Peter Webber

Peter Webber’s career in skiing has touched many sides of the sport and his name has been a part of Sugarloaf almost from the beginning. He skied at Sugarloaf with Stub Taylor and Amost Winter as early as 1949 and skied in the first Sugarloaf Schuss in 1953 as a senior at Farmington High School. Somehow he found time to participate in four sports in high school and still excel at skiing. As a four event member of the ski team Webber won the state slalom and downhill titles in 1952 and 53.

This led to a solid career at Middlebury where the Webber name is as synonymous with skiing as it is with Sugarloaf. Once again he competed in four events and in 1957 captained the Middlebury ski team participating in NCAA championships along with the winter carnival competitions.

Returning to Farmington following graduation he opened the Village Ski Shop there in the winter of 1957. In the mid sixties he teamed with Paul Kailey to open Sunri Ski Shop the first shop at Sunday River and at the same time expanded Peter Webber ski shops to iclude stores in Lost Valley, Waterville, Augusta and Carrabassett Valley. This involvement in retail led the young entrepreneur into another segment of the ski business with the creation of Peter Webber Imports, bringing Ulli hats and sweaters from Austria in the sixties and seventies. From 1968 to 1978 he was Eastern sales manager for K2 with a warehouse and service center in Waterville.

Moving to Sugarloaf in 1977, he bought the Sugarloaf Inn and became a key player in the expansion of the resort to true destination status. That year he began construction of the first of some 400 condos between 1978 and 1988. In 1983-84 he built the Sugartree Club, the resort’s first fitness center and surrounding condominiums.

He became a member of the Sugarloaf board of directors and served as Chairman in the early and mid eighties, an important time in the resort’s growth.

Webber was one of the first to recognize the need to make Sugarloaf a year round resort and in 1979 he began thinking about golf. In 1982 he met Robert Trent Jones Jr. in Vail and through his efforts brought Jones to Sugarloaf. Ground was broken in 1983 and the Sugarloaf golf course has become a major factor in building summer traffic adding to the financial viability of the resort. His contribution was recognized in 1984 when he received the Margaret Chase Smith Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Throughout his business career Webber found time to work on numerous projects and charitable endeavors. As one of the founders and constant supporters of Carrabassett Valley Academy, Peter and his wife Martha have been described as “The spirit behind CVA”. He started the CVA Fall Classic Golf Tournament in 1985 for scholarships. After Martha’s death the funds were put into the Martha B. Webber Scholarship Fund and more than $1 million has been raised through the 22 years. Through Martha’s illness and since her death, Webber has been heavily involved in the fight against the disease and for his efforts in 2005, received the Meredith Burgess “Spirit of Life Award”” for his “unfailing optimism, advocacy and delivering a positive message to cancer survivors. All that embodies the spirit ot life.