Roger Page

Roger Page started skiing in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 1939 and became an instructor at the Leominster Ski Club in 1942. His progress was rapid and in the 1945-46 season he was teaching at Stowe under Sepp Rusch as part of a six man ski school. The following season he passed PSIA certification with the second highest score and maintained full certification until his retirement from active instruction.

His association with Maine skiing started in 1955 when he visited Sugarloaf one day with his wife, Patsy, and his two daughters in diapers. He returned in 1957 for a race after seeing what was there plus cheap real estate and decided that was his future.

He had been the Mount Mansfield Ski Club junior coach and when he went to work for the Sugarloaf Ski School under Werner Rothbacher, he started the first junior program.
In May of 1958 he attended a meeting in Rangeley where a local group was thinking of starting their own ski area on Saddleback Mountain. One of the first to see the potential of year round business for a ski area near lakes, Page joined the group as each member threw in $100 to form a corporation. Stock was sold and an access road cut.
That first year there wasn't enough money to start a ski area so the Rangeley Ski Club was formed. A rope tow was put up at Paul Ellis' farm and the Roger Page Ski School went to work teaching the local populace to ski. Longtime Saddleback GM Tom McAllister was one of those who learned to ski at Ellis Farm.

The same year, DR. Paul Fitchner asked Page to sell some stock to "get this thing going". He headed for Farmington and sold enough to get things started, and he kept on. He sold enough the first year to put in two T-bars and the area opened on the last day of 1960.

Twice he served as manager of the ski area and in 1963 oversaw the installation of a chairlift and they sold rides to the top for $1 .00 a ride. It was also in 1963 that Page was appointed to the PSIA Board of Examiners, a position reserved for only the top ski instructors. He was one of six who actually examined the examiners. A level three instructor, he was made a life member of PSIA in 1976.

When Saddleback was formed Page asked for two things, the ski school and the ski shop. The Roger Page Ski School was a key part of Saddleback until the mid seventies when he relinquished it to the mountain to pursue his shop activities. Under his direction the school turned out many fine skiers and a high percentage of his instructors gained full certification.

Roger Page played a key role in the development of Saddleback and in developing instructors through his role with PSIA. For these contributions to Maine skiing, Roger Page has earned induction into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame