D.B. Cooper
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
It’s the long weekend and I am overdue to visit an elderly relative in Maine. Mrs. Cooper was on board with the idea of me leaving Essex county by 5 a.m. to get some runs in along the way. The question was where would this ski season encore happen?
I’ve been driving past Whaleback, N.H., a can’t miss hill off I-93 for damn near 40 years. A few runs, support a now community run mountain would be nice. Recent drives have taken me past the Middlebury Snow Bowl, but the season had been called for both, so no go.
Never having skied in Maine, the opportunity to ride an 8 passenger chairlift and ski a sizeable area drew me to Sunday River. After many stops to check that I was on the right road (often I wasn’t), I had about 4 hours to ski. I prefer to go hard and stop when my carcass tells me to stop.
South Ridge seems the most central part of the resort, with the other peaks spread out more left to right rather than front and back. From South Ridge, I took the short quad and then to Spruce Peak.
Spruce Peak triple – Lift 8
From there, I went right to the new-this-year Jordan 8. This is an engineering marvel. I took several pictures to show my relative how skiing has changed since she taught at Aspen around 1970. The chairs are wider than my outstretched arms and each 50” pole.
Jordan 8, with that many RFID lanes and a video board to the upper left of the ‘Welcome’ sign
Once the bar goes down on the chair, it can’t be raised until the top return station’s automatic system lifts it for you. Same with the bubble, if you opt to lower that also. Of the several conversations with locals, it seems Sunday River often has wind holds (as does Sugarloaf, I’m told). From that point of view, the bubble makes sense. I do think the novelty would wear off if there wasn’t a reason to have it.
Inside the building a conveyor belt takes you from the gate to a snowy spot for loading
About half the 10 major lifts were not running. This meant that the most interesting looking peak, White Cap, was not in play. Major bummer, given that the two cuts in the distance looked very inviting. Some of the uphillers must have had fun as there were tracks.
White Cap: no peak for you
Sunday River is now owned by Boyne. I had the great pleasure of speaking with an 80-year old gent who had been skiing there since ’81. When asked, he said he thought Boyne had done a reasonable job so far. Another skier, though, lamented as to why White Cap was not open. It had been the day before, when an icy storm had, from his friend/witness said there were six skiers on the mountain. Side note: the 80-year old had purchased some Nordica rear entry boots, and loved them. He showed how the one buckle could be fastened with the other foot. I didn’t know rear entry boots were re-introduced.
The trails themselves are not as challenging as Whiteface, at least not the ones that were open. I didn’t see too many glade trails. The ones I did see, however, had trees that were well spaced out and allowed for some good short radius turns without having to stop and think about one’s route. I would definitely drop into them when the snow was good.
Reminiscent of Gore, there is some traversing required, although not as much. From the top, two trails in particular, Upper Cut and Goat Path, looked a lot like Whiteface’s Empire.
Most of the crowd that day was on Barker Mountain, home of the racing crowd. Monday Mourning was excellent, especially from the top as it’s a little further out of the way. The Right Stuff held up all day without getting too sloppy.
Upper Cut
How does one wrap up a trip report and a season? How about with a pond that’s getting ready to be skimmed. I’m already looking forward to next winter.
Blue tarp for pond skimming, under the Chondola (combination of chair and gondola)
I’ve been driving past Whaleback, N.H., a can’t miss hill off I-93 for damn near 40 years. A few runs, support a now community run mountain would be nice. Recent drives have taken me past the Middlebury Snow Bowl, but the season had been called for both, so no go.
Never having skied in Maine, the opportunity to ride an 8 passenger chairlift and ski a sizeable area drew me to Sunday River. After many stops to check that I was on the right road (often I wasn’t), I had about 4 hours to ski. I prefer to go hard and stop when my carcass tells me to stop.
South Ridge seems the most central part of the resort, with the other peaks spread out more left to right rather than front and back. From South Ridge, I took the short quad and then to Spruce Peak.
Spruce Peak triple – Lift 8
From there, I went right to the new-this-year Jordan 8. This is an engineering marvel. I took several pictures to show my relative how skiing has changed since she taught at Aspen around 1970. The chairs are wider than my outstretched arms and each 50” pole.
Jordan 8, with that many RFID lanes and a video board to the upper left of the ‘Welcome’ sign
Once the bar goes down on the chair, it can’t be raised until the top return station’s automatic system lifts it for you. Same with the bubble, if you opt to lower that also. Of the several conversations with locals, it seems Sunday River often has wind holds (as does Sugarloaf, I’m told). From that point of view, the bubble makes sense. I do think the novelty would wear off if there wasn’t a reason to have it.
Inside the building a conveyor belt takes you from the gate to a snowy spot for loading
About half the 10 major lifts were not running. This meant that the most interesting looking peak, White Cap, was not in play. Major bummer, given that the two cuts in the distance looked very inviting. Some of the uphillers must have had fun as there were tracks.
White Cap: no peak for you
Sunday River is now owned by Boyne. I had the great pleasure of speaking with an 80-year old gent who had been skiing there since ’81. When asked, he said he thought Boyne had done a reasonable job so far. Another skier, though, lamented as to why White Cap was not open. It had been the day before, when an icy storm had, from his friend/witness said there were six skiers on the mountain. Side note: the 80-year old had purchased some Nordica rear entry boots, and loved them. He showed how the one buckle could be fastened with the other foot. I didn’t know rear entry boots were re-introduced.
The trails themselves are not as challenging as Whiteface, at least not the ones that were open. I didn’t see too many glade trails. The ones I did see, however, had trees that were well spaced out and allowed for some good short radius turns without having to stop and think about one’s route. I would definitely drop into them when the snow was good.
Reminiscent of Gore, there is some traversing required, although not as much. From the top, two trails in particular, Upper Cut and Goat Path, looked a lot like Whiteface’s Empire.
Most of the crowd that day was on Barker Mountain, home of the racing crowd. Monday Mourning was excellent, especially from the top as it’s a little further out of the way. The Right Stuff held up all day without getting too sloppy.
Upper Cut
How does one wrap up a trip report and a season? How about with a pond that’s getting ready to be skimmed. I’m already looking forward to next winter.
Blue tarp for pond skimming, under the Chondola (combination of chair and gondola)
