Black Mountain of Maine -

[salsgang]

Black Mountain of Maine - February 8th, 2014

Date(s) Skied:February 8th 2014


Resort or Ski Area:Black Mountain of Maine


Conditions: Powder / Packed Powder


Trip Report: A lot of you AZ'ers are enjoying Maine and Sugarloaf this weekend. I hope you are enjoying this great state and are having an awesome time at the Loaf! One of these years I will join y'all.

The boys and a family friend decided to hit Black this weekend. We like to hit this ski area after a mid-week snow storm due to the fact they are open Fri-Sun non-vacation weeks so we typically can find untracked snow. Plus the "Angry Beavers of Black Mountain" have done a lot of work to open up glades at Black.... We were not disappointed! We found untracked all over the mountain from the Wednesday 12" of fluff.

Overall a super fun day. The glade work has turned this mountain from a fun mellow blue cruiser mountain to a place where experts can be challenged as well. The gladed terrain is an awesome addition to the ski variety and challenge of Black Mountain. Good crowd on the hill but minimal lift lines. They had the T-Bar running for a while too. Hopefully they made some coin today as this is largely a volunteer operation run as a non-profit supported by the community.

A couple of pics and a GoPro video from Black on my blog. Highly recommend you check out the video as it will give you some good perspectives on more of the advanced / gladed terrain at Black.

 

[xwhaler]

Awesome report. 1st time to Black on Friday. What an incredible place when the snow is good. Glades are cut by true skiers who understand flow and spacing. Glades that can challenge any skier. Loved running through the beaver glades then hitting the wind loaded shin to knee deep drifts on Webb and dead Cambridge.
Beautiful lodge and how can u beat $15 tickets? Will definitely be back....most likely next YR on the way up to the summit. Friday was a special day to ski Black for the 1st time.

Sent from my VS980 4G using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[MadMadWorld]

Awesome report. 1st time to Black on Friday. What an incredible place when the snow is good. Glades are cut by true skiers who understand flow and spacing. Glades that can challenge any skier. Loved running through the beaver glades then hitting the wind loaded shin to knee deep drifts on Webb and dead Cambridge.
Beautiful lodge and how can u beat $15 tickets? Will definitely be back....most likely next YR on the way up to the summit. Friday was a special day to ski Black for the 1st time.

Sent from my VS980 4G using AlpineZone mobile app

Hmm sounds like my kind of mountain. Might have to check it out myself.

 

[xwhaler]

Hmm sounds like my kind of mountain. Might have to check it out myself.

You absolutely should---you would really like the glades....I could see it getting boring rather quickly if the glades were not available though so try and hit it when everything is game on.
There is a ton of potential off multiple ridges to add all sorts of terrain up there. I encourage everyone to give Black a shot sometime.
The problem is that its so far from basically everywhere. A Black/Saddleback combo wknd probably makes the most sense. It's a solid 1:30 from Sugarloaf moving well.

 

[Savemeasammy]

I saw Saddleback on the way home from the summit, and I was actually surprised by how big it looks!

Black sounds interesting, as well. Probably similar to Whaleback in that you should hit it when there is plenty of natural on the ground to get the most out of it. I'm glad to hear you hit it on such a good day


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[MadMadWorld]

I saw Saddleback on the way home from the summit, and I was actually surprised by how big it looks!

Black sounds interesting, as well. Probably similar to Whaleback in that you should hit it when there is plenty of natural on the ground to get the most out of it. I'm glad to hear you hit it on such a good day


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Just about identical to Sugarloaf

 

[salsgang]

Yup - agree that it is best to hit Black when the snow is on especially now that you can get into the woods. This is a big year for Black - they need to have a solid first year under community ownership to make a go of it long-term. If you all can get over there this year I highly encourage it!

And Saddleback is a legit major mountain for New England. More of a low key vibe than other resorts, but terrain is major mountain caliber.