Two groups are teaming up to buy a partially defunct ski resort near Moosehead Lake.
It’s the latest entry in the long-running drama over the fate of Big Moose Mountain’s ski resort.
The mountain was put up for sale in October after a developer’s plans to reopen the resort fell through. The 1,216-acre property is listed for $27 million.
Friends of the Mountain and Moosehead Lake Region Development Corp. plan to launch a public campaign on Jan. 25, 2025, to raise $5.95 million to buy the resort and 500 adjacent acres from owner James Confalone, they announced Friday morning.
If successful, the Friends would operate the resort, as they have the ski area since 2012. Both groups see this as a necessary step to ensure a permanent nonprofit ski area for the Moosehead Lake region.
“Only by placing this mountain in nonprofit hands will we be able to attract funding and build a financially sustainable ski destination for generations to come,” Amy Lane, the Friends’ board president, said Friday.
Margarita Contreni, the board president of the Moosehead Lake Region Development Corp., sees the resort as key to revitalizing the region’s economy.
“We believe placing Big Moose in community hands will boost economic activity for current businesses and attract new businesses to the region,” she said.
Confalone has owned the ski area since 1995, and his ownership has been controversial at times. In 2022, he appealed a judge’s ruling that his company owed the state $4.5 million for illegal timber harvesting and failing to maintain the ski area. The appeal is the latest move in a lawsuit that the state filed against Confalone in 2016 over deteriorating conditions on the mountain.
