Sugarloaf

Sugarloaf is a huge mountain! We skied screaming fast groomers, long bump runs, and best of all, glades! Everyone here was friendly and we loved it!

There is so much to like at Sugarloaf. The facilities, mountain, food and conditions have always been just right for me. The prices are reasonable as well. The only thing that keeps them from earning 5 stars is the consistently poor customer service. Through the years, I’ve had problems with issues ranging from honoring discounts to getting answers to the simplest of questions. They’ve always ended up doing the right thing or helping find the answers to my questions but only after initial resistance. My recommendation is less fight, more service. I understand this is a busy place but a few minutes on the front end saves a lot of time and hassle on the back end. Customers just want a positive experience so drop the arrogant and pretentious attitudes and work harder to make Sugarloaf the best mountain in New England that we all want it to be.

Sugarloaf the mountain? 5 stars.
Sugarloaf ski shop? 0 stars. Do not buy gear from this place.
The ladies who work here are BEYOND unhelpful.
Our family has a condo up here, and it started with my younger cousin who reported awful customer service.
Next day, my boyfriend had purchased some goggles which fit terrible. We were never informed of any policy saying they couldn’t be returned. The foam was defective so the plastic nose piece left a crease on the bridge of his nose and were completely uncomfortable to wear. We brought the receipt back hoping for some help.
3 women ganged up on him, told him he was out of luck unless he sent them back to the company, and that was «the only answer» and if he didn’t leave they’d call security. He never yelled or raised his voice, but they continued to yell at him saying «you got the managers answer, you can leave now.»
Several other customers looked at us apologetically, some actually came to apologize to me for the terrible service.
Come to sugarloaf, ski, have a blast. The slopes are great, just don’t go to the ski shop. Ever. Spend your money somewhere where they actually care about their customers.

Welcome to the best mountain on the east coast! All the amenities, the people, and the slopes are fantastic and I’m happy to call this place my second home. It keeps getting better and better with every season. Ski on! (Or board)

It’s hard to beat skiing at Sugarloaf. Bubblecuffer is one of the most interesting and challenging ski trails in the world. Some of the best ski parties in the country happen here including the famous Reggae Fest.

I used to come here every year with my school and sometimes with the fam. It’s pretty enough — doesn’t compare to the West Coast, obvs. And has got a decent amount of blues and some blacks. They’ve got some really fun blues that curve unexpectedly and have hills. The ungroomed blacks are hella challenging and fun. They’ve also got blacks with moguls on them — so watch out for those.
Before coming down, check WHICH lifts are open. One year, my family and I arrived the FIRST day lifts were open (yeah, we’re keeners, what can I say). So anyways, turns out, lifts at the TOP of the mountain were open. But the bottom lifts were closed. So we embarked on a one hour trek uphill with skis in tow to reach the top lifts. Not fun.

Even though there was ongoing construction (8am-​4pm hours only, thank you) during our stay, it was a nice place overall. We came for the fall colors, leaf peepers, ya you betcha.
We enjoyed hiking around the development. We thought we’d hike on the mountain, but the front desk staff and the chairlift staff (it was running on the weekends) didn’t recommend it due to the quality of the road and the steepness of the terrain. I’ll take their word for it, they know this place better than I.
Comfortable beds, a/​c and heat systems finicky. Very helpful and kind staffers all around in the various restaurants (we visited 45 North, the Strokes golf café/​restaurant„ Java Joe’s, and Gepetto’s). Not all the restaurants were open during our stay (bag and kettle, and clams for example), probably due to the staffing required and lower number of guests pre-​ski season. The lodge filled up on the weekends, there were three weddings during our week-​long stay, and they took place on the last weekend.
We went to the fitness center too, which was pretty nice (we went to the pool, indoor-​goody goody).
I’m guessing that at least a few folks actually walked down that mountain because we ran into a few through-​hikers of the AT trail who walked down it because the trail was flooded and they had to detour. Fascinating.

This is a big, expenhesive, large, nearly european style resort. They claim that they are the largest ski area east of the rockies, but boyoboy, it can’t be, because it takes much longer to get down at Mad River Glenn! So MRG must be bigger.
Also, –1 star, they are biggest because they have a large area that is not open. at least, it was not open the week we were there. they report huge amounts of glades that I just could not get onto. I can be the largest if I don’t have to have it open.
The brochure (and there are lots of brochures), look like they are not appealing to skiers but investors. so, part of it is meh, and the condo-​motel is meh (our room was infested with canadians, see other review), and they cut some corners.
But, the mountain is pretty cool. Look for the moose alley run if you have kids, or so I’m told. also, use the disconnected lifts to your advantage, it makes some runs uncrowded. The ski school was helpful and I learned a lot.

