Sunday River Closing Day - 4/21/2013

[snowmonster]

Date(s) Skied: 4/21/2013

Resort or Ski Area: Sunday River, Newry, ME

Conditions: Spring like; Temps in the 40s in the afternoon but chilly in the AM

Trip Report: It was Ski Mainia, the last day of the season and, true to tradition, Sunday River offered free skiing. I had been to other closing days before, but this was absolutely jam-packed anc crowded. I have never, ever waited in line at the River for more than 5 minutes but the 15 minute lift lines were ridiculous. The Barker chair was the only one running and the lines there stretched out onto the Locke chair! We avereaged about 2 to 3 runs an hour!

Lots of snow to be skied. While the upper portions of T2 and Right Stuff were pretty slick and solid in the morning, the sun's warmth (when it got warm after lunch) yielded soft corn in mid-mountain. We skied out to the lower portion of Risky Business on Spruce and that was soft corn. People were hiking to the top of Spruce to make some good runs from up top. Being bandits, we ducked the rope in several places to ski higher up Spruce and several other closed runs on the western side of the mountain. North Peak looks toast but Spruce and Barker still have really good snow. The pipe and all the jumps were in mid-winter form. It was impressive to see so much snow. SR could have gone on for another week. Alas, it was the last day for lift-served there.

I'm thinking of hiking for turns there this week. Who's in?

Longest lines at SR evah!


Risky Business


Looking up an untouched American Express


Barker at the end of the day -- see the snow on the jumps!


Last runs on Lower Sunday Punch

 

[Nick]

Looks awesome! I wonder why they shut down SR earlier but push on teh Loaf so hard. Is the Loaf in much better geography for a longer season? They posted something about June today on their FB page.

 

[Terry]

Snowmonster you outlaw. I can't believe that you would duck ropes. Don't you know they are there for a reason?

 

[mlkrgr]

Holy moly on the lift lines! Did see it worse during Sunday of Christmas week when even North Peak was at a 10 minute line but White Cap, Jordan along with Aurora were on hold for much of the day. Gotta hate it when not enough lifts are open for the people that come. Was that way for Waterville's St. Patty's Day special which would have been manageable if all the lifts were open that day (Northside and World Cup were closed that day).

 

[Conrad]

Interesting seeing what Ski Mania was like.

 

[MadPatSki]

Snowmonster you outlaw. I can't believe that you would duck ropes. Don't you know they are there for a reason?

Weren't you afraid they were going to pull your pass?

 

[Conrad]

Weren't you afraid they were going to pull your pass?

He picked up a free lift ticket so they could take that instead of his season pass! :smile:

 

[MadPatSki]

He picked up a free lift ticket so they could take that instead of his season pass! :smile:

Probably 2-3 free lift tickets , just in case.

 

[Conrad]

Looks awesome! I wonder why they shut down SR earlier but push on teh Loaf so hard. Is the Loaf in much better geography for a longer season? They posted something about June today on their FB page.

I think Boyne has decided that they want to keep one of their mountains open late in order to please season passholders. Sugarloaf probably gets the nod because you can reach almost the entire mountain with just two lifts running, while the quality of skiing at Sunday River declines significantly as the lifts start shutting down. Obviously Sunday River can't be expected to run all their lifts if there aren't a whole lot of people.

 

[Riverskier]

I think Boyne has decided that they want to keep one of their mountains open late in order to please season passholders. Sugarloaf probably gets the nod because you can reach almost the entire mountain with just two lifts running, while the quality of skiing at Sunday River declines significantly as the lifts start shutting down. Obviously Sunday River can't be expected to run all their lifts if there aren't a whole lot of people.

Agree on all points. I will add that I think geography and elevation play a big role as well. Sugarloaf is significantly further north, significantly higher elevation, and has what is probably the best natural snow preservation in New England. That and your point about access to most of the mountain from only a couple of lifts make it the natural choice. Sunday River early season and Sugarloaf late season- no need to compete with yourself for a limited market.

