SeniorsSkiingGuide: Seniors Love Sugarloaf
For Many Many Reasons.
Sugarloaf is a big mountain with lots of choices for all levels.
Located in Maine’s western mountains, Sugarloaf is farther away than other New England resorts, with underpopulated weekdays, giving you more room to roam.
It is rugged and unpretentious which draws one of the most loyal following of skiers in New England.
The setting is a lone behemoth, third highest peak in Maine at 4,249 feet.
It is challenging with seriously steep runs, above-treeline snowfields, glades. Experienced skiers make it less likely they will run into you.
It’s a little wild and wooly. Getting here, you are just as apt to pass logging trucks as SUVs.
Temperature inversion is a springtime phenomenon. Credit: Tamsin Venn
As one of the biggest ski areas in New England with a 2,820 foot vertical and 57 miles of trails with minimal traversing, the mountain is vastly entertaining, suiting any mood or ambition, as you wander from one lift to another.
We used to take the kids up there. Sugarloaf also has many easier ways down, but it had been years since we had been been there.
It all came back. You can lap the blacks on the Superquad like Upper Narrow Gauge and Hayburner, or stick to blue King’s Landing. Enjoy the views to the west at the top of Timberline chair then meander down the green Upper Timberline. Stop in at Bullwinkle’s for a hot chocolate. Tote Road is a 3.5-mile green run from summit to base, longest trail on the mountain.
Pole your way over to Spillway with its sweet consistent pitch. Take the Skyline quad. Hike up to Sugarloaf’s famed snowfields, front or back side, double blacks all. In spring corn snow with a good snowpack, they are the best.
Follow Spillway XC cut and pick your challenge. The truly adventurous plunge down Upper Winter’s Way, gnarly, bumped, and ungroomed just like the good old days. Gondi Line, Upper Bubblecuffer, White Nitro, or lower angle Ramdown lead back to the base when too windy up top.
Mountain east, served by the King Pine chair, you access the snowcat-serviced hand-cut Brackett Basin Burnt Mountain glades.
Relax on mostly blue runs off Whiffletree. Take the grandkids under the wood arch to Moose Alley to see Amos the Moose and pals Blueberry the Bear and Pierre the Lumberjack.
Schlep alert: Take the short Skidway chair to the Sugarloaf Superquad.
Sugarloaf can get wind-scoured. Think top of Mt. Katahdin, almost the same height. But when you hit it right, there is no finer place to ski in New England. In mid-March, I dove down the middle of an empty Gondi Line, non-stop, gripping corn snow. The sky was blue. It was an experience I hope to repeat when we all can make a safe return to the mountains.
Check Out
Former French team racer Lionel Hering mans Happy Tunes ski shop. Credit: Tamsin Venn
- Expert boot fitting by former French racer Lionel Hering at Happy Tunes!, Valley Crossing.
- Friendly, daily grooming intel in the snow conditions report.
- Sugarloaf Inn’s Shipyard Brew Haus’ twofer dinners Tuesdays.
- Venison, fiddleheads, and fine local dining at One Stanley Avenue, Kingfield.
- Free same-day Nordic trail access with Alpine ticket at Sugarloaf Outdoor Center, 90 km.
- Free Sugarloaf Explorer Shuttle. Wave it down. They’ll stop.
- Don’t miss the Hotel Herbert, Kingfield, for rooms with antiques and charm
The Tickets
Seniors 65-79, $85, 80-plus free.
For Sugarloaf webcams, click here.
Skiing Weatherman: More Snow Coming. No Kidding.
Late Season Snow Opens Nordic Opportunities.
As the coronavirus situation has continued to unfold and expand, the curtain has all but come down on the alpine season across North America. Nevertheless, lovers of the great outdoors continue to find ways to ingest their fair share of fresh air by a variety of different means, including cross country skiing aficionados. At last count, 17 Nordic centers around the country remain open. For those of you who will continue to rack up the kilometers as we move through early spring, here’s this week’s weather outlook.
This season now has all the earmarks of ending up with bookends in terms of jet stream patterns. You may recall that November got us off to a quick start as the jet stream aligned itself in a fashion favorable for the delivery of early season cold to the lower 48 states. Here in the East, as the calendar turned from October to November, the folks at Killington were very nervous about the prospect for the Women’s World Cup event scheduled for late that month. However, when the Women’s White Circus showed up three weeks later, the reversal of weather fortunes made for another hugely successful weekend of racing.
And then came the rest of the winter. As I discussed a couple of weeks ago, the Midwest and East got locked into a highly unfavorable jet steam setup that, unfortunately, made it very difficult for cold air masses to stick around for a while. Well, that appears to be about to change, which should help to extend the Nordic season.
