It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, and while most skiers are hoping that they’ll be able to get out next weekend, anyone within driving range of Sunday River and Sugarloaf will have a chance to feed their inner skiing jones now. Thanks to (finally!) some seasonably cold weather, Sunday River is planning to be open all weekend, and Sugarloaf is planning to open Sunday. Boys and girls, does it get any better than this?
Now, obviously, they won’t have the whole mountains open; Mother Nature’s not THAT cooperative. Still, it’s better than you might think. Sunday’s got T2 (yes, an actual black diamond!) and Upper, Middle, and Lower Sunday Punch open, and possibly others if they can make enough snow). Sugarloaf, on the other hand, will have Pinch and Upper & Lower Tote Road, all off the SuperQuad. That’s a bunch of vertical, a single (fast!) lift to get there, and blue trails galore.
Wait a second, Bode . . . you say you’re unhappy that the double diamonds won’t be open? Get real! At this time of year, blue is the new black. None of us are in top form physically and our skills are, well, rusty. So this is a perfect way to get the legs loosened up, start to feel the flow, work out a few kinks, make sure your gear is all in top shape (you KNOW you’re going to forget
something on the first day, too!)…and be really ready when we start to get tons of the white stuff. If you mange to forget to tell your friends that you spent two days skiing in Maine the weekend before, just think how impressed they’ll be as you schuss by them while they try to work off their Thanksgiving turkey! Oh, and by the way, there’s another bonus; since there aren’t that many trails open, you won’t spend all that many dollars, either. Sunday River’s lift tickets will be going for $35 ($25 if you bring in 3 non-perishable food items for the Andover Food bank); Sugarloaf’s, a whopping $29. Plenty left over for that post-slopes microwbrew…
Or, how about this for an idea? Ski Sunday River on Saturday, then head up to Sugarloaf, where ski & stay packages are $69/pp right now. That’s less than a typical ticket price! Call 1-800-THE-LOAF, and beg them for the best deal; who knows what you’ll get? Might even save enough to pay for the next microbrew!
We know one thing; WE’LL be out there. Will you?