• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

Sugarloaf first timer

Skimaine

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
636
Points
0
Location
Maine
Plenty of good advice already shared by many. Sugarloaf is skiing really well right now and they will get another shot of snow Wednesday into Thursday. Everything except the backside will be in play. Unlikely you can get tickets for the cat rides as they sell-out very quickly. As other have noted, get out of the base and stay high. Timberline is the most wind prone lift, so if it is open and running do not wait. Get up there and ski the front face. Great views on a clear day. I would also consider lunch at the restaurant at Bullwinkle's (mid-mountain lodge). The food is excellent. Avoid the lunch hour as the wait can be long. The Widowmaker is not great for lunch, but is excellent for après when they have band. Good fun and convenient.
 

rocks860

Active member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
1,085
Points
38
Location
Connecticut
Thanks for all the suggestions, appreciate it. Is brackett basin mostly steeper tighther glades Ir is there more mellow stuff? I’m not super confident in my tree skiing ability


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

skiMEbike

New member
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Messages
346
Points
0
Location
Maine
Thanks for all the suggestions, appreciate it. Is brackett basin mostly steeper tighther glades Ir is there more mellow stuff? I’m not super confident in my tree skiing ability

The worst part of Bracket is probably the entrance/traverse in especially if you are attempting to get further away from the main trails. The steepest glades would be all your glades off Spillway Xcut. Overall, I'd say Bracket is probably one of the better spaced glades on the mountain with a decent pitch. While it is tough to classify a glade the size of Bracket, I think you will find it enjoyable. For the most part you drop in on a steeper section but the tree spacing is not super tight, and then you'll find yourself going in/out of sections of the glade that vary in tree density. The last section of the glade has kind of a "cliff band" (on the same line of the headwalls of flume, haulback, and ripsaw) which you can avoid for the most part. Another aspect of Bracket that makes it less intimidating is the limited number of narrow sections or choke points, so when the trees do get tight you have options. My wife is an advanced skier that can ski any trail on the mountain, however she doesn't like glades. Bracket is the only glade she will ski at Sugarloaf.
 

Not Sure

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
2,858
Points
63
Location
Lehigh County Pa.
Website
www.youtube.com

Yes the entrance is well worn. I would hang back and wait for traffic to clear and not attempt any turns till you get through the rollers. The video doesn't go in too far, close to the Haulback side .

Last years summit I hit Brackett 1st run and there was a lot of storm falls , some sizeable trees down . I haven't been there this year ,maybe they cleared some over this past Summer ?
 

rocks860

Active member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
1,085
Points
38
Location
Connecticut
Skied most of the day on Saturday and had a good time. Place had a very unique vibe, pretty different from most places I’ve been. There was a significant amount of ice up top but we made it to brackett basin and it was a lot of fun in there, although the entrance was pretty brutal


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

landmine3009

New member
Joined
Feb 23, 2020
Messages
2
Points
0
Location
connecticut
Heading to sugarloaf for the first time next weekend with some of the gf’s friends who live in Maine. Any suggestions or things in particular I should check out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Me and my family usually go every march, and it has the best ungroomed and gladed terrain in the east in my opinion. The frontside and backside snowfields are awesome if they have snow, tough terrain with some technical skiing required. They are different than any other skiing I've done on the east coast. Burnt mountain and Brackett basin are incredible tree skiing, they have cleared out the whole area of bushes and fallen trees and it is the some of best tree skiing you will find anywhere. For the mogul trails, misery whip and ripsaw are my 2 favorites. misery whip is narrow(old t-bar line) and bumps all the way down. Ripsaw is wider, but winds down the mountain, a thigh burner for sure. My next 2 favorites are bubblecuffer and Winter's way. Both of them are pretty narrow and pretty windy and bumped up. stay on king pine and skyline lifts all day to avoid crowds and runouts and you will not hit lift lines. The timberline lift is only good for getting to the top, which is the only way to access the snowfields which are awesome. Overall it is my favorite mountain.
 
Top