LEFT, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Bryce Hanrahan sets the first boot pack of the day from the top of the triple chair toward the summit of Black Mountain, ME. All signs point to Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford, ME. Tools of the trade. ABOVE Bryce Hanrahan soaks in the sun as he turns down the Headwaters Glade on an elusive bluebird powder day in the Maine woods. had even been charged with felony mischief. Their crime? Carving out a 2,000-foot shot off the back of Big Jay in the Green Mountains. The Marcouxs knew cutting on Black’s private property could carry even steeper charges. Carter, however, had other plans. “I told them to keep doing it,” he says. Carter, a former automotive industry engineer, had worked virtually solo to keep his non-profit ski area afloat since he took it over in 2009. In the Marcoux family he saw not only an avenue to keep his ski hill well-maintained, but to expand into something else entirely. “I knew I didn’t have the manpower to do it,” he says looking back. “If they wanted to cut [trails], that’s free labor for me, and something I knew that people were going to enjoy.” That day, what could have been a police blotter entry turned into one of skiing’s most unlikely alliances. Shortly after the encounter, Jeff and his father launched the Angry Beavers, a volunteer trail maintenance crew that, over more than a decade, has partnered with Black to transform 50 skiable acres into nearly 600, turning their western Maine ski hill into a natural skiing hotbed and making a glade network a community affair. Gladecutters 045
The Ski Journal Volume 17, Issue 4: Page 45