Easily my favorite ski resort in the East. The variety of terrain is incredible and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous (including views of the Bigelows).
The best part of this mountain is the fact that there is only ONE base area! This resort is Sunday River-​ish in size, but it doesn’t have annoying trails that connect base lodges. Since Sugarloaf has only one base lodge, its easy to find and meet up with everyone.
And now Bob’s Clams is there.
I could go on and on about Sugarloaf’s awesomeness…

Sugarloaf is touted as the largest ski area East of the Rockies. And that may be rightly so, when Phase 1 of 270 acres of glades opened last winter in Brackett Basin. And then comes the additional 135 acres and 250 acres of Burnt Mountain opening in Phases 2 and 3 respectively, for a total of 655 acres.
With all that acreage, you would imagine Sugarloaf to be one behemoth mountain, but you’ll soon realize it doesn’t have the height and vertical that you would expect from the Midwest mountains. I found it to be short and wide with a quirky chairlift system that takes multiple chairlifts to get to the peak. When a base chairlift goes down, this can cause major headaches as all the skiers start to funnel to the other chairlift causing long lines. This is exactly what happened when the Sugarloaf Superquad closed, and everyone flocked to the Double Runner East & West, causing 30 – 40 wait times. If the snow and weather are good, Sugarloaf can be a skier and snowboarder’s paradise. But when it’s not, it can be hell.
One of the good things about Sugarloaf is that it has a lot of the European-​like hotel flair, with long green trails that extend past multiple condo complexes making for plenty of ski-​in /​ski-​out places. There is also a good variety of on-​mountain restaurants like the Bag & Kettle, Burrito, D’ellies, Widowmaker, Gepetto’s, that are very affordable and family-​friendly. There are a few off-​mountain restaurants worth checking out such as The Rack and Hugs.
So if you’re thinking of visiting Sugarloaf, prepare to make a roadtrip as it is secluded from civilization. But expect to come to a very family-​friendly and welcoming mountain. The food and accommodations are worthy and I would definitely come back to Sugarloaf, when the conditions are right.

Holy crap it’s a long drive from Boston. It felt like most of our driving took us off 95 and onto some town roads which made it seem like an endless journey. I’d say about 4.5 hours from Boston to Carrabassett, with a stop at Popeye’s Fried Chicken at the rest stop in Kennebunk.
It was a cooooold weekend and most of the lifts were on wind hold one of the days, so we went snow shoeing/​cross country skiing around the golf course. We rented a friends house that was near the golf course too. There’s a shuttle that comes around about every 20 minutes and takes you right to the base which was okay. The alternative would be to drive to the base but you’d still have to get on some kind of shuttle to get to the base anyway (unless you’d like to walk, which is always fun).
Most of the terrain was open and they are always blowing snow (which could also be seen as «ice» because that’s how it feels when it hits you in the face when you’re coming down the mountain). There was good snow coverage. We followed the sun around the mountain looking for the softer snow. There’s a good variety of terrain for all levels, however, I found that some of the blues were a little more difficult than other mountains. And, some of the blacks were more like blues…
The staff at the ticket area/​guest services were pleasant and friendly. I stopped in the ski shop to possibly get my skis waxed and sharpened but balked when I saw $ 40 price tag. There are other mountains that will do a good job for $ 25.
Sugarloaf seems very off the beaten path. For a long weekend, it was a nice visit. But, the drive is painful unless you’re a local.

This is my all time favorite course. Three friends and I planned a weekend golf trip to Sugarloaf and it exceeded all expectations, and they were high to begin with (we were willing to make a 4.5 hour drive up there for Christ’s Sake.
Needless to say I plan to go back again next summer. The views are absolutely breath taking, the course is unreal and takes advantage of the scenery on every hole. Even the starter was the nicest I’ve ever dealt with. Just truly genuinely nice people everywhere and a course that will make you wish you brought a better camera for all the photos you’ll take.
You owe it to yourself to golf here, it’s worth every penny and will make you wish you lived within a closer drive of it.

Came up on a Sunday after it had dumped 10+ inches Friday and Saturday night — boy oh boy, Sugarloaf didn’t disappoint.
Conditions were great, basically no wind and soft snow over every trail. I’ve heard Sugarloaf is usually quite windy and as a result closes some of their higher lifts (i.e. Timberline), guess we got lucky. The trails were nicely designed, I was hoping for more mogul-​based skiing (bombing down the mountain isn’t my kind of fun, thank you very much) the kind one can find at Killington, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker. The Snowfields at the top of Timberline are mind-​boggling if you get to them on a powder day, some of the best above tree-​line skiing in the Northeast. Steep as heck, but you still feel soft snow instead of shitty ice as you turn.
Sunday was a great day to come too, locals/​kids in the morning, but it basically clears out by lunchtime. I must’ve had every lift to myself after 12:30 pm. By the by, the SuperQuad lift is most excellent; fast, and they even have little trailmaps on the handlebar! This was a cute little feature that I wish more places had.
Sadly, it’s kind of far from Boston (4+ hours). Since the price is usually the same as Killington, I’d probably go there instead. Or Sugarbush.

