Take your time rookie!
Let’s face it, Mother Nature hasn’t exactly been dumping “the good stuff” all over New England just yet. Heck, just a week ago, it was 60 degrees in Portland, ME. Not exactly the Greatest Conditions for Snowsports. Luckily, while most mountains are struggling now against interesting weather patterns, Sugarloaf USA has been able to take advantage of cold weather and a few storms to satisfy your need for winter.
Sugarloaf has been putting the guns on full blast since the snowstorm that hit last Wednesday (Dec 9th), thanks to the nice cold temperatures that inland Maine has been having. With this great combination I was very impressed by the offerings of the mountain.
Sugarloafers
The snowfields at the top of the mountain are still closed and don’t look to be opening soon unless we get a major snowstorm. With that said, 5 chairlifts and 25 trails were open on Sunday, with the trails mostly concentrated on the right side of the mountain. Conditions were just fine and dandy for what has been offered to us by Mother Nature, which isn’t much. The major trails right now are Tote Road and Haywire.
Surprisingly, the mountain had a 1 to 2 inch fluffy cover on most of the trails. The top of mountain was quite cold and windy, which made the snow a little crusty. It was also a little icy at first on the top of the mountain, but if you’re headed up, take your time down the mountain on your first and second runs, and you can quickly figure out that the snow has just been pushed by the winds (and, lets face it, other skiers and snowboarders) to different sides of the trail. Once you figure out where the snow is on different parts of the trails you can basically ski from top to bottom on the “the good stuff”.
Must not be from around here?
Once on the lower trails (or bottom half of the mountain), you are treated to some really good conditions. Since the trails are a lot less steep and the wind is not very strong at the bottom, snow has been able to accumulate. If you’re a Terrain Park fan, wait for next weekend; Sugarloaf plans to open more terrain parks then. Right now the only one open is at the absolute top of Tote Road, which takes a little bit of time to get to.
A small snowstorm hit last night also which gave the mountain 1-3 inches. The mountain is planning on opening more terrain by next weekend. If you’re like me and just can’t wait to ski, Sugarloaf is the place to go. They are putting a strong effort into getting the whole mountain open. They just need some help from Mother Nature!
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