Maine Ski Legend John Christie Dies at 79

loafasaur

John Christie, the second general manager at Sugarloaf (after Amos Winter) who oversaw the installation of the Gondola, owner of Saddleback in the 70’s, once a VP at Stowe, ski author and journalist, tremendous storyteller, tireless promoter of Maine skiing, and a legend from the “Sugarloaf As We Knew It” days, died Saturday while tending the ranger’s entrance cabin at Camden Hills State Park in his home town.The Portland Press Herald has an excellent article about his life:  http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/09/john-christie-maine-ski-legend-dies-at-79/ The only small quibble I have with the PPH article is that it says John lived in Washington, which is the small town in Knox County, Maine, not our nation’s capital.

yardsale

I had the pleasure of multiple chairlift rides and skiing a few runs with John when Sugarloaf was my home mountain for 10 years.  He was a terrific story teller and had a beautiful style of skiing.  He authored a great coffee table book on Sugarloaf which he signed for me (and most others who bought the book).  A terrific sense of humor and a pure love for the outdoors.  He will be missed.

Bill29

I first saw John Christie at Pleasant Mountain (now Shawnee) in Bridgton, Maine.I had borrowed a pair of wooden, 7′ 2″ skis with beartrap bindings for my first attempt at skiing. On my first run I, of course, crashed and burned. Everything removable - gloves, poles, hat - came off. Not the skis. Those beartraps didn’t let anything go.

Anyway, as a Good Samaritan was helping me clean up the wreckage, a guy with blond hair and perfect form came short-swinging by. I said, “who is that?” The Good Samaritan said, “John Christie. He’s captain of the Bowdoin ski team.”

The next time I saw John I was writing a ski column for the Worcester Evening Gazette (having cleaned up my act on skis a bit by then) and John was GM at Mt. Snow. I told him the above story and he got a kick out got it. I talked to John on many occasions after that. He was a great guy, much too young to leave. Condolences to his family and friends.

BTW, I’ll bet that most State-of-Mainers who read the PPH story would know that the Washington mentioned is the one in Maine and not the other one farther south. They always think of Maine  first.

phil

I can remember watching him do ski demonstrations on the Bud Levitt show on one of the Bangor TV stations using a pile of plowed up snow in the parking lot.

TomWhite

Part of Kelly’s Blog, Mt. Snow:John passed away this week and anyone who knew him already misses his presence.  I only had the pleasure to spend time with John on a few occasions.  Right away I became enamored with his stories. I will share my favorite from one of my blogs in 2011. John was here for the Grand opening of the Bluebird Express.  We were all gathered at the bottom of the Bluebird Express.  John told the story of when he left Mount Snow and “happened” to take one of the bubble chairs (yes, Mount Snow had bubble chairs back then!) and brought it to the ski area he had just purchased, Saddleback.  At Saddleback he put the bubble chair on a beginner lift and quickly had to organize two lift lines so the kids could wait for the bubble to come around.  John said he knew back then that these bubble chairs were special.  Of course, he told this story much better than I can, with excitement in his voice, like he was there watching the scene unfold.If you remember the day we launched the Bluebird Express, you will recall the heavy fog, eating away what little snow we had scraped together.  We arrived at the summit and started down Long John.  John was a very good skier at 70+ years. Somewhere around Deer Run we stopped and John, with his signature Maine twang said, “not bad.”  I was thinking to myself, not great.  But John was a real skier, out there everyday.  If you consider the different conditions he has skied on in his lifetime, that particular day probably wasn’t that bad.  He was a very positive man.Not only did John run ski areas but he was a ski writer and author and skied and stayed involved until the day he died.  His contributions were massive and he was inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame in 2006.  I often imagine running Mount Snow when fountain mountain and the air car were commonplace. John was here and he was at the helm when the summit lodge burnt down and when Sunbrook trails were cut and opened.  Exciting times for our mountain.I dedicate this blog to John and send our sincere condolences to John’s family, friends and ski community.  We greatly appreciate his contributions and stories - he was a superb role model.