Sugaloaf/USA or Sunday River?

Anybody that has gone to both Sugarloaf and Sunday River obviously must
have a favorite between the two. I myself have just gone to Sugarloaf
my first time and was very dissapointed with it. The conditions were
bad (although that cannot be controlled) and the trails were mediocre.
However, the lift attendants were very nice and the ambassadors were
suprisingly friendly. What do you all think about the mountains?

"Confused" wrote in message
ups.com...
Anybody that has gone to both Sugarloaf and Sunday River obviously must
have a favorite between the two. I myself have just gone to Sugarloaf
my first time and was very dissapointed with it. The conditions were
bad (although that cannot be controlled) and the trails were mediocre.
However, the lift attendants were very nice and the ambassadors were
suprisingly friendly. What do you all think about the mountains?

I have been to both and my favorite is Sunday River. I went to both on the
same trip so that I could make a good comparison. Sugarloaf, USA was very
icy as Sunday River's snow condition was day and night better. Sugarloaf
does have some nice runs but it's not worth the extra drive time in my
opinion, Sunday River offers you much more in terrain.

By the way what is going on with this years weather? I was looking for a
great snow year and it is looking worst than last year so far. Did someone
say global warming doesn't exist?

JQ
Dancing on the edge

I have been to both and my favorite is Sunday River. I went to both on the
same trip so that I could make a good comparison. Sugarloaf, USA was very
icy as Sunday River's snow condition was day and night better. Sugarloaf
does have some nice runs but it's not worth the extra drive time in my
opinion, Sunday River offers you much more in terrain.

By the way what is going on with this years weather? I was looking for a
great snow year and it is looking worst than last year so far. Did someone
say global warming doesn't exist?

JQ
Dancing on the edge

I know, I'd like for somebody to give me a call when winter arrives,
because it sure hasn't knocked on our doo this time of year. I mean,
sure we have experienced little bit of snowfall but have we even had
5" of accumulation yet? It's rediculous.

Confused wrote:
Anybody that has gone to both Sugarloaf and Sunday River obviously must
have a favorite between the two. I myself have just gone to Sugarloaf
my first time and was very dissapointed with it. The conditions were
bad (although that cannot be controlled) and the trails were mediocre.
However, the lift attendants were very nice and the ambassadors were
suprisingly friendly. What do you all think about the mountains?

I go to both all the time, since I have the ASC pass good at both
mountains.

The answer is... it depends on what you're looking for. Sugarloaf is a
BIG mountain for the east, with 2800' vertical and boundary-to-boundary
skiing. The layout, on one mountain, means that you can ski an
incredible amount of terrain without shuffling around laterally between
different peaks and lifts. There's a lot of challenging terrain - they
have a good number of snowmade steeps (Narrow Gague, Misery Whip,
Skidder, Haul Back, Widowmaker, Competition Hill, etc etc). And the
natural snow trails like Double Bitter, Bubblecuffer, the
above-treeline snowfields at the top, and the glades make for an
experience unlike any of the other ASC resorts. The crowds are less
than at the other ASC resorts due to the resort's location, and there
are a couple of useful crosscuts that can keep you away from the line
at the main quad (and on the upper-mountain chairs).

Sunday River is just a completely different kind of place. It's spread
over 7 (I think) mountains, with verticals on the individual mountains
ranging from 1000-1500'. They claim a total vertical of 2300' but
that's sort of BS because there's no real top-to-bottom skiing. The
trails, on average, are less steep and rated differently (I.e., a blue
at Sugarloaf would be a black at SR). I enjoy the black terrain there,
but it can be a drag shuffling from mountain to mountain to get variety
in your runs (no mountain except Oz, which is rarely open, has
significant expert terrain). If you're an intermediate skier, Sunday
River is a good bet - there are several suitable trails on most of the
mountains. But the crowds can get pretty insane, especially in the
South Ridge area which is full of beginners and more advanced skiers
bombing down to the lodge for lunch.

