The planned Alpine ski slope at Quarry Road Trails in Waterville is shown with the rope tow visible on the left. Josh Christie photo

A brand new ski area – with new trails cut into never-developed terrain, unattached to an existing area – is something you almost never see.

Here in Maine, the two newest areas were born half a century ago, when Lonesome Pine in Fort Kent and Mt. Jefferson in Lee opened in 1965. A number of factors put the brakes on any sort of new development with cost and regulation chief among them, something my late father found out when advocating for development on Bigelow in the early 1970s. It’s easy to look out at the ski resorts dotting the Maine landscape and feel that what we see right now is what we’ve got for terrain, barring backcountry trips or expansion at already-established mountains.

Nearly as rare as a new ski area is resort resurrection. Once the forces of commitment and economy shut down the slopes, the same hurdles that prevent new spots from opening up also tend to prevent the closed from re-opening. The New England Lost Ski Area Project (NELSAP), which catalogs the history of ski areas in the region, lists an eye-popping 79 slopes that once existed here in the state, a far cry from the roughly 20 still in operation today.

But, note that “nearly-as-rare” qualifier. Maine is fairly unique among skiing states in that it has seen some ski areas return from the grave in the last decade. The newest of these is Quarry Road Trails in Waterville. The area, which was revived as a Nordic mecca in 2007, will soon have lift-serviced Alpine skiing for the first time since the ’70s.

Located just a few miles from Colby College in Waterville, the ski slope at the end of Quarry Road first opened in the late 1930s with a single rope tow (which the Bangor Daily News reported at the time was “one of the best ski tows in the state.”) Over the next three decades, the 250-foot peak – known variously as Dunham’s Mountain, Mountain Farm, and the Colby Ski Area – saw popularity and with it continued growth, eventually finding itself home to a T-bar, lighted night skiing, snowmaking, and a ski jump. There’s no doubt that many central Mainers, not to mention a huge number of Colby students, learned to ski at the tiny resort over the decades it operated.

The area ended up closing in the ’70s, facing myriad challenges. NELSAP notes insurance costs and a lack of snowmaking led to the closure, while NewEnglandSkiHistory.com blames the closure on repair costs, and Friends of Quarry Road points to the 1970s energy crisis. Whatever the reason, the area sat abandoned for decades.

That changed in the late 2000s, when the Quarry Road Recreation Center opened. Owned and operated by the City of Waterville’s Department of Parks and Recreation, the area now boasts over 200 acres of land and about 8 miles of Nordic ski trails. The best-in-class trail network was designed by John Morton, a former Olympian who has helped plan ski trails all over the country, as far away as Denali National Park in Alaska. In addition to Nordic skiing, Quarry Road allows for fat biking on the groomed trails (as conditions permit), and separate trails for snowshoeing and dog walking.

Even with the popularity of the Nordic network, Alpine skiing still beckons. Despite the small amount of vertical offered, there’s definitely some fun terrain to be found on Dunham’s Mountain. Just south of the welcome center, around the line of the old T-bar (whose towers still remain), dozens of sets of tracks could be found after our recent snowstorm. Volunteers have worked to keep gladed terrain on the old Colby Ski Area clear, and the Center encourages at-your-own-risk skinning, telemarking, and Alpine touring. There’s even a dedicated uphill trail to access the glades and backcountry, and last February Quarry Road ran a snowmobile-assisted Alpine ski day.

But, as soon as this month, skiers should be able to access (at least some) downhill terrain without a hike. A Towpro rope tow can now be seen at the bottom of the former downhill slope, which has been kept clear and used for sledding over the past few seasons. The 75-foot lift will serve this beginner slope, and will work to both provide downhill ski service and act as a bit of a proof of concept for further development. Indeed, the Quarry Road Master Plan, laid out by “The Friends of Quarry Road” in 2018, proposed the installation of a T-bar to access the highest reaches of the former ski slopes. While the rope tow missed its proposed opening date of Jan. 22, all signs point to the opening coming soon – facebook.com/QuarryRoadTrails is the place to watch for a confirmed start date.

Once the rope tow opens up, it will be among the least expensive lift tickets in the state with $10 for a day ticket, while a season pass will be $50. The low price is in line with the cost of other services at Quarry Road, where a day ticket for the Nordic trails is $15, ski rental packages are $15 for skis, boots and poles, and lessons start at $25 per hour. Access to the ungroomed hiking and snowshoe trails is free, and the Outdoor Center even offers free use of snowshoes on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once lift services begin, Quarry Road will be the third Maine ski area resurrected in the last decade. It will join Big Moose in Greenville (closed in 2010 and reopened in 2013), and Saddleback in Rangeley (closed in 2015 and reopened in 2020). While coming back from the dead is rare in the ski industry, industrious Mainers – usually with strong community support and dedicated volunteers – are proving it isn’t impossible.

Josh Christie is the author of four books, most recently “Skiing Maine,” and co-owner of Print: A Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Portland. He also writes about beer, books and the outdoors.