Greenwood - Mount Abram is the first ski area in America to join a new group called "The Mountain Riders Alliance."

The goal is to help it remain a place that's family-friendly, and wallet friendly.

At $49, Mount Abram's lift ticket is one of the least expensive in Maine.

Jamie Schectman is here to help keep it that way.

"I'm a 25 year ski bum, and I've grown dissatisfied with the direction the ski industry has taken."

So, Schectman founded Mountain Rider's Alliance, hoping within five years to create a partnership between five or six medium sized ski areas around the country, areas touting an emphaisis on community and the environment.

"We can do best shared practices; we can market in between the different areas," said Kevin Rosenberg, general manager of the mountain.

"It'll help by giving skiers and riders possibly some more benefits at other mountains, as well as helping the industry out as a whole by sharing costs and working together as a team."

Now, the first amenity any skier will notice here, next spring an acre's worth of solar panals will be installed here so Mt. Abram can make more power than it uses.

"Energy and electricity is your number two expense in the ski industry after payroll, so if you're creating your own energy you've just eliminated that expense." And with fewer expenses, Mount Abram says it can continue offering cheaper lift tickets. The very reason so many skiers come here in the first place.
(robert oddo/mt. abram skier)

"I think it's very important; I've been many places," Robet Oddo commented, a skier of Mt. Abram's. "This is a nice place. It has a lot to offer. It's a really good value."

Schectman says he'll look to the core skiing community here for input, creating what he envisions as a value-based, environementally friendly "mountain playground," which he says points Mount Abram in the right direction..

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