I just returned home last night from my one week vacation at Sugarloaf. Despite my hesitation about taking the trip due to the poor snow conditions and forecast extreme cold, it turned out to be a good ski vacation after all. We arrived on sunday afternoon 1/11 to 1-2" of new snow on the mountain and evening temps in the mid-teens. Monday was a day that featured both clouds and sun and temps that reached 27F at the base by 4pm. Skiing on monday was largely limited to the Superquad, with runs such as Skidder, Tote Road, Hayburner and Kings landing having a loose granular and packed snow condition. The Timberline Quad was running so I took one run down Tote Road Extension and upper and lower Tote Road. This was my only run from the summit during my stay, due to the high winds on tuesday and wednesday, and also because Tote Road extension was both boring and the only trail open from the chair at the time. On tuesday 1/13 we recieved about 3" of snow at the base and 5" at the summit, this greatly improved the snow conditions and allowed for some powder poaching on lower Winters Way, lower Bubblecuffer and Boomauger. There was top to bottom snowmaking on Gondi Line and patrol opened the trail around 12pm. I think that I got some of the first tracks on that trail that day as it was fairly empty of skiers as I started down with lots of people behind me. I skied this trail top to bottom by chance as I was going to take a run down Spillway, but went down Spillway x-cut instead to find the rope dropped and the trail looking good. This would turn out to be my only top to bottom run on Gondi Line as I decided to eat lunch. After 1pm the arctic front dropped down and the winds picked up to 20-40mph and chairlifts started to close one by one. I took many runs up the Superquad to access as much of the powder as I could. By 3pm vitually the entire mountain was on wind hold. Wednesday 1/14 saw the mountain on wind hold until about 1pm, when the long part of Double Runner was opened. I took 3 runs on Boardwalk, but the wind, flat terrain and -4F did not make it much fun. This would turn out to be my last turns at Sugarloaf as we would ski at Mt Orford on 1/15 and Sugarloaf was closed completly on friday 1/16 due to extreme wind. We did get 2 vouchers on friday good for the next 1 year so I was not very upset. I did not take very many pictures at Sugarloaf as I was mostly skiing alone, but here are some to get and idea of what the mountain was like last week. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3243.jpg" ALT="First Tracks on Winters Way"> <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3244.jpg" ALT="Nancy on Boardwalk">
Sugarloaf ME 1-12 - 1- 14 2004
- Thread starter Kevin
- Start date
The week that I stayed at Sugarloaf was children's week. On monday night 1/12/04 there was a torchlight parade with a 10 minute fireworks show. This is a picture of the torchlight parade with a jump through a wall of fire. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3255.jpg" ALT="Torchlight Parade">
For future reference I was recently informed by a friend with relatives in New York that Jet Blue now flies NYC - SLC for $79 one way. We all have to live with our local conditions for day or weekend skiing, but when you have a whole week it must be worth the effort to seek out some decent snow.
Thanks for the information regarding western skiing. For me right now its more a matter of money and logisistics traveling with my 4 year old son. We did not want to lose our $425 deposit and right after Christmas money for us is tight. I am used to skiing in adverse conditions at Sugarloaf. My first trip there in December 1989 was my coldest skiing ever with a temperature on December 22nd of -37F starting out in the morning. <BR>January 1996 was -17F with a major blizzard occuring at home, resulting in a shortened trip in order to dig out my house back home from 25" of snow. My January 1998 trip occured at the same time as a major ice storm hit the area. I think that she (Sugarloaf Mtn) is testing my determination to keep skiing the place. It was no suprise that we experienced record cold on this trip, it keeps up good with my track record for the mountain. Sure I've had good times at the mountain such as April 1996 with 100% of the mountain open with 10+ feet of base in the snowfields of the sweetest corn snow that I've ever skied. Maybe in 2-3 years I'll return to Summit County CO with my family, but I don't regret this trip in any way, in fact I truthfully miss the -20F, if you dress correctly there is no problem and you have the mountain all to yourself. <BR>I think that in the future I'll wait until March-April to visit Sugarloaf for 1 week just to ensure more snow at the very least.
I have never been there, but I do get the impression that Sugarloaf is a "late season mountain" relative to other eastern ski areas. But in general March/April is when the gap between eastern and western conditions is at its greatest. My trip east last March did nothing to change that opinion despite several very enjoyable days of skiing. <BR> <BR>When my son Adam was 4 I took him to Utah for a week in late March. Utah does stack up well as a low cost destination. Adult lift tickets at all 4 Cottonwood ski areas are less than $50 per day and some have "kids ski free with a paying adult" programs. Lodging is cheap too if you stay in Salt Lake.