Les Otten

Les Otten began skiing as a grammar school student and was totally hooked by the time he got into high school. At Ithaca College he took the next step getting his first ski area job as a ski instructor at Greek Peak. Along with a friend he actually tried to build a ski area. When that didn’t work out he wrote a paper on the effort which earned an A + in a marketing class. Following graduation he entered Killington’s management training program, little knowing that would lead to his future in Maine skiing.

In 1972 Killington’s parent company bought a struggling Sunday River and the 23 year old trainee was sent to Maine as an assistant manager. A year later he was named general manager. Under Sherburne a few improvements were made, top to bottom snowmaking and base lodge expansion. But Les Otten had bigger ideas which he laid out on topographical maps on the wall opposite his desk. By 1980 he was frustrated with the lack of growth where he saw unlimited potential and he went to Sherburne and said, “If you’re not going to do anything with it sell it to me.” They did and one of the greatest growth periods in the history of skiing was underway.

He then owned a ski area with one double chair lift, three T-bars, and a poma lift attracting 32 ,000 skiers a year to ski on 70 acres of trails. To raise money for a chair at the new south ridge base area every piece of scrap metal on the property was gathered up and sold. That and a small loan got the lift and small lodge at South Ridge.

From that year forward Sunday River recorded annual growth in trails, lifts, lodging, base facilities and most important, skier visits. By the end of his first decade of ownership skier visits were close to 400,000, number one in Maine and by the mid nineties they were nearly 600,000 second only to Killington in New England. The tiny ski area had spread over eight peaks anchored by a pair of hotels, three base lodges, a ski dorm, an on mountain lodge, 18 lifts including four high speed quads, 12 6 trails and glades and one of the most powerful snowmaking systems in skiing.

This incredible growth was the result of the vision of one man who put his dreams on the wall and made them happen. Les had a simple idea. Make sure you deliver a great skiing product. To that end every time a lift and trails were created, snowmaking and grooming was increased. It also took creative marketing, everything from dumping snow on the Boston Common to inviting the Legends of Freestyle to a big spring event. The list of innovations at Sunday River is too long for this space, but the resort today is all the proof needed of his impact on Maine skiing. Les Otten devoted more than half his life to building Maine’s biggest ski resort and has earned a place in the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.