bzrperfspec77
Member
Location: Sunday River, Maine
Dates: 1/24-1/26 2014
Conditions: Tons of Manmade/PP/Ice
This was my 2nd time to Sunday River. The last time was 2 years ago with epic conditions after an 8-10" storm during the night that made my buddies and I hiking up from the condo to the Barker lift where me made lap after lap on Top Gun and Right Stuff. Oh the memories... This time around it was totally different.
I wanted to do something for the groomsmen in my wedding party so instead of getting them ties or the things you put on your sleeves by your wrist while wearing a suit/tux, I decided to take them skiing! Now only 3 of them actually ski/ride on a semi-regular basis so I had a feeling it was going to be a sorta shit show... Either way, I wanted to do something for them while doing something I love (Yeah a little greedy).
I belong to a ski club and was able to secure this deal at ~$140 per person (tickets/condo). We had an early start from Western Mass but we decided to make a pit-stop in Windsor Vermont to have some lunch at Harpoon. Yum! After that we made frequent stops (piss breaks) and did not make our intended arrival time. Either way, we were able to get the guys that didn't normally ski acclimated to it and skied all night even though it was cold. They do a good job with the night skiing there and we all had a blast.
On Saturday we were up and at-em for the 8:00 lift opening after an awesome breakfast. It was a beautiful day in the 20's with a bit of clouds in the morning. Because the group was such a wide variety of skill set, we split up and explored the mountain. We mainly stayed away from White Cap/Locke Mountain and stuck to Barker/Spruce/Jordan Bowl. The greens were absolutely crowded so we avoided those like the plague and lapped trails like Risky Business/Rouge Angel/Excalibur. I didn't really pay attention to a lot of the names, we just kept going as long as we could until we met back up with the other group at the condo. Now let the fun begin!
As a stipulation to going on this trip (besides being in my wedding party) I made everyone buy costumes. (See picture below). We had some Venison Chili for lunch, a couple of first prize beers and made it back out onto the mountain at 1:30, this time in our costumes. It was so much fun (and really hard at the same time) skiing in the costumes. I was a little nervous at first to see what SR's employees reaction would be but everyone loved it. We had a ton of hooting and hollering from others, the lifties loved it, took a ton of pictures and even made Sunday River's Facebook page! We then split up again and I had to take Gumby's head off because I could not see going down the steeper trails. We stuck to the sides where the man-made was pushed off and avoided the icy centers. Normal protocol... The gingerbread man was almost eaten by a pack of learn to ski kiddos as well.
The best comment we got was from a guy who wanted our picture at about 3:45. He said he was in the bar at South Ridge and heard people talking about us and had to find us. He said we made a lot of peoples/kids day and everyone was laughing about it. That to me is what skiing is all about. Having fun.
We skiied til last chair in the afternoon and headed back to the condo and went out to a steakhouse on the road (can't remember the name but it was really good). Baxter IPA's were really tasty there (although they are normally). We then proceeded up to the matterhorn, partied in our costumes with the band and I (I mean Gumby) made it up on stage to sing a couple songs with the band (Pop Disaster). It was a blast and we were all bummed the night came to a close. Pop Disaster killed it.
Some of us woke up early and made some runs in the morning to get our moneys worth while the others slept off the previous nights festivities. It was pretty nice with the fresh snow (1-2 inches) where it was blown to the side of the trail but most of the time you couldn't even tell it snowed. After a couple hours, we packed up and headed home!
I like Sunday River, but if I'm driving that far to ski (Just under 5 hours), I will still pick the Loaf and from someone elses trip reports (Salsgang I believe) I would explore Saddleback as well. But when it comes down to it, its just a personal preference I guess. Sunday River still has a ton to offer and is a lot of fun to ski.
Dates: 1/24-1/26 2014
Conditions: Tons of Manmade/PP/Ice
This was my 2nd time to Sunday River. The last time was 2 years ago with epic conditions after an 8-10" storm during the night that made my buddies and I hiking up from the condo to the Barker lift where me made lap after lap on Top Gun and Right Stuff. Oh the memories... This time around it was totally different.
I wanted to do something for the groomsmen in my wedding party so instead of getting them ties or the things you put on your sleeves by your wrist while wearing a suit/tux, I decided to take them skiing! Now only 3 of them actually ski/ride on a semi-regular basis so I had a feeling it was going to be a sorta shit show... Either way, I wanted to do something for them while doing something I love (Yeah a little greedy).
I belong to a ski club and was able to secure this deal at ~$140 per person (tickets/condo). We had an early start from Western Mass but we decided to make a pit-stop in Windsor Vermont to have some lunch at Harpoon. Yum! After that we made frequent stops (piss breaks) and did not make our intended arrival time. Either way, we were able to get the guys that didn't normally ski acclimated to it and skied all night even though it was cold. They do a good job with the night skiing there and we all had a blast.
On Saturday we were up and at-em for the 8:00 lift opening after an awesome breakfast. It was a beautiful day in the 20's with a bit of clouds in the morning. Because the group was such a wide variety of skill set, we split up and explored the mountain. We mainly stayed away from White Cap/Locke Mountain and stuck to Barker/Spruce/Jordan Bowl. The greens were absolutely crowded so we avoided those like the plague and lapped trails like Risky Business/Rouge Angel/Excalibur. I didn't really pay attention to a lot of the names, we just kept going as long as we could until we met back up with the other group at the condo. Now let the fun begin!
As a stipulation to going on this trip (besides being in my wedding party) I made everyone buy costumes. (See picture below). We had some Venison Chili for lunch, a couple of first prize beers and made it back out onto the mountain at 1:30, this time in our costumes. It was so much fun (and really hard at the same time) skiing in the costumes. I was a little nervous at first to see what SR's employees reaction would be but everyone loved it. We had a ton of hooting and hollering from others, the lifties loved it, took a ton of pictures and even made Sunday River's Facebook page! We then split up again and I had to take Gumby's head off because I could not see going down the steeper trails. We stuck to the sides where the man-made was pushed off and avoided the icy centers. Normal protocol... The gingerbread man was almost eaten by a pack of learn to ski kiddos as well.
The best comment we got was from a guy who wanted our picture at about 3:45. He said he was in the bar at South Ridge and heard people talking about us and had to find us. He said we made a lot of peoples/kids day and everyone was laughing about it. That to me is what skiing is all about. Having fun.
We skiied til last chair in the afternoon and headed back to the condo and went out to a steakhouse on the road (can't remember the name but it was really good). Baxter IPA's were really tasty there (although they are normally). We then proceeded up to the matterhorn, partied in our costumes with the band and I (I mean Gumby) made it up on stage to sing a couple songs with the band (Pop Disaster). It was a blast and we were all bummed the night came to a close. Pop Disaster killed it.
Some of us woke up early and made some runs in the morning to get our moneys worth while the others slept off the previous nights festivities. It was pretty nice with the fresh snow (1-2 inches) where it was blown to the side of the trail but most of the time you couldn't even tell it snowed. After a couple hours, we packed up and headed home!
I like Sunday River, but if I'm driving that far to ski (Just under 5 hours), I will still pick the Loaf and from someone elses trip reports (Salsgang I believe) I would explore Saddleback as well. But when it comes down to it, its just a personal preference I guess. Sunday River still has a ton to offer and is a lot of fun to ski.
