It was created on a whim, this quirky cave that is Mt. Abram’s mysterious hideaway.
But the night it opened in December, it became the most magical place in Maine for Robert Mayo and Beth Wandishin.
Additional Photos
Amid candlelight glowing behind dripping ice, the ski area’s recreated ice cave turned into the stage for their engagement.
“I was clueless. But I was so excited to see the ice cave,” said Wandishin of Casco. “We were going up to see this fun adventure. Then (the ski area’s owners) had done it all up with candles on the railings and in behind the ice. It was beautiful, especially at that time. When I saw it, I just thought it was so clever.”
Since then, Mt. Abram’s ice cave has become a scenic snack bar, an outback pub and definitely a unique mountain stop that comes to life in winter and lives on well into spring.
“We were there right before the Fourth of July and there was still ice in the cave,” said Mt. Abram spokesman Kevin Rosenberg.
The reincarnation of the ice cave came about by accident. While members of the ski area’s staff were skiing down the mountain last spring, they stopped and looked under the old roof that had housed the original T-bar lift and saw ice covering the rock there.
“We took off our skis and looked in at all the ice that had built up. It was pretty neat. This is one of the older buildings. It really evolved from there,” Rosenberg said.
The original lift used when the ski area opened in 1960, the T-bar carried skiers up the mountain as far as the cave.
The fact that the ice cave was rebuilt and reopened during the mountain’s 50th anniversary is fitting.
“It ties in nicely,” Rosenberg said. “The mountain only had one beginner lift, and it stopped right where the ice shack is. That’s how it started.”
Inside, the ice cave is surrounded by rock and ice and closed in by old wooden beams that support a roof that has been reinforced.
The deck and railings are new additions that create an inviting place to park and sit during a long ski day. Bales of hay have been strapped with leather to create soft cushion seats.
The ice cave is open all the time and stocked with snacks on Saturdays and during holiday vacations, like this week.
And since the engagement of Mayo and Wandishin, the ice cave has been rented out three other times.
The night of the couple’s engagement was during one of the mountain’s monthly moonlight hikes, so Wandishin was completely unaware that the cave was warm and glowing just for them.
After Mayo proposed, the mountain that already had meant a lot to Wandishin suddenly meant that much more.
“I grew up skiing at Mt. Abram. My dad was on the ski patrol. I’ve spent more time on that T-bar than I care to admit,” said Wandishin, 47.
It was a magical union for two single parents who met years ago at Lakes Region High School.
“When she came in from Windham, she was a junior and I was a senior. I met her the first day and tried to talk to her, but she blew me off. I did not try to talk to her once the rest of the year. Then 23 years later, our lives came back together,” Mayo said. “We really will never forget the ice cave. We’ll never forget it.”
Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
dfleming@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.