of the road. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it, you know, But I'm going to continue on this path. Then I'm going to enjoy life as best I can. And so he gave me that, and I took it to heart. Whether he had said that or not and I had followed this path, I don't know. But I'd like to think that he was the one that steered me on to these great adventures that I'd have. You know, I'm going to leave. This is during the Vietnam War. I'm taking dad. I'm taking a semester off and taking this vessel to the Caribbean, and we're going to sail down there and then go around through the Panama Canal to San Diego. And he says, when are you going? When are you leaving? And so the problem with that was that you had this thing called the draft board. You had to be careful because you had this student, so you had to play this game. Anyway, so I did that with his blessing. He said, I'll help pack. Oh, this is great. Sounds great. Go for it. You know, what an adventure. Why not? So he was always my hair. When I bought the Victory Chimes, he was the first one to go. Yeah, everybody else thought I was nuts. Buy a, you know, this big, large wooden vessel and decide you're gonna make a living at it. You know, everybody say you're nuts, but he is. With his encouragement, off I went.

Jamie Goduti:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And he was encouraged by his father, you said?

Kip Files:

I think so, although I didn't know him very well. But he talks about his dad a lot. I didn't. I remember my grandfather. He died when I was 6 or 7. And so your image is just this physical image. It's not really. I didn't get to know him, just a physical image. But I know my grandfather, my father's father, through my father. And I think it was either my father, my mother. His mother was always up for his hair. And my dad decided to go to get a pilot's license. And his father was like, well, there's no money, you know, what are you doing that for? But his mother would secretly pay him under the. To give him money to do these lessons. So I think a lot of his life's passion came from his mother and its sense of humor came from his father. But I don't. I can't, you know, you'd have to ask him. I don't know. That's just a guess on my part.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what's next for you? What do you think your life is going to hold? Or does it really matter because you seem like you're.

Kip Files:

It really does it. There are a lot of adventures I'd like to take while I could still do them in the sailing and skiing world and other things I just like to look at. But the Victory challenge sort of holds me here. And I love what I do, but I have to be here all summer long. I can't take off. Although last year I did, and I found out that the vessel could actually operate without me. And so, I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of things. I have this passion about history and I would like to explore history a little bit more because I think as a society, we stand in one spot and we look down at our feet and we don't look. We don't dare to look up and turn around to look at where we've been or what our consequences are. Look ahead. And so I don't know about ahead. And that's all, you know, we all can take that. But there's something about looking behind that's real. And so I'd like to get people to stand up and look behind them to see how they got to where they are. I mean, this is this whaling vessel I took out this summer and it's. Oh, whaling vessel. Well, yeah. Slaughtering whales wasn't something that we like to talk about, although it was a huge part of the growth of this country. Without it, we might not be where we are today. Without the innovation of sailing vessels, that's another whole thing. I mean, you ask a high school kid, name an important historic commercial sailing vessel built in the United States. We built lots of them. We built record beaters that haven't been beat today. The records haven't been beat today. These old, big, old wooden vessels, you know what they'll say? Because I take high school, they'll look at you and go, mayflower. Not really American built. But then we have no sense of how we got to where we are. It was hugely important. And so the whaling industry was hugely important. And thank God we discovered oil in the ground that saved the whales. But it was a huge part of American history, a huge part. I mean, we lit the world. If you wanted to have a lamp on, because candles were too expensive, if you wanted to have light in the 1820s, you had to have whale oil or you were living in the dark. And so that's hard for us to put our mind around. And you ask a sailor of the 1840s, could we kill all the whales in the ocean? They'd look at you and go, absolutely, there's too many of them. Absolutely not. We can't do it. Well, when we started to mechanize it, we almost did it. But it was a huge, important part of our growth, not only of the energy that it created and fueled industrial revolution, but all the businesses that were around it, Coopers that built barrels and sailmakers and all, it just fueled this. Bedford, Massachusetts, which was the whaling capital of the world, was the richest town in North America during the whaling industry. I guess it's like Houston, you know, energy. So it was a nasty business, whaling and. But it. So anyway, I get passionate about stuff like that, and so I would love to get and talk and get people excited about that. And then in skiing, I just. My passion for skiing is so great, but I could stay right at Sugarloaf. I mean, I travel around, do some skiing, but I went there because that was the best skiing available to me. And I stayed there because I met guys like John Christie. I mean, it's loaded with them. They're still there. And then younger people that are coming up, that are the next gen, they're still there. They're still coming. It's a wonderful place. I can't. The skiing's great. It's the best skiing in the East. It's the best mountain in the East. And I've skied them all. I mean, I had skied them all and. But, you know, maybe it's because it's so far away, it's hard to get to that people. But it is a special place. It really is. I can't say enough about it. Anyway, it sounds like I'm a spokesman for the mountain, although I don't work for the mountain. I just. That's why I'm there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Anyway, I encourage people to read more about you and your relationship with John Christie in the Sugarloaf issue of magazine I haven't read yet.

