One of the great early-season ski traditions here in the northeast is “Santa Sunday” at Sunday River in Newry, Maine. Imagine, if you will, 250 (or more!) happy Santas in complete head-to-toe red regalia, all skiing and snowboarding at the same ski area at the same time. Yup, it’s smiles guaranteed.
Santa Sunday is usually scheduled for the first Sunday in December, and Marilyn and I try to get up every year as sort of our own unofficial kickoff to the holiday season. We don’t own Santa suits, but we enjoy seeing all the Santas. It really does put you in the spirit, especially when you consider that each Santa had to donate at least $10 to the Bethel Rotary Club’s Christmas charity to participate. In return (and for participating in the annual Santa photo), each Santa gets a ticket for Santa Sunday and a second ticket for another day on the slopes before December 14.
With that much skiing on the line, it’s not surprising that online registration for the full quota of 250 Santas for the 13th Annual Santa Sunday took less than two minutes to fill this year. Competition was fierce. But, somehow, 294 Santas got themselves registered. I suspect some were season pass holders who didn’t need the tickets. .
Sunday, December 2, 2012 was the first time we’d wished that Rudolph had joined the party. Parts of Maine were getting freezing rain that day as a warm front pushed in over entrenched colder air. It wasn’t quite cold enough for a major ice storm.
Sunday River got lucky. It stayed cold enough so most of the precipitation fell as a sleety snow. And it had pretty much stopped by the time the lifts started turning. Still, the combination of warming ai, and little wind created a thick, thick fog that the Santas and everyone else had to contend with.
The snow was excellent, the visibility wasn’t. Fortunately, everyone on the mountain seemed aware of the potential hazards and was picking their way down fog-shrouded slopes, obviously skiing or riding much more slowly and carefully than they would have had visibility been better.
It wasn’t a day for long views . . . if you could see 50 feet it was because the fog had lifted a little. When you stopped at the side of the trail, you’d hear the swish of edges biting into what amounted to soft, spring-like corn snow long before the skier or snowboarder materialized in the mist. If it was a Santa, you’d smile as you watched the jolly elf float past and disappear into the mist.
Skiing in a thick fog is a surreal experience. If you weren’t there, you missed something you wouldn’t soon forget.
Being perfectly honest, we didn’t take all that many runs on Santa Sunday. Early season skiing lets you know quickly enough that your thigh muscles aren’t really ready for prime time quite yet; and skiing with that tight control and lots of extra turns burns the thighs out faster. Besides, with fog everywhere and goggles misting up every few feet, it was hard to relax and have fun. The snow, however, on Risky Business and Right Stuff was so good that we almost took more runs. Only the fact that the fog got thicker and the mist edged toward rain finally made us cry “Uncle” and head for the hotel and the hot tub.
Sunday nights are quiet at ski areas this time of year (and ski-and-stay packages are cheaper!). We spent a comfortable night at the almost-empty Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River. The night was still foggy and nasty enough that we didn’t want to drive. And we didn’t have to. We enjoyed a very nice dinner in Legends restaurant, right in the hotel. It’s at least as good as and probably better than any of the other restaurants near the slopes.
As we sat in the outdoor hot tub (in the rain) after dinner in we could hear the grumble of groomers working the slopes far away. It was raining hard as we tucked in to bed.
The forecast called for overnight clearing, and Monday morning brought a spectacular sunrise with blue skies showing through breaking clouds as we drove down to the Crossroads Diner in Bethel, one of our favorite breakfast joints, for an early, hearty breakfast. Good food, nice people.
Back at the hotel, we faced a typical early-season dilemma. Most of the time, the Grand Summit is ski-in, ski-out. But this early in the season, you could ski out, but not back in. That meant taking a shuttle back if we skied out. So we decided, instead, to check out early and drive up to the South Ridge lodge in time for first tracks. We really didn’t have to hurry– most people were somewhere else, we parked very near the lodge, the slopes were practically empty — and liftlines. . . well, what liftlines? It turned out to be an epic sof-snow morning. Even without Santas everywhere we smiled though a dozen runs on smooth, soft snow. Some of the trails were groomed smooth, but even the trails that hadn’t been groomed were a delight. Monday is definitely a great day to ski Sunday (River)!
Next year, take my advice and go to Santa Sunday. Enjoy the happy crowd and the festive atmosphere. But then stay overnight and enjoy the empty slopes and excellent snow on Monday, even more. Next year is going to have perfect weather both days, of course.