Janet Bennett of Orrington, exhausted from a day of skiing, checked into a motel at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain. She was taking a break from her life as a teacher and mom. The next day, she would rise early and hit the slopes again. But as she lay in bed, listening to snowmobiles buzz by, she realized that her getaway was missing one element: someone to share it with.
Twelve years ago, Bennett came home from her solo ski trip and, with a nudge from her son, David, decided to form the Bangor Women’s Ski and Snowboard Club — a group of active women eager to enjoy Maine’s white winter.
“I found I was in a position that whenever I had free time, my family didn’t have free time,” Bennett said.
Years later, she finds herself with 60 some-odd ski buddies. They share lifts, take mountain tours and chat over hot cocoa. And they are always looking for more women to join their group at their annual wine and cheese sign-up, this year scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Ski Rack Sports at 24 Longview Drive in Bangor.
The club began small. Four original members — Bennett, Irene Woodford, Jen Calder and Hazel Pelkey — banded together at the first signup at the YWCA.
“Skiing with our sons, we knew we needed a women’s only club, because our sons would leave us behind [on the slopes],” Woodford said, laughing.
She and Bennett joined other club members at the Sea Dog Brewing Company in Bangor recently for their monthly get-together. As more women arrived, they moved to a long table at the back of the restaurant, where they enjoyed appetizers and drinks.
Each winter, the club takes four Sunday trips to Sugarloaf.
Besides being an opportunity to form friendships, the club also provides women the opportunity to save money. This year, an adult lift ticket for one day at Sugarloaf is $79. The club charges a one-time fee of $136 for a lift ticket for all four trips, or $34 per day. The club also gets special rates on ski and snowboard rentals and lessons.
Sugarloaf has supported them from the start, even the first year when they only had a four-woman crew. Bennett recalls the resort representative saying, ”Don’t worry about it. I foresee you making this club grow.”
And she was right. Going into the club’s second year, Calder told Bennett that if the club snagged 20 women at the sign-up, she would “eat her shirt.” That year, the group inflated to 42 members, and at the end-of-the-season banquet, Bennett presented Calder with a shirt-shaped sugar cookie.
Last year the club had 59 members, mostly from Greater Bangor but also from towns such as Lincoln, Ellsworth, Blue Hill and Old Town.
“I didn’t know any one of these women before I started this group,” Bennett said.
Born out of a desire for companionship, the club has transformed into much more. Over the years, the women skiers have raised $37,299 to support the Maine Breast Cancer Coalition. The bulk of their annual donation to the MBCC is from raffles for items donated by local businesses, and the money goes to the coalition’s Support Services Fund, which provides life necessities such as heating oil and food to breast cancer patients and their families. Last year, they were the coalition’s top noncorporate donor.
Though Bennett hasn’t personally struggled with cancer, many of the club members are breast cancer survivors.
Bennett recalls one 62-year-old woman who joined the club and missed the first three trips of the season. But she made it to the last trip and learned to ski. The next year, at the Komen Race for the Cure, the woman told Bennett that she was a breast cancer survivor. She had missed the first ski trips because she was undergoing treatment.
“I really think this club has blessed many people,” said Woodford, who is helping Bennett make pink ribbon lollipops and snow globe ornaments to sell throughout the holiday season for the coalition.
While community service is a big part of the club’s identity, the group is really about the ski trips, which start at 6:30 a.m. in the Kmart parking lot, where the majority of the members board a Cyr bus. Traveling west to the mountain as the sun rises behind them, the women catch up on each other’s lives and get to know new members, who they pair up with to explore the trails.
“I don’t like to drive. And I like the camaraderie,” said Crystal Jackins of Bangor. “I usually get to ski with different people every time.”
“We look after each other,” said Andrea Atwater, who became the club’s leader about six years ago when Bennett “lost steam” and decided to divide responsibilities among several members. “It’s been so good to be able to get away and de-stress.”
Dianne Higgins of Hampden will be one of those new members sitting on the bus this year.
“I was dating a guy last year and started skiing again after 25 years [of not skiing],” said Higgins, who moved to Maine from Connecticut two years ago. “I knew I wanted to ski again the next year, but of course we broke up. I needed a group to go with, but I work from home for IBM.”
The club seemed like an ideal opportunity for her to get back into skiing and meet people from the community.
“It shortens up the winter,” said Deb Forsing of Milford, in charge of the club’s coordination with Sugarloaf. “It’s a natural high to get up there on the top of a mountain.”
“My favorite day was the one with the marshmallow trees,” said Jackins. “Every tree was coated in two feet of ice and snow.”
At the end of each day on the mountain, it has become tradition for the women to meet at The Bag, a Sugarloaf restaurant, and have hamburgers and drinks before loading onto the Cyr bus to chat and watch a movie during their ride back to Bangor.
And now, instead of relaxing alone to the sound of snowmobile engines, Bennett can sit back and laugh with her friends.
For information about the Bangor Women’s Ski and Snowboard Club, call Bennett at 825-8821 or Atwater at 942-7377.