Kip Files:

Are you going to show me a copy?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think we might have a copy. We can show you.

Kip Files:

Yeah, I can't. I got to be sworn to secrecy, though. Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I don't know if that's going to work. Work for you. It seems to me like.

Kip Files:

Oh, no, no, it's in there. What did they say in Seinfeld? It's in the vault. It's in the vault? No. Well, yeah, it's. I, I think as a. As a. As a passholder, I get the magazine because it comes. It comes to my house, and it's. It is a wonderful magazine. It's great. If you've done some wonderful stuff with Maine, you can't, you know, it's just. It's a great spot, and you do it. Your magazine does a wonderful job of exploring that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, thank you.

Kip Files:

You're welcome.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think we're as passionate about what we do as you are.

Kip Files:

Well, it seems to be here. Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

About you and your world. So. So we've been speaking with Kip Files, who is a sugar loafer and also the owner and captain of the schooner Victory Chimes, and also a broadcaster with WSKI TV Sugarloaf. Thanks so much for coming in.

Kip Files:

You're welcome. Thank you. It's fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I rely on Marcy Booth from Booth, Maine, to help me with my own

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy.

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I.

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Many of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour listeners are skiers. We know this for sure, and we know that many of them are skiers at Sugarloaf. This is a mountain that I have spent myself some time at and spent some time with the ski patrol recently for an article which I've written for Maine Magazine. And today we have with us Jamie Gidoodi, who is a president of Gudduti

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Builders and has been skiing at Sugarloaf since he was a teenager and has

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

himself some experience with the ski patrol.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So come on in and tell us

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

all about what you've been doing for the last few years.

Jamie Goduti:

Jamie well, this year will be year 10 at Sugarloaf Ski Patrol. First got involved with this, been Sugar Loafers all our life and have spent a lot of time on the hill. And our children started going to the Bubble Cuffer programs, which is a teaching program for the kids where they join a group and they're with that group the entire winter. So we're very engaged in hill. And at the same time, this was back probably around 2000, year 2000 or so, I myself was going to be doing some construction at Sugarloaf as well and was starting to spend a lot of time there summer and winter. So got to know a lot of the local people and kind of experience more of the mountain scene than just skiing every day. And at the same time, I got to know some patrollers. I had some that were friends, and I got to know the patrol director. I always had an interest in first responding, etc. And I was skiing one spring and I had heard it was a very quiet day, a beautiful day, but had heard about a fatality on the hill. And it was just kind of a sad thing to see happen on such a gorgeous day in such a gorgeous place. So later that day I stopped by the site where it happened. It happened to be a few patrollers there. So I spoke with them and told him thanks a lot and said, sorry, you really had to deal with this. And I cycled back up on the mountain and I went by Bullwinkle's and there was some local people just kind of hanging out there. And there was a guy on the porch who had brought us another local, and he brought his bagpipes up and was playing Amazing Grace. And I was like, this is, you know, this is all pretty amazing. And that sort of propelled me into wanting to join the force. And that summer I took a basic EMT class. And that fall was Signed up to go through patrol and its training.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you've been doing this for 10 years.

Jamie Goduti:

So this will be year 10?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Year 10. But you've been skiing since you were a teenager.

Jamie Goduti:

Probably set foot on sugarloaf in, like, 1964. So back and forth since then. It was time to, you know, give back to the mountain that had given so much to our family. So I wanted to make a contribution and get involved with something I thought I'd be interested in.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Have you always lived in Cape Elizabeth?

Jamie Goduti:

I grew up in Falmouth, so haven't gone far.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Crossed the bridge, gone across the bridge. And what was it about Sugarloaf in particular that caused your family to want to spend so much time there?

Jamie Goduti:

I think there was a lot of people from Falmouth that had some of the original A frames, etc, at Sugarloaf, and a lot of their kids were our friends. And my dad was an avid skier and, you know, he took us all around. But Sugarloaf was kind of the Mecca for all of us as kids, and we never owned a place, but all my friends did, so it was a good thing, had a place to go.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How many brothers and sisters did you have?

