Saddleback Maine

Fantastic. Great people, family friendly, tons of ski options. Came here for spring break in mid-​March.
My 5 & 7 yr old girls had never even seen snow before and the people here went out of their way to make sure the girls had a great experience. The girls loved their teachers and were upset each day to find out they were having a new one (only to decide at the end of the day that they loved that particular teacher as well — Murphy, Chad, Lauren and Megan).
They even have a little sledding hill, which we spent ½ day using.
The mountains were great — lots of options for lots of levels. Unfortunately, the winds kicked up and the mountain was closed one of the days. The next day, the only way up was a T-​bar because the chairs were too unstable… I found out I hate T-​bars. But props to them for having the Plan B.
I have been telling all of my acquaintances back in Texas about the mountain (in Texas, everyone skis out west… turns out we had the powder and they had the slush!). Not sure I truly want my secret out, though. We will be back.

Okay, I visited this resort last year. After visiting a somewhat less impressive resort this year, I decided I really need to say what Saddleback does right. We stayed in one of the ski in/​out condos.
1) You choose the number of days you want to ski in your ski and stay package. If you know you won’t get there early enough to ski on your first day, or will be leaving early, you can purchase fewer days of lift tickets.
2) Ski in/​out really does mean ski in and out. The landscaping was designed for this. No hiking up a ditch or through the woods. Just step out your door, put on your skis and go.
3) Price. This was a very reasonable stay last year.
4) Snow. Yes, soft snow. Snow that is snow and not white stuff that used to be snow and is now ice.
5) Trash bins. Yup, you want to take out your trash, there is an actual place to put it.
6) Furnishings in the condo. Everything was in repair. Nothing broken. Nothing dirty.
7) Gear locker. It’s heated. It has benches. The ice melts out of your bindings and you can leave your boots there if you want.
8) Hot water. They have plenty of it.
Saddleback may be missing a few amenities that other resorts have. They don’t have a spa. They don’t have hot tubs or other apres luxuries. However, they have what you need and the skiing is great.
I wrote a more detailed review for another resort because it was a recent visit. It’s been a year since I visited Saddleback, so it’s a little less fresh. I had a great time and no real complaints. However, going to another resort this year, made me appreciate Saddleback even more.

What’s not to like about this place? It’s family oriented. Bahha! the only problem, it’s not your family! It’s theirs. –1 stars. Here’s why: The mountain closes at 4 so people can get home, like all other mountains. Exceeeept, to get closed at 4, that means the black runs close at 330 and some at 320. That means that last chair is really at 310 or 305… because the chairs are slow. So, to compare apples to apples, they close at 300, nearly an hour before MRG, Wach., Sugerloaf, etc. etc. where last chair is 4pm means really, the last chair is at 4pm, maybe on the dot, but you can get up at 359pm. Did I feel ripped off, no. I had to make the most of it. Do I feel ripped off now, you be the judge. You can ski on the green runs until last chair at 355, so technically they are correct, but technically, they are not writing this review.
They offer the best ratio of runs to lift capacity (chairs/​runs) both by having a large number of runs (we’ll come to that) AND by having only low speed pair and a quad. so, slow chairs, but the views are good.
They have a huge number of runs, including Dazzler (top of Mule Skinner, a blue cat walk, probably), Mule skinner and lower mule skinner (called Nymph, which is not a black, but a green). Beawea pass and lower beawee pass (lower hudson highway), and a mess (literally, a mess) of little, short, 40 yard greens. There are about 8 less runs than the raw numbers would indicate. –1 star. There are numbered gates at the top of the Casablanca glades, which is cool, +1 star, along with waiting toboggans, which are reassuring.
Having a closed t-​bar, –0 stars. we wanted to show how horrible they are to the kid, but could not. probably a win.
The yurt is good, on moutain place to stop. Pricy but how. Quality is very good, but price is very high. The glades were very nice indeed. don’t know which ones, not well sign posted, so no bonus star, but it was close to a bonus star.
Oh, and the double black on the top of the steeps is because the lip is very steep, but otherwise, those runs are single blacks. this is an odd iconography, but the locals understand it. the path at the top is a standard, basically flat, cat walk.
we could go back, but we would go early. And we will note that time is different for them than for others.

I always have suck a blast at this mountain. It is a great place for the family, but also challenging enough for the advanced skiier. I am excited to hear about the expansion ideas. The only downfall is the main lift from the base of the mountain — it is slow and only a double. It creates a bottleneck. This forces most skiiers to not ski to the bottom of the mountain each run to avoid this lift. Other than this, this is my favorite Maine mountain

Wow! I have been living in California for the past 17 years or so, the last 9 in LA. I hadn’t skiied New England snow for over 25 years, although I grew up skiing and probably skiied Saddleback at one point in my early life. We just had a family reunion (all of my family is in the New England area), and I flew out with my son, who turned 7 on his first ski lesson day. Despite all the buildup to our trip and to learning how to ski, my Lego Star Wars Video Game-​addicted son declared, on our first day of skiing, that he did not want, under any circumstances, to learn how to ski. All of my fleece-​wearing brethren were already used to being in the snow, and I panicked: would we have to stay in the lodge all day? Would I not get to ski after 25 years? Also, I had paid $ 100 for a full day of skiing, rentals and lessons for him (pizza lunch included). Did I just have to suck it up and lose that $ 100, plus my chance to ski?
The answer was, NO! Kris at the ski school, after doing everything in her power and beyond to convince my surly kid that he would really love it, be safe, and be well-​taken-​care-​of, finally had to throw in the towel, as the morning class had started, and it was too late for us. She kindly refunded my money for the morning, let us rent the skis and practice on the bunny hill, and — angels singing — gave us the afternoon class at the group rate, but gave us a one-​on-​one instructor.
I don’t want to bore you Unilocalers, but stay with me. We got Richie Johnson, about the nicest, coolest, most patient guy I have ever met in my life. My kid, who usually only relates to female teachers/​coaches, fell in love with Richie and decided he wanted to ski with Richie the rest of our trip.
I can’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say, Saddleback bent over backwards — even broke its own back — to accommodate us. We got to have Richie for three days, and my kid now LOVES skiing. I love Saddleback. The rental guys are awesome, the ski school is outstanding, the food is actually not bad (try the fish chowder), everyone is friendly and kind. I never had to dodge snowboarders bombing down the hils. For my first time skiing in 25 years — and my son’s first time ever — this was the Mac Daddy of all ski vacations.
Thank you, Saddleback! You’re the best ever! Richie, Wylie drew a picture for you and we will send it to you as soon as we can.

The best kept secret in Maine by far! Half the price of the other resorts with amazing terrain and discounts from Monday through Friday. The new owners recently upgraded everything, from the lodge to widening the trails and opening up more glades. If you can drive to Sunday River/​Sugarloaf, you can drive to Saddleback, it’s 4.5 hours from Boston, yes a little bit of a hike, but if you’re looking for an unspoiled experience, this is definitely THE place.
New to winter sports? Take a lesson from Bouf at the ski/​ride school. Yes, his name is really Bouf and he has an amazing gravity defying ‘fro. He’ll tell you all about it while he takes you through some deadly fun chutes and double black diamond runs to the most amazing powder.
Did I mention the tasty inexpensive food/​drinks and onion rings… oh god, the onion rings *drool*.