Glendon Stewart has worked on and off at Saddleback since he was a child. He has been a lift operator, mechanic, ski instructor and everything in between. But he’s best known as Batman.

Stewart, a native of Rangeley Plantation, started working at the mountain when he was 7 – on a marketing campaign, you might say. Now 54, he trains lift operators on how to run the T-bar and is a staple on the old-school lift.

Additional Images

Glendon Stewart is a lift operator among many other things at Saddleback. Oh yeah, he’s also Batman. Photo courtesy of Saddleback

When did you start working at Saddleback?

When I was 7 I had a job putting bumper stickers on the out-of-state plates that used to say: “Follow me to Saddleback, Maine.” But we only put them on the out-of-state plates. We never got complaints. That earned us our season pass.

What jobs have you done there?

I’ve run all the lifts. And I was a mechanic. I’ve been running lifts at Saddleback for … years. Now I run the T-bar full-time. It’s a wicked hard lift to run because if you don’t do it right, it will break down. It derails because people are not running it right. I run it full-time. It’s my home away from home. That T-bar has been there since the mountain was built.

You love the mountain?

I know how everything works. I even know how to get snowboarders to have a 100 percent success rate on the T-bar. I don’t let them quit. They try to quit. They even take the board off. But I get 100 percent success rate.

I embarrassed a couple of 20-year-olds by telling a 4-year-old girl (snowboarder) to go up in front of them. There was quite a line. But they kept falling off. They tried to put their back foot first rather than their front foot.

Is it true the Camden Snow Bowl T-bar recently was bought by Saddleback?

Yes. With any luck it will be installed one of these days. Then we’ll have two. That’s a long way down the road. It’s not like it will happen this year.

If it went in at the Casablanca (tree-sking) glades, that would be a big hit, huh?

I believe so. There’s some nice skiing near Jordan Bowl if you can get to it.

What do you do when you’re not working at Saddleback?

I’m a taxi cab driver and I run a chainsaw. I cut wood and take care of people’s (second homes). If you don’t have three or four jobs up here you’re broke. I have four. I worked 74 hours a week last winter. It’s down to 35, but it will go back up this week. I also work at Sarge’s Pub in town. I do a little of everything.

When do you find time to ski?

On my days off. I have four to five days off each winter. I also give private lessons. I have 15 to 20 students each winter. They want Batman to teach them how to ski. I teach old school, where you plant your legs together. It just looks better. This new stuff looks horrible.

When did you start to wear the Batman costume?

That was on superhero day. But I wear it on Halloween to the bars in Rangeley. A friend bought it for me. The mountain made a video of me in it with all the old comic words, like “Pow.” I was bit by a bat when I was 5. My grandfather had a house with a basketball hoop in his attic. We’d play half court in the attic. Once there was a bat on the basket and I think we were making it mad. It started flying and bit my hand. I was in the hospital nine months. I got a big rabies shot.

Is that a true story?

Oh yeah, it’s all true. You can ask anybody here. That’s why my name is Batman. I was in the Rumford Hospital pretty much from September to April. Turns out, I was allergic to the rabies serum. I had a temperature of 104. They thought I was going to die.

What is the best part about working at Saddleback?

The people, definitely the people. They bring me bacon, cookies. I get lots of cookies. And I get lots of hats. I have 20 to 25 Batman hats.

Related Stories