Jamie Goduti:

I had two older brothers.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And they also skied.

Jamie Goduti:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you decided that you were going to join the ski patrol, did it seem intimidating in any way? I mean, you are a contractor and you own your own company. Did you have experience in any sort of emergency medical services or.

Jamie Goduti:

I had been a member of the Falmouth Fire Department a long time ago when I was in high school, so had some experience at that end of sort of emergency response, but not really on a medical basis as far as ski patrol goes. No worries about the skiing end of it, you know, the ability there. I had taken the EMTB class that summer, so had somewhat of a comfort level with the medical end of it and had friends that were involved. So it's a bit of a support network. So not. Not too nervous about it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Not too nervous. So what were some of the things that you experienced on the ski patrol that were different from what you experienced skiing at Sugarloaf, just as a. As a supporter of the mountain?

Jamie Goduti:

Well, now you're part of the system and you're not an end user, and it's kind of really fun to be part of that system. It's incredible what goes into that mountain operation to get the whole place going on a daily basis. So you sort of observe all the activities going on from that end of it. And you're not just out There skiing away with a bunch of friends, but, you know, your eyes and ears open, you're watching for what you're supposed to be looking for with your job and just kind of keeping tabs on things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I was there with the ski patrol, I was struck by, first of all, how early you get out on the mountain. You're up there before the lifts really open to the crowds. Also, that there really is this sense of, despite the early morning, and it was pretty dark when we first all got there, it was pretty cold because that was a day there ended up being a wind hold. People were happy to be there. They were very excited to be putting on their gear and heading up to the mountain. There was a sense of camaraderie. There was a sense that there was a job to be done, but everybody wanted to do it.

Jamie Goduti:

There's never any hesitation about that in the locker room. It's a great group, and everybody knows what they need to do, so off you go. You know, you can't always control the weather in Maine, as we know, so prepare for the worst and hope for

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the best and a lot of what you do. People think about ski patrol as, okay, somebody breaks a leg and need to be taken down the mountain, or, you know, maybe there's, you know, somebody runs into a tree or gets lost, these types of things. But the ski patrol really serves to help keep the mountain safe in lots of different ways. Tell me some of the things, some of the tasks, the responsibilities that ski patrol is involved in.

Jamie Goduti:

Well, it starts in the morning, and we do a morning trail check and pretty much try to send a patroller down every trail that's open and put eyes on the grooming, make sure equipment's out of the way, check on ropes where they're supposed to be, up where they're supposed to supposed to be down, and report back if there's any issues, and they'll send someone down if some signs need to be put up. And from that point forward, once that is done and the mountains open to public, we will cycle in and out of our top holding spot and keep eyes on how things are flowing for the day. We have certain trails that do have slow, family skiing only trails, and we really make a point to get on those and impress upon people that we don't think are kind of going with the flow, as we call it, to kind of respect those signs. Because there's a lot of people that are trying to learn or they have little kids out, and a lot of people come up to me when I'm standing by those signs, they say thanks a lot. You know, we appreciate having a kind of a sanctuary while we're taking our kids out and getting them learning and all. So those kinds of things go on all day and just try to keep it all as a safe environment so everybody can enjoy the skiing experience.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So sometimes, just by your very presence, you're able to create a sense of calm and try to people who are maybe going a little too fast or being a little bit too erratic, they might see a ski patroller and slow down and realize they need to be more mindful.

Jamie Goduti:

Oh, that definitely happens. Yeah. So if we're out there and especially on those marked trails, you'll see those people that want to be clipping along and they know where those signs are, some of those people, and they'll look up and all of a sudden they'll slow down a little bit. And those that don't go, have a nice pleasant talk with them and you know, give them a fair warning and say, just please respect what I'm saying and what these signs are saying and enjoy your day and, you know, go from there. And most are really good. You know, they respond well to that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you also act as an ambassador. The way that you just described it wasn't. You're not coming in and trying to be the heavy.

Jamie Goduti:

You're not.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You're trying to foster some understanding that we're all trying to ski down the mountain together. So you are representing Sugarloaf?