Caitlin C., Sugarloafer since 1988.
My love for Sugarloaf borders slightly on fanatical. How do I distill 20+ years of memories and experiences into one little Unilocal review? How do I explain the feeling I get in my heart when I spy that little blue and white triangle on a passing car? How do you describe that magic moment when you round the bend on rte 27 and see Sugarloaf in all its glory? What makes this lonely mountain in Maine so special?
Maybe it’s friendly faces that greet you at the ticket counters and lift lines? Faces like the late, great Dennis Parsons, who always had a kind word and a smile for everyone.
Perhaps it’s the challenging and varied terrain? With the only lift-​serviced above-​treeline skiing in the East, Sugarloaf offers up the Snowfields and the Backside to those who crave steeps (go in February or March for the best conditions). For the more aerially inclined, there are multiple world-​class terrain parks and half pipes. And for the beginners Sugarloaf has a pleasing variety of friendly green circles and blue squares, as well as lesson programs for all ages and skill levels.
And of course we can’t forget about their team of elite snowmakers and groomers who work hard every night to ensure the best possible skiing conditions each day.
The mountain also boasts excellent slopeside accommodations, restaurants (see my review of the Bag & Kettle), and a handful of bars to quench your apres ski thirst (the Rack is owned by Olympic snowboarder Seth Wescott). There are also many events that occur throughout the year: concerts, races, Reggae Weekend, College Week, etc.
When the snow melts, there is still plenty to do at Sugarloaf. The golf course is truly spectacular (don’t be alarmed if you see a moose on the fairway). There are also great trails for bike riding and hiking.
Sure, Sugarloaf isn’t perfect. It is often plagued by subarctic temperatures and howling winds. The drive up is long (but totally worth it) and the roads are winding. And some say the night-​life leaves something to be desired, but when you’ve skied hard all day who really needs more than a few pints at the Bag, the Rack, or the Widowmaker?
Well, this review barely scratches the surface of why Sugarloaf is great. In the end, you’ll just have to head up to Maine and experience it for yourself!

I am shocked that no one has written a review about Sugarloaf Ski Area yet. What’s wrong with you people!!! Perhaps Mainers have yet to start going nuts with the reviews and that Sugarloaf is a really shitty long drive from Boston, MA.
I love Sugarloaf. Yes, I would marry it if possible, I would roll in its powdery, sometimes icy, mostly granular snow from the snowfields to the farthest reaches of the Snubber lift every day, and that, my friends, would be a VERY long roll.
Sugarloaf is the tallest ski resort in Maine, has the most trails (yes, it counts all of its cross over trails which can be many), definitely has the longest runs, and plenty of un-​frequented glades.
Sure, Sugarloaf is expensive as hell; the winter passes are a frickin butt-​load to pay for. But they offer the occasional deal, like e-​tickets ($ 105 for a 2-​day pass), student/​military prices, half day passes, and vouchers (if the skiing really sucks).
But while you may scratch your head wondering what sets Sugarloaf apart from the rest, please understand that it’s the «village feel» at the base lodge/​Inn area, which really is unlike any other resort, at least in Maine (I have not been to Killington, but I’m true to my home state). You can start your afternoon at the Widowmaker with some beer and really bad cover band, then make your way to Gepetto’s for a family meal or Black Diamond for a steak. You can shop your heart out in one of several ski, gift, and/​or convenience shops. It’s grand. And when you’re done with that, just ski your way down the snubber very-​much bunny trail and straight to your condo. Ahh, the way life should be.

I’m sure there is not a better mountain on the east coast. However, there are some caveats.
Oh God is it expensive. A regular, one day lift ticket, will run you over 70 bucks. I’ve skied at much better resorts for considerably cheaper — and yes, this is a New Yorker complaining at how expensive something is! Dear Lord, the rental area is set up in the most terrible way imaginable by Satan himself in full collaboration with the State of New Jersey. I went to rent a helmet and found a never-​ending line of people, poorly organized, waiting to pay at one of just two slow-​moving cashiers. It was appalling. The lift lines were no better — I don’t think I’ve waited as long in any lift line, East or West Coast.
The snow, however, was wonderful. Any day where it is cloudless, single digit temperatures, and perfectly groomed, is worth of celebration. I effortlessly took hundreds of turns, bombed a few runs, and generally had an amazing day on the slopes. The snow-​making was annoying, though, as the slopes didn’t need it – it just made things hard to see and more difficult to ski.
If you’re looking for good terrain on the East coast, this is the place to go. It’s a shame, however, that one has to accept such good with such bad.