The wildcard, of course, is conditions. Sunday River puts a lot more
$$$ into snowmaking and grooming than Sugarloaf though both have
extensive systems. Sunday River can do a resurfacing much quicker than
Sugarloaf. On the other hand, Sugarloaf is much further north and
tends to get less rain than the southern resorts. If you're looking
for a mountain with a variety of terrain from beginner to upper
intermediate, Sunday River is probably a good choice. If you're
looking for a mountain better for high intermediates to experts, you'll
be bored stiff at Sundary River and should head to Sugarloaf. Nothing
beats the Loaf when there's good natural snow coverage - 1400 acres of
glades, snowfields, and steep-ass narrow New England trails.

The synopses of the two resorts at
http://www.skisnowboard.com/resorts....chor-Top-19662 are fairly
accurate if you'd like more reading about specifics of the mountains.

Enjoy!
--AD

p.s., I just got back from three days at Sugarloaf, and while the
number of trails open was low, we still had a great time. Can't wait
until they start getting more snow - they're more of a late-season
resort, anyways.

wrote:
I go to both all the time, since I have the ASC pass good at both
mountains.

The answer is... it depends on what you're looking for. Sugarloaf is a
BIG mountain for the east, with 2800' vertical and boundary-to-boundary
skiing. The layout, on one mountain, means that you can ski an
incredible amount of terrain without shuffling around laterally between
different peaks and lifts. There's a lot of challenging terrain - they
have a good number of snowmade steeps (Narrow Gague, Misery Whip,
Skidder, Haul Back, Widowmaker, Competition Hill, etc etc). And the
natural snow trails like Double Bitter, Bubblecuffer, the
above-treeline snowfields at the top, and the glades make for an
experience unlike any of the other ASC resorts. The crowds are less
than at the other ASC resorts due to the resort's location, and there
are a couple of useful crosscuts that can keep you away from the line
at the main quad (and on the upper-mountain chairs).

Sunday River is just a completely different kind of place. It's spread
over 7 (I think) mountains, with verticals on the individual mountains
ranging from 1000-1500'. They claim a total vertical of 2300' but
that's sort of BS because there's no real top-to-bottom skiing. The
trails, on average, are less steep and rated differently (I.e., a blue
at Sugarloaf would be a black at SR). I enjoy the black terrain there,
but it can be a drag shuffling from mountain to mountain to get variety
in your runs (no mountain except Oz, which is rarely open, has
significant expert terrain). If you're an intermediate skier, Sunday
River is a good bet - there are several suitable trails on most of the
mountains. But the crowds can get pretty insane, especially in the
South Ridge area which is full of beginners and more advanced skiers
bombing down to the lodge for lunch.

The wildcard, of course, is conditions. Sunday River puts a lot more
$$$ into snowmaking and grooming than Sugarloaf though both have
extensive systems. Sunday River can do a resurfacing much quicker than
Sugarloaf. On the other hand, Sugarloaf is much further north and
tends to get less rain than the southern resorts. If you're looking
for a mountain with a variety of terrain from beginner to upper
intermediate, Sunday River is probably a good choice. If you're
looking for a mountain better for high intermediates to experts, you'll
be bored stiff at Sundary River and should head to Sugarloaf. Nothing
beats the Loaf when there's good natural snow coverage - 1400 acres of
glades, snowfields, and steep-ass narrow New England trails.

The synopses of the two resorts at
http://www.skisnowboard.com/resorts....chor-Top-19662 are fairly
accurate if you'd like more reading about specifics of the mountains.

Enjoy!
--AD

p.s., I just got back from three days at Sugarloaf, and while the
number of trails open was low, we still had a great time. Can't wait
until they start getting more snow - they're more of a late-season
resort, anyways.

I've only skied back East once, back in 1997, but I concur with most of
the above. We stayed at Sugarloaf for a week and did a day trip over
to Sunday River. Sugarloaf seemed better suited for longer stays, but
Sunday River has some good stuff too. Since I only had one day at
Sunday River, I skied like a madman and covered as much terrain as I
could. I counted up my totals at the end of the day and calculated
that I did about 45,000 vertical feet. I probably could've broken
50,000, but our bus got us there 45 minutes after the lifts opened.
The only runs I did twice were ones I wanted to (like Celestial Glade).
I skied just about every blue and black run they had open. My
impression was that Sunday River does more with what they have (both
snow and terrain) than just about any resort I've skied. I really
liked it, but agree that it would get old faster than Sugarloaf.