Carey Kish's Ski Guide to Sunday River

The Facts

Vertical: 2340' Lifts 4 High-Speed Quads, 5 Quads , 4 Triples, 2 Doubles, 3 Surface Location: P.O. Box 450; Bethel, ME, 04217 Contact: (207) 824-3000; sundayriver.com Trailmap
The ski-nny: V-a-r-i-e-t-y! Choose from more than a hundred trails across eight mountain peaks. Follow the sun from Whitecap to Jordan Bowl for a full, fun day. The River is also under new ownership, having transitioned with the Loaf from ASC to Boyne, which has already made significant upgrades to the River's expansive snowmaking capabilities. Steeps: White Heat? Been there, done that. Show off your good stuff on the double fault line of Shock Wave or try to keep it together on Vortex from the top. Cruisers: American Express and Risky Business are two of the best blue runs around and worth a couple of go-rounds. Easy going: Lollygag on Lollapalooza or dally along on Dream Maker. Apres-ski: It's the Foggy Goggle at South Ridge Lodge for music and meet-ups; the Sunday River Brew Pub out on Route 2 for a wood fire and pints of local ale; or Sud's beneath the Old Sudbury Inn for true local flavor and great pizza. Extra credit: Think you've got chutzpah? Dive into the trees on Chutzpah for some serious bark-avoidance practice. Shhh!: The crowds thin out early on Sundays at the River, a good time catch some elbow room out there.
- Carey Kish

Comments

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CM of Lewiston, ME
Feb 16, 2008 12:29 AM
Friday Feb 15 (2 days after storm) was a decent day at the River. Conditions were pretty good; enough piles of powder around though in places it was skied off or there was ice. Ungroomed areas weren't good; snow was crusty. Barker Mtn. as usual had some really good runs.

Nono of Portland, ME
Feb 14, 2008 1:26 PM
Friday, Feb 8th What a day !!
Although the sun was not shining the skiing could not have been much better ! The temp was mild but the skiing was hot ! Top Gun was my fav trail of the day with my companions loving the powda on the bumps of Shockwave ! Folks at Sunday River kept things moving along with hardly a wait in the liftlines. Our longest was 5 minutes !

Lisa of Bowdoin, ME
Feb 11, 2008 11:46 AM
Awesome skiing on Superbowl Sunday at Sunday River. Most folks disappeared from the slopes by 12:30PM so it was wide open all afternoon, with a few new inches of powder coming down. Jordan Bowl was deep in fluff, and almost no one was over there on Excaliber and Rogue Angel. Can't wait to get back up to fly in the WHite Mountain Sky!

Stephen Estes of Standish, ME
Feb 11, 2008 10:39 AM
Mt. Abram had great conditions on Sunday, February 10, 2008 for most of the day. The storm didn't begin until around 2:30 so my grandfather and I had most of the day to ski with good visibility. There weren't many people out on the slopes despite the calm weather so we were able to get in a lot of runs. My grandmother went tubing while we skiied and said that the three different runs were fun and being enjoyed by many families with small children.

Stephen Estes of Standish, ME
Feb 11, 2008 10:31 AM
The latest snowfall and great grooming made Sunday River the perfect place to ski on Saturday, February 9, 2008. The weather was warm and the conditions were perfect especially on Barker Mountain. Even though it seemed like a lot of people were at the lodge, the lift lines didn't seem to be long at all. I had a great day of skiing with my grandfather and I can't wait to come again!

CM of Lewiston, me
Feb 9, 2008 11:18 AM
Friday Feb 9--powdah day! Skiing was the best I've seen all season. About 5 inches of fresh powder, nearly all trails open (except for some being used for racing), comfortable temps and no wind. At the very end of the day there were some skied-off spots.

Photo by Lori Smith
enlarge
Lori Smith of Saco, ME
Jan 27, 2008 2:13 PM
My first time back to Sunday River in more than ten+ years. It was a great day with sun at mid-day and mostly powder on the trails. It was my kids' first time at SR and only their second time on skis. The lift at South Ridge made for easy loading and unloading. They had a great time in the terrain parks and barely had any falls!

