RUMFORD, Maine — Josh Hodsdon is obsessed with skiing.
The Rumford native fell in love with the sport at nearby Black Mountain when he was 12. When he wasn't carving down the mountain, he also began helping the operations team with small tasks until he was old enough to join the ski patrol.
"Hop on a chair with somebody, I was the happiest kid in the world," Hodsdon smiled during a December interview inside Black Mountain's lodge.
His new friends at the mountain became his support group when Hodsdon lost his father, Archie, to cancer when Josh was 14.
"Nobody ever talked about it; they just all knew," he recalled. "Nobody interrogated me or was trying to be a therapist. They were just like, 'Come on, we’ve got this to do.' And, each winter, I was itching, like, 'Where’s my winter family? Where’s my winter family?'”
With the mountain his place of solace, his standing on the ski patrol, and his friend group growing around the sport, Hodsdon found his basement filling with equipment—either bought or donated—and he decided he wanted to help bring others to the place he loved most.
"I do it to get people out on the hill and keep prevailing," Hodsdon said. "I want everybody to be the best skier that they can be."
Now 21, he said he's lost count of how many items he's passed along, either for free or at a steep discount.
Hodsdon now works on the Saddleback ski patrol and maintains trails in the summer. While it is a larger resort, he said, Saddleback carries a similar welcoming atmosphere to that of Black Mountain; one that fosters a love for skiing and snowboarding at all ability levels. His bosses think Hodsdon and his generosity for others fits right into that atmosphere.
"To be able to do that for people, that makes you a pretty good person right there," said Saddleback General Manager Jim Quimby of Hodsdon's equipment outreach.
Leah Larobardiere, Saddleback's ski patrol director, said the patrol crew was a family.
"We’re all really close in nature and we all look out for each other," she said. "We have some bad days and we have a lot of really good days, and I think that’s what’s keeping him involved."
She paused and turned toward the mountain, its trees still blanketed by a recent snowfall.
"Plus, you get to ski that," she laughed.
Anyone wishing to donate ski and snowboard equipment or clothing can contact Josh Hodsdon at: jskiguy1234@gmail.com.