According to an article in the Oxford Hills Sun Journal, Dave Carter, who passed away earlier this year, is one of eight skiers being inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame in the fall. Carter was 65 when he passed away in early March after a battle with cancer.
Hall of fame director Dave Irons said Carter, who will be inducted at a banquet at Lost Valley in Auburn on Oct. 24, was a pioneer in the field. His wife, Anne, will accept the award on his behalf, Irons said.
He co-owned Carter's X-C Ski Center with wife, with stores in Oxford and Bethel, for over 35 years. Together, they started the Oxford Hills Nordic Ski Club in 1981 with the community helping them build trails at their farm.
In January, Irons notified the Bethel native that he had been chosen by the selection committee, fearing if he waited, it would be too late. After learning of the award, Carter told the Bethel Citizen a few weeks later that it was his dream to get as many people on skis as possible.
Carter's crowning achievement in the field, Irons said, was passing on his passion to get others, especially children, to take up the sport. To this end, he began an after-school program in School District 17 that ran from 1985 to 2005. Close to 100 children participated in the program each winter.
David Carter of Carter's Cross Country, in Bethel and Oxford, Maine had a positive attitude and was still skiing the week prior to his passing. He is survived by his wife Anne and 3 daughters. The Carter family runs two trailheads, operates a lodge, and a retail shop. They were instrumental in the creation of the new non-profit operation Bethel Outdoor Center to operate the trails of the now defunct Sunday River Inn operation.
Dave Carter had more than 40 years experience XC skiing. He started on the Gould Academy XC ski team and went on to compete on the U. Maine XC ski team. Dave was hired to start the Sunday River Ski Touring Center and he was one of 4 Mainers, who helped start the Jackson Ski Touring Center, in Jackson, NH.
He also worked to promote more back-country skiing. "If you're an alpine skier, you'll like our hills. We have elevation," he said. "But if you're not, we have flat, too." Dave was a farm boy and serious XC skier. He had said that Anne was the first girlfriend, who didn't leave after he took her cross country skiing. They skied and bushwacked almost 10 miles uphill and back. It was her first time on skis. They have 3 daughters who help in the business as well. "They cross country skied the day after they walked," Dave had said. They also have 2 granddaughters, who are the 8th generation of Carters in the area.
Carter had been focused on keeping the business green, since before it was a popular phrase. The lodge is built of wood which was cut on their land by the Carter brothers, and custom milled. All the windows and doors were furnished by their cousin (at Western Maine Supply). The lodge was economically designed by Dave. The rental cabins are "off-grid". Even the new trail groomer has been optimized so that it uses 1/6 the amount of fuel that the old groomer used, to reduce the carbon footprint. The lodge and cabins are also heated with wood that comes from the property. The wax room at the lodge is a passive-solar greenhouse.
The XC ski industry will miss one of its true luminaries.