Elia Nichols of Bath, ME
Jan 22, 2008 12:40 PM
Jan,18 08
At a local bar the other night when I mentioned Sunday River. Aww whatevah.... Its Sugarloaf or nothing for me. I heard comming from the corner. Wanna bet? I says. Lets hit the two this weekand and we'll see. So we loaded up the volvo and headed up to the River. Friday morning the snow pounds the mountain. "fresh powdah" my friend exclaims. Yuh! I says. We got there for first chair. I guess there was only bout 5 inches, but it was nice. Not many showed up for fridays fun but we did. My buddy still a loafer but I saw him smile a couple of times.

CM of Lewiston, ME
Jan 17, 2008 7:34 PM
Jan. 17, 2008. Much improvement from two days ago. Trails that the snowmakers hit were excellent; Sunday Punch had tiny moguls on it, there was so much powder. Lots of whalebacks though. Other trails ranged from decent to icy. It was hit or miss.

John of Cumberland, ME
Jan 16, 2008 3:52 PM
Sunday (1/13/08) @ Sunday River.
Something like 90+/- trails open. Very short lift lines. On most trails there was an icy base with from 2-5" of man made powder on top.
So, the skiing was good early on, but got pretty tough as the afternoon wore on. By then there were patches of ice with piles of powder mixed around.
I am hoping we get back to December conditions soon!!!

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skiing news

Sunday River to install Chondola (archive) Hybrid lift signals first step in long-term transformation as member of the Boyne Resorts family March 27, 2008
Maine Ski Heritage Classic (archive) Glenn Parkinson, Ski Historian to feature classic equipment and apparel February 5, 2008
Maine nordic centers are open (archive) Early snowfall jump starts the Maine Nordic Ski Industry. December 13, 2007
Maine Peak to Peak Challenge (archive) Ski Maine team to hit the slopes on Maine's 17 ski mountains. December 13, 2007
Sugarloaf opens Friday (archive) Maine's tallest ski mountain becomes the second resort to open its slopes. November 8, 2007
Sunday River opens today (archive) Ski resort has earliest start in the Northeast November 8, 2007

Downhill Snow Report

Sugarloaf has 78 trail(s) and 4 lift(s) open today. Get the alpine conditions for ski resorts in Maine and New Hampshire.

Family Fun

At Sunday River, it's called the White Cap Fun Center: Tubing Vertical drop: 100' Lift: Surface lift Prices: Full session (arrival to close) - $15 2 hours - $10 1 run - $3 Additional 2 hours - $7 Ice Skating: Ice skate rentals are available for $7 inside White Cap Lodge. Arcade, restaurants, fireworks, bonfire More info

resort forecast



Open field, in a mountain valley., Kingfield, Maine (PWS)
Updated: 10:00 AM EST on November 23, 2009
Clear
31.5 °F
Clear
Updated: 9:12 am EST on November 23, 2009
No Active Advisories
partlycloudy
Rest of Today
Mostly sunny this morning...then becoming partly sunny. Highs in the mid 40s. Light and variable winds.
nt_snow
Tonight
A chance of rain or snow showers in the evening. Cloudy with patchy fog. Lows in the mid 20s. Light and variable winds. Chance of rain 40 percent.
partlycloudy
Tuesday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 40s. North winds around 10 mph.
nt_sunny
Tuesday Night
Mostly clear. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s. North winds around 10 mph in the evening...becoming light and variable.
partlycloudy
Wednesday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 40s. Light and variable winds.
nt_cloudy
Wednesday Night
Cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s.
cloudy
Thanksgiving Day
Mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid 40s.
nt_chancerain
Thursday Night
Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of rain showers. Near steady temperature in the mid 30s.
rain
Friday
Cloudy with rain showers likely. Near steady temperature in the mid 30s. Chance of rain 60 percent.
nt_chancerain
Friday Night
Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of rain showers. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s.
snow
Saturday
Cloudy with a chance of rain showers and snow. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.
nt_chancesnow
Saturday Night
Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Lows in the lower 20s.
chancesnow
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Highs in the mid 30s.


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