Jamie Goduti:

Oh, absolutely, yeah. Have a lot of fun conversations. Going up lifts with people, they tend to start to talk to you and ask about patrolling and all of that. And I ask them about their experience at Sugarloaf and hoping that they're having a good time and if they have any questions. So a lot of good conversations happen.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There's also on the good days when you're just making sure everybody's safe and all the trails are well marked and everything is in a good place, things can be fairly calm. But it's just like being on a rescue squad or being on the fire department. Some days there are things that happen that maybe you couldn't have even foreseen. I remember several years back there was actually a lift that came down and I'm sure that nobody thought that that would ever happen, and it hasn't happened since. And it's not really. I mean, Sugarloaf is a very safe as are most ski mountains. But you know what happens when something big like that, something big and unforeseen. How do you deal with that?

Jamie Goduti:

Coincidentally, we had had a training that fall three months before this lift came down specifically for lift derailment. And it started from the top of the mountain. And the training went through the entire triage, evacuation, getting people into ambulances, and they actually took these people all the way to the hospitals. And so it was a A to Z training mission for something, you know, a mass casualty thing, just something like this. So I don't know if we jinxed ourself, but three months later it happened. And from our end of it, it went off like clockwork, you know, and thankfully no one was. There were no fatalities. There were some injuries for sure. And those people that had the greatest injuries were moved the quickest in the first. And I think we had everybody off the hill within probably 35, 40 minutes. The whole line was cleared within an hour and everybody had to be somewhere was gone. It was. It really went very, very well from our end as a response. So you train for those things. And we do training in the fall to warm up. It's a refresher weekend and we all go up for a weekend and usually October and then we do refreshing all season long. You know, if we have quiet days, we'll go out and practice scenarios on the hill and simple things like splinting, etc.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when I was up there with ski patrol, somebody described that lift going down, that particular lift derailment as being sort of your 9 11. And the 911 piece that was so interesting for you as an organization was that it wasn't as big a disaster because you knew about it. I mean, you knew how to do this three months earlier. You had had some training. So as much as you can, you're trying to train for things that they might be unforeseen, but they're not impossible. They have seen, been seen before.

Jamie Goduti:

Absolutely. I mean, those, you know, you have lifts, the potential of something like that is there. So you always try to, I guess, learn your potential, you know, calamities, I'll call them and prepare as best you can for them. And they've. We do a good job with that up there. There's some great talent on a hill for that. You know, there are leaders that train us for all of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you have to be good at. You have to be good at things like knowing how to deal with equipment and equipment failures. You have to know first aid. You have to. Is it, is the EMT course, is that a requirement in order to be

Jamie Goduti:

a ski patroller for NSP and for pspa, at least it should go if it's called Outdoor Emergency Care. And it kind of parallels the basic EMT course with a wildness twist to it. So it's, you know, it's like a thousand page book and it covers an awful lot of first responder care.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this prepares you to do anything from splinting an ankle to dealing with somebody who stops breathing on the hill.

Jamie Goduti:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you have that piece and you also need to be able to ski. There's some basic level of skiing that is required for anybody who's on ski patrol because you need to be able to get to all the terrain, all the way around the mountain.

Jamie Goduti:

Yeah. And don't forget riders, we do have snowboard patrol people. Equally as controlled as the skiers are. You don't have to be a big, fancy, showy skier. You just have to be strong on your skis and be able to handle the terrain. So, yeah, there is a requirement for that. And they will check out your skiing or riding ability before inviting you to train.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this is in part because not only do you have to be able to ski around the mountain on your own or ride around the mountain on your own, but you also have to be able to pull a toboggan behind you. Potentially.

Jamie Goduti:

Correct. Toboggans are, once you get them figured out, they actually can control your skiing because they can act as a gas pedal and a brake. So once you get used to it, they're pretty easy to get around with. But you do have to have a certain level of skiing or riding competence, for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What are some of the things that You've seen as an individual that have impressed you the most, whether they be situations that you've been in or friendships that you've formed. What are some of the things that have remained with you as lasting and important as part of your relationship with the ski patrol?

Jamie Goduti:

I think probably the group as a whole and the dedication to the entire process and care of the hill and care of all the customers. And then when you have that crisis and you see all of that training come together and someone who needs to be somewhere very quickly is packaged and off that mountain within 10 minutes and in an ambulance is probably the thing that impresses me the most. That's what it's, you know, really do it all for. And when you see that all gel and come together, it's pretty incredible.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And one of the ways that you stay connected with your colleagues and also up on your skills is there are a certain number of required days of skiing every year and a certain commitment to being a volunteer with a ski patrol.

Jamie Goduti:

There are. There's a few levels. There's an individual level, and then there's a couple level, and then a family level. And family level requires 26 days. So it's. And these are full days. You can't come and do a part day. You know, it's dawn to dusk. And if you do the math over the season, it takes a lot. Takes a big chunk out of the season, for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you say individual versus family level, these are the levels in which you would be able to get seasons passes, correct?

