CAMDEN — Skiers were slicing down Ragged Mountain at speeds up to 58 mph Sunday, March 3, on a carefully designed race course that ran from the very top of the Camden Snow Bowl down to the lodge. It was an historic event for the longtime Sally Deaver Memorial Race, and skiers from all over the state traveled to Camden to test their personal best.

“Our race events this season have impressed many, but this one takes the cake,” said an ebullient Snow Bowl Race Director Mike White. “I asked far too much of far too many of you to pull off what really has been a decades old dream of mine — to race over my favorite terrain from the top of the Camden Snow Bowl, to the bottom.”

Accolades for the race came from coaches, alpine racers, and the general public, as the Camden Snow Bowl dressed out for the day, with a blanket of white snow under clear blue bird skies, and hosted enthusiastic racers, ages 9 to 50-ish. 

White and other volunteers with the mountain’s race program have been planning all winter for the historic race, which drew 85 participants, while the mountain operations crew, headed by Scott Simkins, Ned and Chris Rogers, did everyone proud by perfectly sculpting the fall line on Mussel and building two jumps with long bases and carefully constructed landing line.

“We hit this sweet spot because each and every one of you (and others I'm sure I'm forgetting) showed up prepared to work with smiles on your faces and with 100 percent professionalism driving your actions and deeds all day long,” wrote White, the day after the race, to Camden Snow Bowl staff, race program volunteers, maintenance crews, mountain stewards and the Ragged Mountain Ski Patrol.

This particular super giant slalom race was historic because it was the first time ever that a race course at the Snow Bowl had been set from its summit.

The Snow Bowl’s alpine ski trails run down the Northwest and northeast side of Ragged Mountain, at an elevation of 900 feet. Ragged Mountain itself has an elevation of 1,000 feet, but the chairlift stops just below its highest point.

Ski races have been held on the Mussel Ridge trail for decades, but 2019 marked the first year the course start was pushed higher to the very top of the groomed Snow Bowl.

Fastest time down the trail, which began as a began as an open gliding section to build speed, then over the steep headwall, down to a jump, across a long moderately sloped interval to another jump, and then down a fairly steep hill to the bottom, was one minute, 3 seconds.

That’s fast, and the record was set by Chris Rogers, of Camden, at 1:03.32.

Fastest trap speed was recorded with skiers Maxx Bell and Chris Farrell, both at 58 mph.

While the race was "unsanctioned," meaning it offered no points to racers seeking to improve their standings in the state, it drew racers of all ages, with two different courses; the shorter one for younger participants.

The annual race was created following the death of Sally Deaver, a U.S. skier with Camden ties.

Sally Deaver was born Dec. 14, 1933, learned to ski in Lake Placid, and skied in the Andes, finessing her style of giant slalom racing.

She won the National Women’s Giant Slalom Championships in 1956 and 1957, and was captain of the U.S. Women’s Team for the 1958 FIS World Alpine Championships. She turned down the chance to be on the 1960 Olympian training squad to get married.

She died in 1963 after being thrown from a horse at age 30. Her mother eventually married again after the death of Sally’s father and moved to Camden. She subsequently created a memorial fund at the Snow Bowl.

This year’s Sally Deaver race brought in approximately $3,700 with a $45 entrance fee.

A note from another race coach in Maine to the Camden Snow Bowl race crew expressed appreciation for the organization and conditions of the 2019 Sally Deaver Memorial Race.

“A great event, well organized, safe and professionally run,” wrote alpine trainer Tim Trainer to Camden ski coach Barry King. “So much fun. I am left wishing that there could be more of these quality non-USSA events for high school, middle school and younger athletes in the best interest of ski racing.”

For more photos, see John Steele’s photos.