The Sugarloaf Expierience

When you think of the state of Maine, vivid images of nature immediately pop into your mind. If you are into nature and also love the freedom of the ski slopes, Sugarloaf Mountain will not disappoint. Sugarloaf is nestled in the quiet mountain town of Carabasset Valley. This town boasts numerous beautiful ski cottages and a prestigious high school for teens to achieve a prep school quality education, while being able to shred the mountain at their leisure. This mountain has terrain for everybody. It has super steep trails that will give an uncovered face gnarly wind burn, great bunny slopes for the kids, unbelievable glades, and multiple terrain parks that cater to all skill levels.

Sugarloaf Mountain Resort, referred to as the “Loaf” in the snow community, is the largest ski area east of the Rocky Mountains. Us Mainers are pretty proud to call Sugarloaf our home mountain. “Sugarloafers” or “Loafers” are their own breed of people; they are all incredibly nice and down to earth. Veteran Loafers rip down the mountain on their skis and enjoy cold brews with their friends at the base lodge bar after a day of riding. You can’t help but smile after riding for a day at the Loaf.  

I went up to the mountain for two days with my friends; unfortunately, I could not afford a season pass, which meant that I would have to pay a steep price for lift tickets. Just for one day of riding it costs $81 for adults, $67 for teenagers and $56 for children and senior citizens. Personally, I think ticket rates are a little too high. Thankfully, one of my friends I went up with was a snowboard instructor there. He managed to get me and his brother free lift tickets for both days of riding. When he approached the person who deals with giving out free tickets, he did not even care he was using four freebies on his friends. After we got our tickets, the employee, a veteran Loafer in his 50s, said, “Boys you better be buying this guy some beers for the weekend cause he hooked you guys up”. The customer service at the Loaf is pretty laid back.

The snowfields are the highest skiable terrain on the mountain and the Timberline chairlift takes you up to the top. When you are standing 4,237 feet high, you feel like you are above everything and everyone. The Timberline lift is also the only chair lift that services above tree line skiing on the East Coast. When you ride on the Timberline chair, the scenery is unbelievable. At the base of the mountain barely any trees have snow on their branches, as the lift climbs you can notice how white everything becomes. The trees have the appearance of being blown over and covered with ice, almost like Jack Frost came out to play.

From the top of the mountain you have access to some of the Loaf’s best trails. Tote Road is considered by many as one of the best. It is 3.5 miles long and it will be one of the fastest rides of your life. When I ride it, my snowboard tends to start shaking because I am going so fast, which is a huge adrenaline rush. All trails at mountain resorts use the same rating system - green circles are the easiest, blue squares are medium level, black diamonds are for experts, and double black diamonds can potentially kill you. Tote Road is only a blue square, as the trail starts to flatten at the bottom it turns into a green circle. This can get annoying at times, because there are always little kids and slow skiers on green circles. Most green circles have “family ski zones”. These zones are places where inexperienced skiers and riders can ride slowly and stop without disturbing the flow of the mountain. The Perfect Turn Ski School instructs in these areas, this program is great for young riders. The instructors are all knowledgeable and are very skilled riders.

Broccoli Garden is a collection of scenic glades that shoot off from the Whiffle Tree chairlift. When I rode over winter break, the glades were unbelievable. The entrance to the glades is very narrow and filled with moguls, which can be slightly intimidating. The snow was virtually untouched when we approached the entrance to the glade; there is nothing better than the feeling of cutting into fresh powder with your board edges. Throughout the course of the day, there were only about three other riders who went into the glades. We had a crew of over six people shredding through the trees. These glades have one of a kind natural features that experienced riders can bust tricks over. There was a tree that had fallen down that my friend managed to jib, which was incredible. There were also a few natural jumps that we all performed tricks over; I dialed in my 180’s over these natural powder jumps. By the end of the day, I can say with confidence that I shredded those glades.

