FARMINGTON, ME - Maine's skiing history goes back farther than any other New England state. A Mainer wrote America's first book on skiing. A Maine company built the world's tallest ski jump and the first chairlift in the East. Two Maine manufacturers were leading producers of skis in the mid-20th century. Two dozen Maine skiers have competed or coached at the Olympics. Maine has hosted five ski, snowboard and biathlon competitions at the World Championship and World Cup level.
 
These are a few facets of a narrated digital slideshow recently produced by the Ski Museum of Maine. The show, titled "Down-Mountain and Cross-Country: 140 Years of Skiing in Maine," will be presented Monday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Ski Museum of Maine, 109 Church St. in Farmington. The museum will open at 6 p.m. that evening.
 
Approximately 150 photos %u2500 some more than a century old %u2500 have been assembled from the Farmington-based museum's collections and 35 other sources, including several of the state's leading historical societies and skiing organizations.
 
Photos to be presented cover the entire span of skiing in Maine, from the founding of Aroostook County's Swedish Settlement in 1870 to present-day happenings all over the state. Locations that were historically important to the development of skiing include Aroostook County, Auburn, Bethel, Bridgton, Carrabassett Valley, Farmington, Fryeburg, Poland, Portland and Rumford. Competition subjects include ski jumping, cross-country, alpine, freestyle and biathlon.
 
Many of Maine's most prominent skiing figures hail from central and western Maine. The Farmington Ski Club, founded in 1936, is one of the state's oldest. Developing Titcomb Mountain in the 1950s and 1960s was part of a statewide skiing boom that is a central theme of the show. A dozen vintage photos from Titcomb's early days will be presented.
 
The narrator will be Scott Andrews, a Portland-based ski journalist and museum director who assembled the photos and performed much of the research. Andrews has written on skiing in Maine and New England in newspapers and magazines for more than 20 years and is a contributor to Skiing Heritage, the official journal of the International Skiing History Association.
 
"Skiing has been part of the Maine way of life since the late 1800s, offering recreation and competition to both residents and visitors," says Andrews. "The museum's objective is to feed the passion of Maine skiers and to illustrate the significance of our sport to our state's lifestyle and economy."
 
"Down-Mountain and Cross-Country: 140 Years of Skiing in Maine" is sponsored by the Ski Maine Association and the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club.
 
For more information, please call Megan at the Ski Museum of Maine at 207-491-5481.
 

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About the Ski Museum of Maine
Maine is very rich in ski history, yet many people do not realize it nor recognize the place this history holds within the American ski world. Because of this, many of those who have valued the special spirit our sport entails are concerned this history will be lost. It is this concern which motivated the founders of the Ski Museum of Maine to organize.

Established with the mission to "preserve and publicize the business of skiing in Maine, while celebrating Maine's ski history and heritage," the board of directors has undertaken a number of projects to identify and preserve our skiing heritage and to share this heritage with the younger generations. The formation of the Maine Ski Hall of Fame is an exciting outcome of this effort.

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