Hermon Mountain Finds Its Next Chapter: Local Group Steps Up to Save a Maine Skiing Institution

For more than four decades, Hermon Mountain has been the heartbeat of winter in the Bangor area — a modest, 350-vertical-foot hill where generations of Mainers learned to ski, raced through night-lit runs, and built memories that long outlasted the season. This spring, that heartbeat is getting a new set of hands to keep it going.

Tim McClary, Dave Hart, Hayden Jenkins, and Heidi Guerrette are set to acquire the ski area from longtime owner Bill Whitcomb, with the sale listed as pending at $2.1 million. All four buyers are rooted in the Hermon community, and their vision for the mountain is as much about preserving something cherished as it is about building something new.

The road to this sale was anything but smooth. Hermon Mountain's ownership had warned last fall that if the ski area didn't sell before the end of the 2025-26 season, it would close for good, with the land potentially converted to house lots. An earlier buyer group had come forward and was raising funds to complete a purchase, but that deal ultimately fell apart.

With closure looming, a new group of locals stepped up — and by mid-December, a deal was back on track. The story of how they came together is as community-minded as the mountain itself.

Heidi Guerrette, who began skiing at Hermon Mountain at age 5, works for two local business owners — Tim McClary and Dave Hart — and it was she who brought the opportunity to their attention. "I literally grew up here. This place shaped a huge part of my childhood," she said. "For me, that's heartbreaking to think about this not being here."

McClary and Hart, whose own children ski at Hermon Mountain, quickly understood what was at stake. "I serve on some community boards, and it's really important to the community we keep this operating," Hart said. "Good for the children and for the adult community — and the heartbeat of the area."

All four buyers live in the Hermon area. They say they're very involved in their communities and are excited to keep the mountain going and the ownership local. For instructors like Zac Bragdon, who learned to ski at Hermon Mountain as a boy and now spends his days teaching the next generation, the news is deeply personal.

"Being able to do what I did as a kid and now paying it forward and now teaching kids to do the same thing, it's pretty cool," Bragdon said — adding that when he learned the mountain might close, he didn't take a single day for granted.

Bill Whitcomb, who has owned and operated the mountain for more than 40 years, offered a simple and telling reassurance: "Hermon Mountain will still be Hermon Mountain." He and his wife Marlene plan to remain available to help the new owners through the transition. "Will I cold turkey walk away? I don't know that I even could," Bill said.

While the new owners are committed to protecting what makes Hermon Mountain special, they aren't standing still. The incoming ownership group aims to expand food and drink offerings, host more events on the property, and add outdoor activities such as disc golf.

"We heard on Facebook that people are really interested in things like disc golf, mountain biking, weddings, and events," McClary explained. They plan to expand from winter-only offerings to a four-season operation — a vision that would transform a beloved ski hill into a year-round community hub.

The 69-acre property already includes three lifts, 100% snowmaking coverage, a 600-foot tubing park, and a base lodge with potential for a bar or restaurant expansion — infrastructure that gives the new owners a strong foundation to build from.

For the skiers, instructors, season pass holders, and families who have made Hermon Mountain part of their winter rhythm for generations, the pending sale is cause for genuine relief. Marlene Whitcomb, reflecting on four decades of winters, put it simply: "I'll miss the family, all the people. We have a winter family."

That winter family — and soon, perhaps, a summer one too — looks like it will have a home for years to come.