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Sugarloaf West Mtn Expansion and HSQ officially a go

bigbob

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Lift blog 2025 installs updated to include timberline express. Question is base terminal location?

View attachment 62777

I would assume that it would be in a location so you could get off the Bucksaw express and get on to the new lift without an uphill slog. I rode the Bucksaw, and it looks like a brand-new lift and is a long lift line. Terrain is very mellow.
 

LoafSkier19

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I would assume that it would be in a location so you could get off the Bucksaw express and get on to the new lift without an uphill slog. I rode the Bucksaw, and it looks like a brand-new lift and is a long lift line. Terrain is very mellow.
Most seem to think new Timberline base will be down where the new Chipper trail makes the 90 degree turn to return to West Mtn trail. Otherwise that trail doesn’t make much sense considering how it was cut. While not a perfect straight line up the current lifeline it would be the less destructive route. Starting it at Bullwinkles while convenient would be a mistake IMO as it would have an awkward path cutting up Tote Road.
 

bigbob

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Hopefully wherever it ends up it is in the most windproof spot. This is the only way to the top and the current set up is closed a lot. The very top is the most exposed area, maybe some wind fencing could buy more open days.
 

Newpylong

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Most seem to think new Timberline base will be down where the new Chipper trail makes the 90 degree turn to return to West Mtn trail. Otherwise that trail doesn’t make much sense considering how it was cut. While not a perfect straight line up the current lifeline it would be the less destructive route. Starting it at Bullwinkles while convenient would be a mistake IMO as it would have an awkward path cutting up Tote Road.
For sure, a new lift line direct from Bullwinkles would be an awful new line as far as breaking up those trails. It has to start south of it in the vicinity of where you mention.
 

deadheadskier

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Ethan told me years ago that SL owns land all the way down to the river valley skiers left of Timberline / West Mountain. I wonder if there's an opportunity to develop new trails down into that valley off the backside of Bullwinkle's and have the new lift go from down there up to Timberline summit. That would be cool. Probably not because if there were such plans, I suspect there would be permitting submissions available online.
 

kbroderick

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Ethan told me years ago that SL owns land all the way down to the river valley skiers left of Timberline / West Mountain. I wonder if there's an opportunity to develop new trails down into that valley off the backside of Bullwinkle's and have the new lift go from down there up to Timberline summit. That would be cool. Probably not because if there were such plans, I suspect there would be permitting submissions available online.
Maine parcel viewer does indicate CNL holding quite a bit of land. The next parcel west (including Caribou Pond Rd) is a Plum Creek property.

Screenshot 2024-04-30 at 10.19.00 AM.png
Screenshot 2024-04-30 at 10.13.58 AM.png
 

deadheadskier

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Is everything inside the blue lines CNL property? The area he was talking about is all that land to skiers left of Timberline trail and down into the valley, which is within those blue lines. Maybe they don't own it , but have development rights in that area?

Only relaying what Ethan told me at on of our summits up there. He was director of marketing at the time.
 

ceo

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For another forum, I mapped out a few possibilities for a new Timberline alignment, here. Green is an alignment starting at the bend in Chipper, which lines up precisely with the current alignment. Unfortunately Google Maps doesn't have the new trails in its satellite view, so I had to guesstimate the location based on the terrain data. An option here is for the lift to start further up near Bullwinkle's; the highlighted location is about 1000' away and gently downhill.
Blue is an extension of the former Timberline T-bar alignment, now Cinder Hoe. This ends up about 650' from Bullwinkle's and unfortunately eats a short stretch of Binder (my favorite trail at SL) but otherwise doesn't mess with the trail footprint much.
Red is the best alignment I could come up with that starts right at Bullwinkle's. It uses some of the little side bits on skier's left of Tote Road, which is too wide anyway.
Unfortunately the latter two alignments end up somewhat downhill of the start of Narrow Gauge Extension etc, although that could potentially be rectified by putting the summit terminal further up towards the true summit (wind is obviously a factor here).
I honestly don't think the Chipper option is a great plan, because it makes it a real pain to get to the summit from the top of Skyline or the Superquad and is an unnecessarily long lift ride from Bullwinkle's.
 

kbroderick

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Is everything inside the blue lines CNL property? The area he was talking about is all that land to skiers left of Timberline trail and down into the valley, which is within those blue lines. Maybe they don't own it , but have development rights in that area?

Only relaying what Ethan told me at on of our summits up there. He was director of marketing at the time.
Yes, everything in the blue lines is CNL Property (or at least it was at the time the state put the data into their database). If you want to poke around, the web app is at https://hub.arcgis.com/apps/maine::maine-geolibrary-parcel-viewer-application/explore

I think for current ownership info you'd need to go from the tax maps and grand list at the town website.
 

deadheadskier

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Gotcha. I misread your first post and thought you were saying they didn't own the land mentioned by Ethan. Sorry about that
 

Newpylong

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Nice work folks. A concern with the Chipper option is only one trail to the base of the lift... can you get there from
the top of Bucksaw?
 

bigbob

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Nice work folks. A concern with the Chipper option is only one trail to the base of the lift... can you get there from
the top of Bucksaw?
I wasn't paying attention to trail names, but if it is the trail that goes through the blasted ledge, yes you can get to it from the top of the Bucksaw lift.

I think this is a photo of the ledge cut. Found on Facebook, so you may have to be on Facebook to view.

 
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deadheadskier

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It's kind of interesting the way they blasted that cut through and swung that trail out like that, maybe the turn on Chipper is what they had in mind for a lengthened and realigned Timberline chair. It certainly lines up.

Only issue with starting the lift down that low is during summer, it would be a bit of a walk from Bucksaw if the intention is to ever do something with the summit building for off season events.

CEO makes a good point that that location also would be a bit of a slog to get to when coming from the Superquad or Skyline
 

ceo

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The trail that goes through that deep cut is Horseshoe, which used to be a really annoying uphill pole to get to. (I had no idea how much uphill until I saw the cut.) Chipper is to skier's left of there, but you can easily get to it from Bucksaw.
 
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