December 5, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Consider early start a treat

by Tony Chamberlain/

Don't expect these mid-winter conditions at Sugarloaf this week, but there are a few open trails. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)

Don't expect these mid-winter conditions at Sugarloaf this week, but there are a few open trails. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)

I’m from a generation of skiers who cannot quite get used to the full-court press in the industry coming on before the holidays. I went to college in the New England snowbelt of Orono, Maine, from which we regularly skied Sugarloaf and Saddleback, and it was not really until after we got back from Christmas vacation that the ski season (no boarding then) got under way.

Sure, after an early season storm we might cut classes for a December foray to our favorite slopes, but we would consider this preseason and still plan our serious skiing for the months ahead.

Snowmaking changed all this, and after a season-opener like 2008, when all New England benefited from a big Thanksgiving dump, it seemed right on to expect December skiing and riding as a normal flow of the seasons. By contrast, after an early start, this year’s Thanksgiving warmup was a real disappointment, especially since the industry was expecting another strong beginning.

I try to keep in mind that even the pre-Christmas season is early — preseason — and that December is basically an autumn month. And when I do take my first trips for some serious reacquaintance with snow and vert, I sort of reverse the end of the last season as spring temps were melting snow fast.

In other words, Jay Peak and Smugglers' are among my last spring areas in New England. Natural snowfall and 4,000-foot summits give these areas large pockets of snow, and in the early season, snowmaking gets early accumulations.

Killington is a standard long-season player, but Maine’s Sunday River, of all the early startups, probably makes the best snow. Over the years there have been many explanations for the snow quality and grooming at Sunday River. My own thought is that Les Otten dedicated himself to the art and sciences of snowmaking about 30 years ago, and that has always been the Sunday River brand.

The bad news at this area in a time of limited snow is that everyone eager for those first runs of the season winds up in the same place at the same time. So, if midweek skiing/riding is a possibility, this is a good time for it.

Nearby is Maine’s Sugarloaf, which, now as a corporate cousin to Sunday River, has taken great pains to get snowmaking up to the Sunday River model.

So, before the first big dumps of the season, the skiing and riding is there, but offerings are limited, and you should keep in mind that the conditions you remember from last March have been totally erased. Generally a few runs, then some other activities with some festive dining thrown in pretty much marks the rhythm of preseason winter snowsports.

The other alternative, for real hard-core types, is the early season heli-skiing in the Bugaboos and other fairly accessible places. But news last week that World Cup ski racing has been wiped out in Whistler, British Columbia, does not make this a viable prospect either.

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