It was only a few short decades ago that any self-respecting Maine community with even a small hill or sloping pasture organized an effort to install a rope tow so folks in the community could enjoy the sport of skiing to help pass the long winter months, get some needed exercise — and get the kids out of the house on the weekend.

The tradition of family-owned and community-sponsored rope tow-serviced slopes didn’t originate in Maine, but one can argue that no state in the country had as many of them operating at one time as Maine did in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. And my research confirms the fact there are now nearly 80 abandoned facilities, from York to Madawaska, establishing Maine’s national leadership.

There are two great sources of information about this fascinating piece of skiing lore. Check out the website of the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, www.nelsap.org, where there’s not only a complete listing, by region, of Maine’s abandoned rope tows, but also loads of history about each facility.

The second source is Glenn Parkinson’s thoroughly researched and detailed book, “First Tracks: Stories from Maine’s Skiing History.” Glenn is the current president of the Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield (the book is available there and at bookstores all over Maine), as well as former president of the New England Ski Museum in Franconia, N.H. He also was a founding member of the International Skiing History Association, making Maine the home state of one of the world’s foremost ski historians.

You’ll learn from those two sources that beginning in the 1930s, 32 rope tow areas were running within 30 miles of the coast in towns like Windham, Falmouth, Belfast and Bar Harbor, and at the place where I cut my teeth on and developed a lifelong devotion to the sport, the Camden Snow Bowl. My mom and her volunteer friends cooked hamburgers in the log base lodge built by the Civilian Conservation Corp, Franklin Roosevelt’s landmark public works and employment program designed to help pull the country out of the recession. Volunteers ran the tow, plowed snow off Hosmer Pond for skating and made sure there was gas in the old Ford truck engine to keep the tow running.

To this day, I’m convinced that my left arm is slightly longer than my right as a result of hanging onto the rope for hours on end during the 1940s. Only my mother, were she alive today, could tell you how many pair of mittens my brother and I went through each winter. And how many of you can remember the water flying in your face as you squeezed harder and harder on a wet spring rope to finally get enough purchase to start up the hill?

History tells us that there were 19 rope tows in central Maine in towns such as Casco, Poland Spring, Waterville and Augusta — where at one time, believe it or not, there were three. And in western and northern Maine, there were 25, from Oquossoc to Fort Kent. That adds up to an astonishing total of 76 statewide.

Lest you despair that rope tows are now relegated to the foggy recesses of the minds of my contemporaries and me, there’s still a living, operating monument to the tradition towering 175 feet over the town of South Berwick, a treasure with three trails called Powderhouse Hill.

Through the unselfish efforts of the town and dedicated volunteers, the rope tow area that was started by Bill Hardy and his brother Jack, both with roots in Eliot, still operates today. The brothers drove a 1938 Ford truck to the top of a hill in 1939, hoisted it up, ran a rope around one of the rear wheels and charged 25 cents for folks to ski on winter afternoons.

World War II led to a suspension of operations in 1941, and it wasn’t until 1956 that Bill reinstalled the rope tow and, with his wife and sons David, Dennis, Joe and Carl, continued to operate the lift. The area stands in tribute to Bill, who died just two years ago at the age of 94 and who continued to cross-country ski and skate into his 80s.

In the 1970s, the town put a new engine in the old Ford frame, and the lift continues to help introduce new generations to the wonderful sport.

Just go to www.powderhousehill.com for info regarding days and hours of operation, rates and other details. 

John Christie is a former ski racer and ski area manager and owner, a ski historian and member of the Maine Ski Hall of Fame. He and his son, Josh, write ski columns on alternating weeks. John can be reached at:

jchristie@fairpoint.net