Big Rock Maine 2-11-15

deadheadskier · Feb 11, 2015

I had heard from another forum member earlier in the season that Big Rock is a nice little hill. Then a couple of weeks ago I see Loafskier's Trip Report and my interest was further peaked. I actually had to cancel business in Boston this week and head to Northern Maine because of weather. How often does that happen? So, I decided to pack my skis. I got lucky and my afternoon appointment in Presque Isle was cancelled. So after I finished up my appointment in Fort Kent at 1PM, I made a beeline for Mars Hill.

It goes without saying, but Northern Maine is a big ass place. Mars Hill is a solid 150 miles North of Bangor and 75 miles South of Fort Kent. I covered all that plus a side stop in Millinocket. There's a whole lot of nothing up there, except for some amazing views when you get breaks in the giant paper company forests.

Mount Katahdin:

I pulled up to Big Rock shortly before 3. They operate from 3-8 on Wednesday and lift tickets are only $5!!

Booted up in the Lodge next to their quaint little Bar

View of the old school lodge from the Chair

Mountain faces completely West, which makes it a great place to ski in the afternoon with views probably 75 miles to the West all the way to Katahdin.

deadheadskier · Feb 11, 2015

The mountain essentially consists of about 5 wide boulevard trails, a couple not quite as wide and then several old school trails that are only a groomer's width wide. It's basically a combination of Mount Abram's pitch with Black NH's character of all the narrow trails.

Hooch would be one of those narrow trails. While it would be cool ungroomed, the cord here was butter

Steepest trail on the mountain is probably this old lift line. Not sure what I'd compare it to? Maybe like Misery Whip at Sugarloaf though twice as wide. About that pitch. Skied okay. The snow was skied in, dense and "styrofoamy" if that makes sense. A lot of work to release your skis in.

So, the best snow was on the perfectly groomed main trails and the trees while the sun held out. Here are some trees off of Hooch

I found one SWEET untracked line other than the deer that had been down it before me. Top of the boot level pow in this shot and other untracked areas of the trees.

Nice skiing the trees at Sunset

deadheadskier · Feb 11, 2015

Lots of soft chopped up pow on the sides of most trails

Ski area lights clicking on as the Sun sets

Last run I made was under the lights shortly after sunset.

I ducked in from the cold at this point and received an untimely work related call. I'm not much of a night skier, so it was a good time for me to call it a night given I had well over two hours to drive back to my hotel in Bangor and was pretty beat having put in over 300 miles on the road already. I got about 10 runs and got to see a fair amount of the place given it was an afternoon session with light limited after 4:30.

Overall, I loved the place. I may never ski there again. Like I said, it's 150 miles past Bangor. But, it's definitely a sweet little hill right there with Mt. Abram and Black NH as classic old school New England areas. I'm sure the locals are psyched to have it their backyard.

ALLSKIING · Feb 11, 2015

You cant go any more north east then this place! Nice report.

bdfreetuna · Feb 12, 2015

Nice one. Very informative

LoafSkier19 · Feb 12, 2015

Awesome! Glad you got the chance to ski there!

LoafSkier19 · Feb 12, 2015

And you can't beat the price of "Wicked Cheap Wednesdays". Believe it or not it actually used to be free up until last year!

Savemeasammy · Feb 12, 2015

Looks like a pretty cool little place.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

dlague · Feb 12, 2015

Great report with really cool pics! Big Rock is way out there and more than likely I may never get to it - but I do plan on hitting Mt Abram and Black of ME since they are at least more accessible.

deadheadskier · Feb 12, 2015

The only reason why I'd travel to this part of Maine in the winter time is for work again, so I may never ski it again. You never know though....

I really need to get myself to Black of Maine, Dartmouth and Middlebury. I'm guessing all of them are similar to Mount Abram, Black NH and Big Rock.

The six of them would actually make for a pretty cool season pass. The New England Classic Collection - Middlebury, Dartmouth, Black NH, Black ME, Mount Abram and Big Rock. If it were priced accordingly, it might work for skiing families interested in a less "resorty" skiing experience.

xwhaler · Feb 12, 2015

deadheadskier said:
The six of them would actually make for a pretty cool season pass. The New England Classic Collection - Middlebury, Dartmouth, Black NH, Black ME, Mount Abram and Big Rock. If it were priced accordingly, it might work for skiing families interested in a less "resorty" skiing experience.

The new Freedom pass I think sort of attempts to do this. $50 add on to any of the member season passes gets you skiing to the consortium.
If McIntrye was slightly bigger where I could hit it at night after work and GG was slightly closer where I could go there instead of Pats for a AM I'd give strong consideration to it. I have no use for Ski Ward but replace Whaleback with Ward and you may see me buy it.

http://www.granitegorge.com/rates/freedom-pass/

bvibert · Feb 12, 2015

Looks awesome!

wa-loaf · Feb 12, 2015

Uh, were you the only one out skiing? There's not a single other person in your pics. lol

deadheadskier · Feb 12, 2015

When I pulled up there were four cars in the lot. When I left, maybe 30-40 cars and a couple of busses.

Edd · Feb 12, 2015

Excellent report. Didn't know that place existed.

reefer · Feb 13, 2015

That's a good one!

billski · Feb 14, 2015

Way to go DH. You're absolutely right, you have to have a reason to go that far north. I can pick off most of the other ones in groupings, but this one is a loner. Regardless, this is an old-school keeper. Probably pretty cold most of the time too. Great photos; thanks!

ironhippy · Feb 16, 2015

there is some unmarked glades there you can hike to as well. If you follow the hill up to the upper most windmills, there a few trails that take you back to the ski area.

I've only been once, it's 2 hours from my house and I have to drive by my local hill to get there, I went last April after our local hill had closed for the year.

Scruffy · Feb 16, 2015

You get around dude! Traveling a lot for work can be a double edged sword, glad you're getting some on the happy edge.

Looks like a sweet little local hill.

bigbog · Feb 16, 2015

Hey...what a trip/drive DHS! I apologize for not having a smart/cell-phone, would've enjoyed meeting in Bangor. At some time I'll have one.
Nice pics/TR.. Yeah in all but the western mountains(state's alpine)...XC/BC and snowmobiling, I would guess, grabs almost as many people in the state for winter outdoor activities. Not difficult to imagine with all the woodland territory of mostly low lying terrain with rolling hills.
*Thanks for the added info ironhippy...

Big Rock Maine 2-11-15

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