 

[snowmonster]

Looks awesome! I wonder why they shut down SR earlier but push on teh Loaf so hard. Is the Loaf in much better geography for a longer season? They posted something about June today on their FB page.

I think Boyne has decided that they want to keep one of their mountains open late in order to please season passholders. Sugarloaf probably gets the nod because you can reach almost the entire mountain with just two lifts running, while the quality of skiing at Sunday River declines significantly as the lifts start shutting down. Obviously Sunday River can't be expected to run all their lifts if there aren't a whole lot of people.

The Loaf is farther north, colder and therefore able to hold snow longer. It's ideal as a late season ski resort. Sunday River is the early season because of the ideal lift set-up on Locke Mountain that allows them to open T2 after 24 hours of snowmaking. But, man, with the amount of snow at the River now, they can probably keep that place going until this weekend. There's more snow in there than in December.

Snowmonster you outlaw. I can't believe that you would duck ropes. Don't you know they are there for a reason?

Ha! You should have seen the ruffians I was with!

Weren't you afraid they were going to pull your pass?

I came close once to having my pass ripped off at the River. Happy to say it's never happened. Remember the eleventh commandment: DON'T GET CAUGHT.

He picked up a free lift ticket so they could take that instead of his season pass! :smile:

Probably 2-3 free lift tickets , just in case.

I picked up several free tickets as a souvenir.=)

 

[Conrad]

I will add that I think geography and elevation play a big role as well. Sugarloaf is significantly further north, significantly higher elevation, and has what is probably the best natural snow preservation in New England.

That is definitely something to think about, but I think it is less important than other factors. Of course Sugarloaf gets colder weather (probably at least 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit colder), but I think the lower slopes are wider and more exposed to sunlight. The less slanted lower slopes really bathe in sunlight. However, the Barker area is well protected from sunlight and has some narrower trails. And then when it does flatten out, Sunday River just uses the terrain park snow to make up for the extra sunlight. Plus Sunday River makes more snow in general so I think Sunday River could almost just as easily stay open until May as Sugarloaf. But other factors make this less preferable.

 

[mlkrgr]

But Sunday River does 80% more skier visits than Sugarloaf. My feeling is that if Sunday River stayed open instead of Sugarloaf, Boyne can capture more skiers late season. For the day skier now from Boston, as SR is now closed, it's just as well to go to K or Jay. SL still up at 120 trails but why go to Brackett or ski the Snowfields when they don't have any lift service to the Snowfields and you have to traverse quite a bit for Brackett. But I still guess it's a matter of that they can keep SL running w/ just a few lifts.

 

[bigbog]

Lots of skinning-up goin' on...snowmonster!...y/n?
SR does pretty good...its grooming/mtn team is the best, imho....
Once things warm up in urban, mid-New England....a good amount of younger skiers begin doing other things....
$.01..

 

[snowmonster]

But Sunday River does 80% more skier visits than Sugarloaf. My feeling is that if Sunday River stayed open instead of Sugarloaf, Boyne can capture more skiers late season. For the day skier now from Boston, as SR is now closed, it's just as well to go to K or Jay. SL still up at 120 trails but why go to Brackett or ski the Snowfields when they don't have any lift service to the Snowfields and you have to traverse quite a bit for Brackett. But I still guess it's a matter of that they can keep SL running w/ just a few lifts.

Even if the snowfields and Brackett are not skiable, there's still plenty of great terrain still left to ski at the Loaf. Besides. That's what skins are for.

Lots of skinning-up goin' on...snowmonster!...y/n?
SR does pretty good...its grooming/mtn team is the best, imho....
Once things warm up in urban, mid-New England....a good amount of younger skiers begin doing other things....
$.01..

Taking the day off tomorrow. I'm torn between skinning SR or driving the extra hour to the Loaf.

 

[skiahman]

Taking the day off tomorrow. I'm torn between skinning SR or driving the extra hour to the Loaf.

This is a no brainer.