Sugarloaf 4/24,4/25

[cornhead]

After not pulling the trigger last weekend, and missing out on the 8-10 inches of fresh, I was determined to make it to the Loaf this weekend for my final ski days of the season. Luckily I was able to finagle Friday off from work, this made the long trip from Binghamton much more feasible, else I'd just be driving all weekend. I have never been to Maine to ski, and I doubt I will again unless the "King of Spring" tempts me late in the season again. What a haul, ten hours and nearly five hundred miles. Hi I'm Bob, I'm an alcoholic, and a drug addict, and a compulsive alpine skier.... Hi Bob.

Saturday was great. Not a cloud in the sky, temps right around sixty. I hooked up with a ski instructor from Sunday River early in the morning, Pat. I didn't catch his last name. Nice guy, we skied all day together. We were both spent by the end of the day. Don't recall wearing holes in my shins skiing before. The snow was great, coverage was great on some trails, connect the dots on others. You could not, well I could not, ski all the way to the quad. Some people were actually skiing the mud between the end of the snow and the chair. I did enough damage to my bases without attempting any mud skiing. The base of the double chair was accessible on skis.

View from the parking lot

Pat from Sunday River

Pat.jpg (57.66 KiB) Viewed 944 times

The coverage was great on some trails

Not so good on others

Nice soft corn bumps, yum

Random skier

Man made runway toward the bottom of the hill

Mud skiing anyone?

Sunday morning was cloudy, the top of the mountain was shrouded in fog/clouds. It burned off around eleven. I was amazed at the loss of snow in one day on some trails. I left at one, partially because I was sore from Saturday, and partially so I could get home before Monday morning. Was it worth it? I'd say yes. I could have gone to Killington, but I'd never been to Maine so now I can scratch that one off my list. I can't see going there mid season as there are many resorts closer to home that would appeal to me more.

All in all, it was a pretty good season considering we didn't have a real storm at Greek till almost March. Here's a list of places I've skied this year.


Greek Peak
Snowridge
Elk
Windham
Hunter
Whiteface
Gore
Santa Fe
Taos
Pajarito
Sugarloaf

[icelanticskier]

Glad you made the trip!

Emily and I were out there yesterday, what a killer day! The snow in the morning was about as good as corn gets and then the sun came out and it was blubird till last chair. Unreal. This is definitely the thinnest I've seen the loaf at the end of April, but still plenty of skiing to be had. We skied off of the summit snowfields in the afternoon which provided untracked buttery corn all over. Headed back out today once Lange girl wakes up :)

Met Patrick and lucky Luke for the 1st time, but unfortunately didn't get to ski with them. Winter storm watch is up for this area and I wouldn't be surprised if the loaf gets quite a bit.

King of spring, one week left!

Rog

[BobR]

I was out Sat and Sunday. A group of us from Sunday River made the trip up. Wedge had the most snow of what I skied. Randown was real nice as well, but a bit of touring to get out which really was pretty cool. I tore ligaments in my ankle at the end of Feb so i took it easy, but a great weekend. I will be up Friday Sat and Sunday to close it out with my son. Taking a bit of the Nh vacation seek to ski.. 7 to 12 inches of wet snow in the short term forecast. Props for the loaf staying open and spinning spillway.

[icelanticskier]

the king of spring skied VERY well once again yesterday. E and i were 2 of about 12 skiers on the hill all day. sun came out and the corn was perfect all day long, peel away.

met up with meathead films star, radio ron. we took him on a fun run down the upper t bar line to lower narrow g. great fun, ski a few runs, drink a beer and so on........

i will unfortunately miss out on closing weekend due to work, but will hit the new couple of feet up high on washington friday and get stoked to ski another 8 -10 weeks till summer. LET IT SNOW!!!!!

rog

[Patrick]

Great day indeed. Loaf the place to be this weekend.

Compared to the competition:
Vert=check
runs=check
snow=check
price=check.

Happy to have bumped into you, hard to stand still when the skiing is so great (Agree on the low amount of snow for April). Saw you again as you group were heading down Gondolier...we continued further south. Skied 25k of bumps, corns, bushwacked, etc... great day...TR to follow, Lucky has a few fun pics.

met up with meathead films star

Unlucky Luke wanted to hit the jumps at the end of the day, but the park was off-limits with the MH film crew.

[icelanticskier]

Great day indeed. Loaf the place to be this weekend.

Compared to the competition:
Vert=check
runs=check
snow=check
price=check.

Happy to have bumped into you, hard to stand still when the skiing is so great (Agree on the low amount of snow for April). Saw you again as you group were heading down Gondolier...we continued further south. Skied 25k of bumps, corns, bushwacked, etc... great day...TR to follow, Lucky has a few fun pics.

met up with meathead films star

Unlucky Luke wanted to hit the jumps at the end of the day, but the park was off-limits with the MH film crew.

bublecuffer from the summit was unreal on sunday! how bout them bumps eh? half in the air, half off the tops!

emily and i ducked the rope and poached the filming area with after skiing with radio ron. the skiing with rr was much more fun and exciting!

rog

[Harvey44]

I'm sure this question has been answered before, and/or probably obvious to some.

But if someone feels like answering again...

Why does Sunday River focus on early season and why does Sugar Loaf do so well in the spring?

Is it just a choice by mountain management(s) or are there physical, geographic, topographical reasons?

[christopherb]

I'm sure this question has been answered before, and/or probably obvious to some.

But if someone feels like answering again...

Why does Sunday River focus on early season and why does Sugar Loaf do so well in the spring?

Is it just a choice by mountain management(s) or are there physical, geographic, topographical reasons?

Sugarloaf has much better late season climate. Further north and west of Sunday River with much greater elevation. They get the best late season snows.
In fact, if I'm not mistaken, their snowiest months are Feb., April, March. (In that order)

[Tony Crocker]

In fact, if I'm not mistaken, their snowiest months are Feb., April, March. (In that order)

Based upon last 13 years:
Nov 18.0
Dec 39.1
Jan 36.3
Feb 34.5
Mar 38.0
Apr 19.2
At some places we might suspect April of being incomplete, but Sugarloaf is open to very late April consistently. And yes that 19.2 average includes the 107 in April 2007. 7 of the 13 seasons were 8 inches or less in April.

It has to be colder weather. Some of it is altitude. Some of it is latitude. I also think some of it is more coastal influence in spring, when inland areas warm up faster. I was in NH Memorial weekend 1986 and it was ~75F with lots of boaters on Lake Winnepesaukee. Temps dropped a lot as we moved into Maine. Whether that coastal influence extends up to Sugarloaf is pure speculation, but the spring snow preservation issue clearly has little to do with snowfall (or else Vermont would be much better) and a lot to do with temperature.

Fall/early winter temperatures may not have as much difference, and in any case are satisfactory for snowmaking over most of upper New England. Who makes the most snow probably has more to do with local water supply and investment in equipment. Les Otten made Sunday River a leader in the latter areas a while back, and in any case even if snowmaking/conditions are similar Sunday River would get more customers as it's closer to the population centers. Sugarloaf should draw better when it has sufficiently superior conditions vs. more convenient places.