Sugarloaf first visit

[urungus]

Stoked to be heading to Sugarloaf later this week for first time and seeking recommendations / comments on below plan

1) Snowfields (front side) - currently 4 trails open, am I correct that White Nitro Ext and Bubblecuffer Ext are significantly steeper than Powder Keg and Gondola Line Ext ?

2) Brackett Basin - official trail map pretty unhelpful. I see from today’s trail report that Can’t Dog 1/2, Birler 1/2, Edgar 1/2 are all open. I know you have to keep traversing from the top of King Pine to get to each subsequent glade but how do you tell when you have reached say Birler 2 ? Are there any signs ? Also is it worth taking the Rough Cut glade below King Pine, given what looks like an unpleasant slog at the bottom through the condo area to the base of Whiffletree ?

3) I like wide open glades and from satellite view Blade Glade, Gondi Glade, Stump Shot, Kickback, Swedish Fiddle Glade, Broccoli Garden seem like good choices ? Any of them have tricky/hard to find openings (Sugarloaf doesn’t mark glade openings with signs, correct?) Any other can’t miss glades ?

4) Take some classic trails like Tote Road, Winters Way, Timberline, Misery Whip, Double Bitter, Narrow Gauge

5) On Mountain dining at Bullwinkles & Widowmaker bar

6) Apres
- soak in indoor hot tub at the Sports & Fitness Center with $18 (peak day) Activity Pass
- Bag Burger at Bag & Kettle

 

[Zand]

Stoked to be heading to Sugarloaf later this week for first time and seeking recommendations / comments on below plan

1) Snowfields (front side) - currently 4 trails open, am I correct that White Nitro Ext and Bubblecuffer Ext are significantly steeper than Powder Keg and Gondola Line Ext ?

2) Brackett Basin - official trail map pretty unhelpful. I see from today’s trail report that Can’t Dog 1/2, Birler 1/2, Edgar 1/2 are all open. I know you have to keep traversing from the top of King Pine to get to each subsequent glade but how do you tell when you have reached say Birler 2 ? Are there any signs ? Also is it worth taking the Rough Cut glade below King Pine, given what looks like an unpleasant slog at the bottom through the condo area to the base of Whiffletree ?

3) I like wide open glades and from satellite view Blade Glade, Gondi Glade, Stump Shot, Kickback, Swedish Fiddle Glade, Broccoli Garden seem like good choices ? Any of them have tricky/hard to find openings (Sugarloaf doesn’t mark glade openings with signs, correct?) Any other can’t miss glades ?

4) Take some classic trails like Tote Road, Winters Way, Timberline, Misery Whip, Double Bitter, Narrow Gauge

5) On Mountain dining at Bullwinkles & Widowmaker bar

6) Apres
- soak in indoor hot tub at the Sports & Fitness Center with $18 (peak day) Activity Pass
- Bag Burger at Bag & Kettle

1. They're mostly the same. Nitro and Gondy usually groomed, the others not. Can be very slick after big winds like today, be aware

2. The traverse to get further out into Brackett absolutely sucks. I don't recall seeing any signs in there, but chances are once you see that traverse you'll just want to drop down into Cant Dog anyway.

3. Skiable woods between almost every trail. Dropline and Pipe Cleaner are more mellow off Timberline. Kickback, Branding Ax, etc are decently open. Not super open. If the snow is good you should be fine. I don't recall any of them being marked, but they're usually pretty obvious. Broccoli Garden is a lot of fun and low angle.

4. Bubblecuffer, Winters Way, and a couple others are very much like Castlerock. Ripsaw and Haulback are fun off of King Pine. I think Misery Whip usually is rock solid bumps but some people love it. Sheer Boom is a fun liftline. And if you like cruisers, hard to beat Tote Road and Narrow Gauge. Timberline is one of the best green trails in the east.

5. Bullwinkles is a cool spot. More practical in the spring but fine to hit midwinter also. You can hit the Bag for lunch as well. My absolute favorite ski area restaurant ever. Widowmaker was remodeled a few years ago and I'm not a fan at all.

6. Shipyard Pub is also good. And I've never been but always hear good things about The Rack near the bottom of the access road.

 

[deadheadskier]

Park at Bucksaw if arriving to ski by car. Arrive early and there's great ski in, ski out parking

 

[Zand]

Park at Bucksaw if arriving to ski by car. Arrive early and there's great ski in, ski out parking

I haven't been there since Bucksaw went in (and my first time there was after the old Bucksaw was removed) so that would all be new to me! But I'm glad that they now have convenient parking.