The brand new Skyline chairlift starts at an elevation of 1,454 feet. Almost every trail that can be accessed off of this lift is a black diamond. When we took this lift, we took the Upper Spillway trail, which was a diamond. It was such a huge rush, and the pressure is really put on the riders because the lift goes right above the trail. Upper Spillway is very steep in the beginning, which is exhilarating to ride. Steep trails are the best because they really help challenge a rider’s abilities. If my board shook from speed on Tote Road, imagine how intense taking this diamond was. When I got to the bottom of the mountain my face was red from all of the snow hitting it at over 30 miles per hour. My overall rating of the diamond trails at Sugarloaf is a ten out of ten; they are great trails for the more advanced rider.

The Loaf has five terrain parks, which are special areas for skiers and snowboarders to practice their freestyle riding skills. Haywire is home to the biggest jumps on the mountain. To put the size of these jumps into perspective, if you fell off the top of the jump, you would hit the ground and it would not be pretty. However, a large portion of Sugarloaf’s freestyle riders can handle these jumps. The kids ride up to them and throw 720s like it’s nothing. If you can handle the size of the takeoffs, Haywire will provide hours of fun. This park also has the biggest rails and boxes on the mountain. It is definitely not a place for a beginner.

The Stomping Grounds is the ideal park for the intermediate rider. The Sugarloaf Park Crew has improved the park tremendously this year; they took out everything that used to be problematic and made it have great flow. They got rid of the old rickety boxes and eliminated some awkward turns. There are a few jumps that are made for intermediate snowboarders and skiers. The rails and boxes are great for stomping sick tricks.

I wish I had the opportunity to hit Sidewinder when I went riding; this park is a snowboard/skiercross course. Snowboard cross is basically like a downhill ski slalom race, except the slalom gates are replaced by winding banked turns and jumps. This course is top of the line, because it was designed and tested by Seth Wescott; a Sugarloaf rider who also happens to be a two time gold medalist in Olympic snowboard cross. Wescott has been riding Sugarloaf his whole life, I am proud to say that an Olympic athlete has been made from my home mountain.

Toward the middle of my day of riding, my friends and I stumbled across the Pipe Dreams Superpipe. The superpipe is a four hundred foot long, 18 foot high half pipe. Sugarloaf maintains this pipe extremely well; it is formed by expert park crew members using the specialized Zaugg PipeMonster. The second I laid eyes on the pipe I knew I had to hit it. None of my friends wanted to ride it with me so I was on my own. I gained as much speed as possible and tried to go into the entrance of the pipe like the pros do, that part was not too difficult. When I got to the top of the 18 foot, 90 degree vertical wall, I basically froze and did not know what to do. I have never been that high up before, and the icy walls did not give me too much of a confidence boost. I ended up making it back down the wall safely; I only fell when I tried to do tricks. When the crews of freestyle riders come through the pipe it is a spectacle to observe. Plenty of Loafers know how to ride the pipe. People who are learning can hit it slowly and focus on the basics of half pipe riding.

Skybound is the place to be if you are new to the park at Sugarloaf. This is like a McDonalds Playplace compared to Haywire. This is the park that I always hit in the beginning of the day. It is a great place to dial down more difficult tricks, because the features are miniature compared to Haywire. It is a chill park to mess around in. I learned how to do nose slides at Skybound, and then I was able to take them to the Stomping Grounds. The only downside to this park, is that in the mid-day, it gets full of kids from instruction groups. They usually cut off the experienced riders, but it is pretty entertaining to watch instructors try and teach little kids how to hit park features.

Overall Sugarloaf has great mountain terrain, excellent terrain parks, and beautiful scenery. This mountain is fun for the whole family. This mountain literally has trails for everybody. If you are just learning the basics Perfect Turn Ski School has you covered. The green circles are perfect places for beginner to intermediate riders to work on the basics. If you are a more experienced rider then the steeps will give you a run for your money. This mountain is a prime destination for snow lovers because the terrain is always pristine and the Sugarloaf community is always welcoming.