March 4, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Sweet Sugarloaf

by Tony Chamberlain/

Sugarloaf has something of a Rocky Mountain setting. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)

Sugarloaf has something of a Rocky Mountain setting. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)

As March begins the journey to spring, the season bring us an exquisite combination of the most snow and the most sunshine we’ve seen all year. And when that mix is upon us, the place to be is Sugarloaf, which reminds us with signs on lift towers that the most snowfall here comes in spring.

Why Sugarloaf? One word: snowfields. With a couple of recent big dumps, this territory — above tree line on both the front and back of the mountain — turns this mega New England peak into something like a Rocky Mountain setting.

In fact, a good friend who worked at Sugarloaf for many years and now lives in Utah makes occasional trips back to his old haunts. The other day, he said — after a dash down the backside — that when the Loaf gets its dumps of huge spring powder that it reminds him of The Canyons in Park City — his home area.

For people outside the area who might not have known of this remote western Maine mountain, it’s always a bit surprising. I heard this from several young members of the U.S. Ski Team a couple of years ago when the National Alpine Championships were held there. Some said they couldn’t wait to get their races in so they could go free skiing in all that steep, deep stuff in the Snowfields.

But for all its championship pedigree (think Bode Miller, Kirsten Clark, Seth Wescott, among others) Sugarloaf is very large by Eastern standards, and it has offerings for everyone.

For rank beginners (my daughter-in-law took her first-ever turns here a few years ago) there are several areas for practice and lessons — from the friendly enclave between the hotel and the Sugarloaf Inn, to the three-quarter-mile flattish runout under the Whiffletree Chair, to Spillway in front of the base lodge.

Get a little courage to go higher ground, and the lineup of blue cruisers seems endless, combining the old New England twisters such as Winters Way and Scoot, to fall line blasters such as Kings Landing and Haul Back.

The Loaf also has a number of blue-black runs — steep trails that are so wide they’re thrillingly fast with plenty of bailout traverse. Most of the time they’re impeccably groomed. Sluice, Ramdown and Widowmaker are among these, along with the famed Narrow Gauge — site of the championship downhill course.

Perhaps the most popular trail of all is an old-time, three-mile switchbacker, Tote Road. Taken from the very top or from the 2½-mile mark off the faster Superquad lift, Tote Road twists and turns, throwing all sort of undulations and faces along the way. Add the stupendous beauty of the Bigelow Range in the distance and the proximity of the mid-mountain restaurant Bullwinkles, and it’s easy to see why this is the most popular run on Sugarloaf. Which, some days, is also the problem. It gets crowded up there at times.

The Bag is the best spot on the mountain for lunchtime burger and fries, The Rack — Seth Wescott’s restaurant on the access road — is the place for serious meat-eaters, and Hugs is one of the finest (albeit small) Italian restaurants that side of Boston’s North End.

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