 

[deadheadskier]

I haven't been there since Bucksaw went in (and my first time there was after the old Bucksaw was removed) so that would all be new to me! But I'm glad that they now have convenient parking.

It's amazing. You can park right against the snow and ski down to the lift. The whole West Mountain revamp is pretty incredible in general. Super long, wonderful learning terrain.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Ooo i didn’t realize there was good parking

Re brackett, to ski anything beyond can’t dog there is an obvious traverse and it becomes a skis off short uphill to get to the further drops, which are all marked

 

[LoafSkier19]

1. Nitro Ext. is the steepest of the 4, make sure you do this trail before 10 or 10:30. I find Gondi Ext. holds snow much better and can be skied all day. Powder Keg and Bubblecuffer Ext. are my favorite on the front side. They tend to grab all the snow blown off Nitro and Gondi respectively. They probably are as steep but never feel as steep as Nitro.

2. Bracket Basin entrance can be a real shit show. My tip: there will be a handful different “lanes” you can traverse over in Can’t Dog 1/2 when you enter. Stay further downhill and you’ll still make it across. Once past the Can’t Dog 2 sign there will be two more unmarked chutes on this traverse. Both will lead to the Golden Road. Everyone goes for the furthest chute so it will be more tracked out. You’ll know you are on the golden road as it will be a goat path that widens to a wide boot pack trail.

All of the Birler, Edger, Sweepers will be marked on this path and all start as individual chutes that quickly become one wide open area. These upper chutes tend to be windswept and can be bypassed by taking Can’t Dog 2 a quarter of the way down where you will see tracks skiing well to the right. Skip the Birler 1 chute, you only get about 5 turns before your skiing something you can access from Can’t Dog. IMO, the best run off Golden Road is hiking to the last chute (Sweeper2), ski into it, and keep your eyes peeled for the Slashfire entrance on your right and take that. All of these glades will take you back to King Pine. They do a pretty good job marking that out in the glades.

Rough Cut is not really worth the trouble unless you’re staying down in the Snowbrook area.

3. Swedish Fiddle is my favorite glade on the mountain, it encompasses the entire woods between Skidder and Hayburner. Then Pipe Cleaner (Barber Chair on map) which is tighter with a mellow pitch. You’ll find the entry to this glade by following the boundary rope on Timberline trail, eventually it goes in the woods to the glade. Broccoli and Stubs Glade are probably the best warmup ones and can be done together. Stay as far left in Stubs for better snow. Off Spillway Xcut I think Stumpshot is the most wide open.

4. Everyone else has nailed it as far as can’t miss trails. The entire Bubblecuffer run starting at the summit will beat you up by the end. Another fun route,
Powder Keg Ext>CantHook>Wedge>
RookieRiverExt(unmarked but obvious) >RookieRiver>LwrRookieRiver.

5. The Bag is my #1 choice on mountain. Stay away from Brickyard Hollow on mountain. Some weird stuff going on there operationally this week.

6. Off mountain Tufulio’s is great in the valley. Can’t go wrong with the food at The Rack but it will be busy.

 

[LoafSkier19]

Parking: if you park in Lot C & D you have access to The Birches slope. Lots E, F, G have access to bucksaw. Bucksaw has a ticket hub at the bottom for online purchases. So no need to take a shuttle to the base from any parking lot anymore

 

[LuckyStrike]

Has anyone ever used the Bracket Cat service? I've never been able to buy a ticket. Also, I enjoy taking Timberline to Chipper for some of the best view of the valley.

 

[oldfartrider]

Rolling Fatties for great burritos in Kingfield

 

[BodeMiller1]

I thought I knew what step and cold was from skiing Cannon.

Sugar Loaf U.S.A. (they dropped the U.S.A. ). Fu#*ded me up.

Those kids can hunt. Never skied faster than the Sunday they opened up pretty much everything. Lots of Cannon folks there.
Birds of a feather flock together.

 

[LoafSkier19]

Has anyone ever used the Bracket Cat service? I've never been able to buy a ticket. Also, I enjoy taking Timberline to Chipper for some of the best view of the valley.

I did a few times the first season it ran.
It was a pretty smooth operation when it did run. You got 2 runs per 1 hour session. I would always take the cheaper 2:30 session to end the ski day and take lower Brackett back to the ski house I would stay at.

Seems like it has only run a handful of times since that initial season. For the most part it’s been an uphiller’s paradise when the snow is good. Just wish they didn’t make the tree spacing so wide over there. It wasn’t necessary for the limited traffic it gets

 

[ceo]

All good advice. I'll add that the route to the Brackett glades beyond Cant Dog 1/2 is kind of hard to find; basically stay as far right as you can after the end of the traverse and there's a narrow trail that winds through the woods a bit before hitting the Golden Road. At that point you can either slog your way up Golden Road (it's a non-trivial uphill hike) or go straight into (I think) Birler 1 or 2, cut far right and end up in more or less the same expanse of open, low-angle glade.

