Mount Jefferson Ski Area

Per New England Ski History's Mt. Jefferson page, the area's lift-served skiing history "likely dates back to May of 1964, when Mt. Jefferson Ski & Recreation Association was registered as a Maine corporation." Six locals "reportedly contributed $5,000 each" toward developing the area: Floyd Cobb, Byron Delano, Al Pickering, Claude Scribner, Roland Scribner, and Bernard Staples. Night skiing was offered four nights a week for the 1965-66 season, and co-owner Byron Delano estimated 25,000 skier visits for 1968-69. The 1969-70 season was limited to six days of operation by a snow shortage. The area was "likely transferred to Mt. Jefferson Ski Area, LLC between 1978 and 1980, with Byron and Susan Delano becoming the sole owners." Following the 1990-91 season, the Delanos acquired 40 more acres to the west of the ski area, cutting two new trails; a second T-Bar was likely added for the 1994-95 season. Co-founder Byron Delano died December 11, 1996; Byron Delano Jr. continued family ownership as president. Co-founder Floyd Cobb died September 14, 2014. Per NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com's "Mt. Jefferson Sold" story, published January 27, 2016, the Delano family sold the ski area to Ken Zimmerman's Mt. Jefferson Ski Resort, LLC in early 2016; the story states only that the area had been "partly or fully owned by the Delano family since the facility's inception," without a specific number of years. Zimmerman's plans included adding snow tubing and expanding to four-season operations, and the Bunny Slope was soon converted to a tubing area. A handle tow was installed in 2007. Co-founder Bernard Staples died January 29, 2017; former owner Susan Delano died March 12, 2017. The 2019-20 season was cancelled for lack of snow, but the area reopened for 2020-21 despite COVID-19 restrictions. Co-founder Roland Scribner died March 10, 2022. In a mid-January 2026 Facebook post, per NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com, Mt. Jefferson announced this would be "most likely our last season ever!", adding in a follow-up post, "we will keep going if we have a huge season and it snows lots early next year." Another post the same day read: "With aging lifts and lack of natural snow it was inevitable there is absolutely no budget for snow making and never will be without a chairlift installed..." Despite that warning, the 2025-26 season ran, opening January 31, 2026 and closing March 8, 2026, with a $44.99 adult weekend full-day ticket, per New England Ski History's year-by-year table. In 2022, owner Kevin Zimmerman (later reporting's spelling of the same Ken Zimmerman named in the 2016 sale story) told WABI of plans to sell lumber and firewood to fund snowmaking, a chairlift, and lodging; per NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com's "Mt. Jefferson Ski Area Placed on Market" story, logging took place and firewood was sold, but no major on-mountain investments were made. In 2025, a housing-lot subdivision was approved on the back side of the mountain, leaving the remaining ski-area tract at 142 acres, and the ski resort's LLC "faced two town tax liens in 2025, which were later released." As of August 25, 2026, per the same story, Mt. Jefferson was placed on the market at $3.5 million by NextHome Experience, the 152-acre property including "a 10-acre residential subdivision, as well as a firewood business." The same article named Hermon Mountain and Pinnacle Ski Club as the only other ski areas still operating along the I-95 corridor near Bangor.