Jamie Goduti:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Okay. So that's the. That would be the actual. That would be another benefit of being on the ski patrol is being able to ski additional days on top of the ski patrol time.

Jamie Goduti:

Yep. You do get your passes, so, you know, you have your free days. So, yeah, that's a benefit. But, you know, usually try to check in with ski patrol and make sure they don't need you on those days or that, you know, you've done a good job speed spreading your time out over the season so that when you do go on those free days, you know, everything's good with the group.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

People who are on ski patrol are of all ages, of all backgrounds. I met with some younger women and some older men and some older women, and people have been there for a couple years or they've been there for their 10th year like you, or even longer. What is it that keeps people coming back?

Jamie Goduti:

There are patrollers that have been there for 20, 30 years. It's kind of a captivating job. I'll call it, if you like being out in that environment, which most of us do, and having that responsibility of, you know, keeping the whole place safe and then having people that you're working with that have all those same sentiments just kind of keeps you coming back. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's an interesting job and it's, you know, it's just another twist on the skiing or riding adventure. So, you know, you're not just skiing the trails over and over every single day. You're actually going out and being part of the process and being part of the mountain. So it's fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have two sons, Will and Nick. Did they have any interest in joining the ski patrol after having seen their dad do this?

Jamie Goduti:

They were both went through the bubblecover programs as kids, which is an every weekend group skiing training thing. So there's an instructor, usually a younger college person or something, that will take a group of five or seven kids and they'll have them all year and they break them into various age ranges. So my kids went through that program. Nicholas went on and got his first level of teaching and he ended up being a bubble cover coach. And before he left Sugarloaf, he actually did one year of patrol. And then my other son became a bubble cover coach until he went off to college. So they stayed involved, but stayed mostly with the teaching because they knew they were going to be off to college and they were going to be away so they wouldn't be able to continue on in the patrol work.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How does this compare to your day job? You build buildings. This is what you do. How is this alike and different?

Jamie Goduti:

It's alike because it's another full day of work. You know, as I tell some of the pay patrollers I am now working, this will be 21 days straight of work. You know, if I do patrol for a couple weekends and work three weeks as well. So it's like another day of work, but at the same time it takes my mind completely off work. When you go to do this, your head's got to be in it totally. So it's kind of a vacation from my daily job.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How has this changed your relationship with people who are in the Sugarloaf community and in the community at large? How do you, how has this caused you to feel closer to people or change the way you look at them as individuals?

Jamie Goduti:

I think it's drawn me into the close knit Sugarloaf community for sure and really gives me an admiration for the dedication of all the departments of the mountain. You know, to pull the whole thing off. A lot of hard working people there. So it's fun to be a part of that. And some days I'll be riding up a lift and it's a nice day and I see the races going on over here and I see teaching groups going on over there and there's kids doing flips into the air bag at the jump and the mountain's just buzzing with people and you just sit back and smile and say this is great. When the whole place is clicking, it's really fun to be a part of it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it sounds like you would encourage people who might have an interest in ski patrolling to look into that possibility.

Jamie Goduti:

Oh, sure, if you, you know, it's a big time commitment so you want to make sure that you're ready for that and but otherwise can always check in with patrol directors and see if they're looking for people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Jamie, I know you're a very busy individual and I really appreciate your coming in and speaking with us today about the ski patrol. And I encourage people who are listening who might have an interest in the patrol, maybe talk with you or one of the other patrollers about your experience. We've been speaking with Jamie Gadoudi, who is the president of Gaduti Builders and

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

has been skiing at Sugarloaf since he

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

was a teenager and can be found on the mountain as a ski patroller. Thank you so much for the work that you do.

Jamie Goduti:

Thanks for having us in. And just a little safety pitch. You know, anybody that's listening can always go to nsp.org and they have a safety page and can read up about just good on mountain management for safety heads up stuff. It's a great thing for parents to look at and press upon their kids. There is kind of a skiing code and I'm all for helmets.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think that's a great reminder and I second that encouragement and I hope listeners who are out there who ski or who have children that ski take the time to go to that website. Thanks so much, Jamie.

Jamie Goduti:

Thanks for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to Love Maine radio show number 169, Sugarloaf. Our guests have included Jamie Gadoudy and Kip Files. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on itunes. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. 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 love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Sugarloaf show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.