Words for a Mountain

Book excerpt: Words for a Mountain by Richard Kent is a collection of essays, poems, and photographs that celebrate a small-town ski area, its community, and a way of life in the wintertime. In the late 1800's, Scandinavian papermakers introduced skiing to western Maine's River Valley around the towns of Rumford and Mexico. In 1960, the venerable Chisholm Ski Club purchased Black Mountain to create Chisholm Winter Ski Park. The ski area at Black Mountain has undergone several name changes and ownership agreements, but through good times and lean times, this mountain has always reflected the spirit of community and a love affair with winter sports. In 2013, Black Mountain lost funding and faced closure. When word spread, the Mountain's faithful, from local neighborhoods and around the world, rallied to raise enough money keep the community area open for the next season. *Profits from the sale of this book support Black Mountain.*