Project Description
When the World Cup came to Sugarloaf in 1971, organizers paid tribute to the area’s logging heritage by awarding the top skiers custom-made hatchets. Kiitellä’s custom awards for the 2015 and 2017 Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Nationals—in “gold, silver and bronze”—are a nod to Sugarloaf’s logging and ski racing history. The actual metals are brass, stainless steel and patina’d brass—jet cut, polished and riveted. The axe head designs: 2015’s is modeled after the Camper’s Belt Axe head and 2017’s after the Penobscot Bay Kindling Axe. The handles were supplied by Snow & Nealley, a Maine axe manufacturer since 1864.