 

[thetrailboss]

1. Nitro Ext. is the steepest of the 4, make sure you do this trail before 10 or 10:30. I find Gondi Ext. holds snow much better and can be skied all day. Powder Keg and Bubblecuffer Ext. are my favorite on the front side. They tend to grab all the snow blown off Nitro and Gondi respectively. They probably are as steep but never feel as steep as Nitro.

2. Bracket Basin entrance can be a real shit show. My tip: there will be a handful different “lanes” you can traverse over in Can’t Dog 1/2 when you enter. Stay further downhill and you’ll still make it across. Once past the Can’t Dog 2 sign there will be two more unmarked chutes on this traverse. Both will lead to the Golden Road. Everyone goes for the furthest chute so it will be more tracked out. You’ll know you are on the golden road as it will be a goat path that widens to a wide boot pack trail.

All of the Birler, Edger, Sweepers will be marked on this path and all start as individual chutes that quickly become one wide open area. These upper chutes tend to be windswept and can be bypassed by taking Can’t Dog 2 a quarter of the way down where you will see tracks skiing well to the right. Skip the Birler 1 chute, you only get about 5 turns before your skiing something you can access from Can’t Dog. IMO, the best run off Golden Road is hiking to the last chute (Sweeper2), ski into it, and keep your eyes peeled for the Slashfire entrance on your right and take that. All of these glades will take you back to King Pine. They do a pretty good job marking that out in the glades.

Rough Cut is not really worth the trouble unless you’re staying down in the Snowbrook area.

3. Swedish Fiddle is my favorite glade on the mountain, it encompasses the entire woods between Skidder and Hayburner. Then Pipe Cleaner (Barber Chair on map) which is tighter with a mellow pitch. You’ll find the entry to this glade by following the boundary rope on Timberline trail, eventually it goes in the woods to the glade. Broccoli and Stubs Glade are probably the best warmup ones and can be done together. Stay as far left in Stubs for better snow. Off Spillway Xcut I think Stumpshot is the most wide open.

4. Everyone else has nailed it as far as can’t miss trails. The entire Bubblecuffer run starting at the summit will beat you up by the end. Another fun route,
Powder Keg Ext>CantHook>Wedge>
RookieRiverExt(unmarked but obvious) >RookieRiver>LwrRookieRiver.

5. The Bag is my #1 choice on mountain. Stay away from Brickyard Hollow on mountain. Some weird stuff going on there operationally this week.

6. Off mountain Tufulio’s is great in the valley. Can’t go wrong with the food at The Rack but it will be busy.

I was also going to suggest the Bag.

 

[thebigo]

parking and access were the best part of the west mountain project. the ability to park at bucksaw and access the summit via two high speed lifts in a couple years is going to be game changing.

 

[machski]

parking and access were the best part of the west mountain project. the ability to park at bucksaw and access the summit via two high speed lifts in a couple years is going to be game changing.

A couple? You mean next season.

 

[deadheadskier]

I would like to see some sorta surface lift going from down low in Bracket connecting to the bottom of King Pine. The traverse back over sucks. Makes for short vertical laps over there. I don't mind hiking up Burnt a bit, it's the bottom traverse over that sucks.

 

[CrazyFingers]

Bag Burger

 

[Bumpsis]

Regarding skiing the glades below King Pine base, meaning the Rough Cut and the Red Horse glade - yes, they are definitely worth the walk out at the bottom but only if there has been some fresh snowfall. It's usually not tracked out due to the effort it takes to walk out of there. Just connect to the wide trail at the bottom of Red Horse glade and follow it until you see xc tracks intersection. It's a short walk out through the condos and you'll end up at the Whiffletree lift.
There is an earlier exit from the Rough Cut but if I recall correctly it may involve crossing a creek. It's worth exploring if you're getting bored on the main trails.

 

[thebigo]

A couple? You mean next season.

Thought i read somewhere Timberline express was moved to a 2026 project but you are correct, liftblog still shows 2025.

Pure speculation: SL is the largest boyne property without a d line. SQ line would be perfect for an SL version of barker six. SQ could be rehabbed and moved to KP line, dropping down into bracket. Any salvageable parts on KP could be used to upgrade double runner. Result would be a modern lift fleet good for foreseeable future with significantly improved movement around the mountain.