In a nutshell, an upper level trough is going to set up shop over the eastern half of North America later next week. At the same time, a blocking ridge will be in place over Greenland. It was the LACK of a blocking ridge in that position that allowed cold air masses to slide right off the continent when they did manage to make a push into the Midwest and East. Cold air is not as abundant as it was one or two months ago, but there is enough available to flow into a trough and lead to late season snow. That scenario is on the table around April 3-5 in the Northeast. Here is a look at the expected pattern on the morning of the April 3:
A deep trough centered over eastern New York will provide the focus for the cold air. The trough may want to progress eastward into the north Atlantic, but the ridge that extends from Labrador to Greenland will resist and force the trough to only slowly move toward the ocean. It is important to also know that near the center of circulation of troughs, the air is rising and cooling to a greater extent than at points further away from the center. This further suggests that eastern New York and northern New England could very well pick up a substantial late season snowfall next weekend. That’s great news for Nordic touring centers from the Adirondacks to the mountains of Maine. As long as the ridge remains over Greenland, the colder air will stick around, just like in November.
Here Are The Regional Details.
Northwest U.S./western Canada: A season of abundant snowfall shows no signs of quitting. The hits will keep on coming in this part of the world for the next couple of weeks at least.
Sierra: While the amounts won’t be as prodigious as further north, the proximity of a trough not far offshore should produce several meaningful snowfalls in the next two weeks.
Northern Rockies: The storms that continue to bury the coastal ranges will move inland and keep this part of the U.S. and adjacent Canada in the crosshairs for solid snowfalls for the foreseeable future.
Central and southern Rockies: In the absence of an El Nino, it is tough to grind much snow out of the southern branch of the jet stream late in the season. Northern stream systems will graze these areas from time to time and provide several lighter snowfalls.
Midwest: Other than across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, snowfall is a long shot the rest of the way in the middle of the country.
Northeast/Quebec: Next weekend looks like the best opportunity for late snow. Based on what has happened the past few weeks, northern Maine and adjacent Quebec won’t see bare ground for many weeks to come.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy your sliding and your summer.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Mar. 20)
Hold Fast, James Niehues Paints Mountains, Emily’s Poem To Spring, Ski Diva Perspective, Senior Group At Powder Mountain, Weatherman Says More Snow, Mystery Racer.
Spring Arrives Tonight.
The irony is sardonic. The snow-starved Sierra is finally getting yards of snow, Easter will most likely have another coating in New England at higher elevations. And no lifts are turning. Normal is upside down.
Ski towns are discouraging second-home owners from taking shelter in rural areas, some resorts are giving out food to employees. Waterville Valley, NH, the last remaining operator in the Northeast, is finally closing down, despite their elaborate precautions. “Our continuing operations have been met with outcry by many who choose to misrepresent our efforts and have created an environment that has incited people to act irresponsibly to the point of becoming abusive and threatening to our staff,” says this week’s press release. What used to be a mecca for cheerfulness, easy-going-ness, and fun has turned rough with people rubbing each other the wrong way. Irony.
We know this period of time is unsettling, uncertain, ambiguous, and, to some, quite frightening. During this disruption, we feel it is critical to remember what is still important and always will be. For example, pay attention to your fitness. You might be doing some backcountry skiing, or skinning at closed ski areas. Please be careful and make sure you know what you are doing. First responders are pre-occupied these days. We’re taking long walks and doing yoga at home guided by a wonderful app called Down Dog, which will be offered free until April 1.
Another priority is to connect. We’re going to be isolated, dear readers. That is not a good thing for seniors in normal times, and even more stressful now. So, here’s what we propose. We are going to offer our readers a chance to connect with like-minded folks through a simple idea. We’re going to pose some questions you can respond to in the Reply Box for each question. Respond to the questions, to each other’s comments, start a dialogue, connect. What we’re trying to do is create a place for exchanging ideas, offering support, referring to resources, or whatever falls out. Please give it a go. We have no idea how this experiment will turn out, but it is worth a try. We already know our readers have lots to say. So, let’s hear from you.
Finally, folks, it’s Spring. Yes, it is snowing in places. But here we are, on the other side of winter. We saw our first robin on our walk yesterday. Look for yours.
Check out Jon’s comments in Short Swings this week for his perspective on dealing with the current crisis.
Hold Fast.
This Week
A poem from Emily Dickinson helps put spring in perspective. Welcome Spring and notice the crocuses coming up in your walks.
Our friend and colleague the Ski Diva has published an important summary of what’s going on in the ski industry since the advent of the virus. An important read.
Herb Stevens, the Skiing Weatherman, reports on snow coming for Easter. Oh well. You can probably go x-c skiing or snow shoeing if you’re living in the right places.
Niehues’ trail map of Vail. Complex, broad, beautiful.
We feature James Niehues’ work, the Man Who Paints Mountains. Actually, he is an artist who has created ski maps for hundreds of ski resorts across the globe. He’s published a book of his work which, as you know if you’ve ever really looked closely at a trail map, is incredible.
Salt Lake City correspondent Harriet Wallis tells us about a special senior week in small groups run by a couple at Powder Mountain, UT. It is an interesting idea: great food, mountain-side lodging, kindred spirits.
Our Mystery Glimpse this week features a young woman who should be familiar to many readers. And those colorful gondolas? Crested Butte.
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Tell your friends about us, and, remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.
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