This cluster spreads across the western Maine mountains in Oxford and Franklin counties. Sunday River, one of the largest and most visited ski resorts in Maine, sits in Newry, a resort town of 411 year round residents in 2020 with a proportionately large winter population. Bethel, a town of 2,504 nearby, is home to Gould Academy. Sugarloaf sits in Carrabassett Valley, a town of 673 that is also home to Carrabassett Valley Academy, a ski and snowboard academy. Sugarloaf has the highest peak elevation of any ski resort in New England and the only lift served skiing above treeline in the Northeast. It recorded 352,000 skier visits in the 2005 to 2006 season. Saddleback sits near Rangeley, a town of 1,222 at the center of the Rangeley Lakes resort region. It reopened in December 2020 after five years closed, and its upgrades since then include on mountain employee housing. Oxford County had 57,777 residents in 2020, and 31.6% of its housing units were vacant. Franklin County had 29,456 residents, and 38.4% of its housing units were vacant.