On Friday, October 23, Les Otten, former general manager for Sunday River, will be inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame. As reported by Dan Cassidy in the Maine Outdoor Journal, "It would be hard to find an individual with a greater impact on the business side of Maine skiing than Les Otten. Although the New York native was sent to Sunday River by new owner Killington in 1972, he quickly became a believer in Maine and its skiing potential. When he couldn't get the parent company to allow him to expand the Maine resort, he convinced them to sell the area to him. That year, 1980 the area drew 32,000 skier visits. A decade and half later the figure was close to 600,000 and Maine had one of the top five ski resorts in New England, primarily due to the vision of Les Otten."
While most people know that Les Otten came to Sunday River from Killington, few people know that he took over as general manager for Sunday River at the young age of 24. Otten's vision for Sunday River helped form the resort into what it is today - a true destination resort with one of the best snowmaking systems in the country. People from all over the world come to Sunday River to ski because of its dependable snow and its vast amount of terrain. Imagine for a minute the amount of work that went into turning Sunday River into eight mountain peaks from just one all while creating a modern lift and snowmaking system. Pretty incredible accomplishments and certainly worthy of an induction to the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.
Congratulations to Les Otten from Sunday River!