How to Ski Sunday River

By Heather Burke - reprinted with permission from FamilySkiTrips.com

If you are anywhere near the Greater Boston area and listen to the radio from November to March, you are sure to hear the jingle “Take Me To The River." Sunday River - that is. And you really must experience this trend setting, snowmaking capital in Maine. This is the "Vail of the East" with rides galore, and snow falling from the sky daily - with or without Mother Nature's help. This mega resort handles the crowds efficiently and here are some tips to moving around the mountains to maximize your skiing experience.

Sunday River ski resort is sprawling. It consists of eight unique mountain areas and four different base areas.

First you must choose your base area, where to park, etc. If you require rentals, plan to utilize ski lesson programs, children’s ski camps or daycare you should head to South Ridge Base Area. This is the main hub, plenty of parking, all the services you will need, even the Foggy Goggle (a great après ski spot with a view up the slopes).

To get the best parking, you do want to arrive when the lifts open (which is generally 8am weekends and holidays and 9am during the week).

Barker Mountain, the original base area, is a less encumbered camp ideal for simply buying a ticket and jumping on the detach quad. The lodge has been recently upgraded with a sunny deck to capture great views up Locke and Barker Mountains.

As a 3rd option, you may choose to start your day at the White Cap Base Area. This is home to Shipyard's Brewpub, yet another fun lunch spot or après-ski bar and Nite Cap Fun Center in the evening, with tubing, ice-skating and guided snowshoe tours.

The Jordan Grand base area is simply too remote to consider from 10 Peaks.

Sunday River marketing claims “It’s not unusual for a Sunday River skier to get in 20 or more runs per day, even on weekends.” I am here to verify that is not just marketing, but truth! Many days, we have garnered over 30 runs. This is the finest lift system in the East. But you should have a plan and a trail map in your pocket to accomplish such a knee weary day.

Lets talk turkey, because I spoke with plenty of them out there, skiers going from one area to the next, pushing, cursing, and sweating…not skiing. Words to the wise - do not spend time traversing back and forth between mountain areas. There is simply no need.

All 18 lifts are extremely well placed, and the trails are designed with ideal fall line and no run outs. When you want to move across the resort, don’t push your way past the next lift pod. Ski to the base of it, ride up and you will always be getting more good vertical. You can waste a lot of time and energy sliding horizontally when you could be capturing vertical as you systematically work your way from one base area to the next. I know this sounds like common sense, but we spoke to and watched many lemmings all weekend doing the “Sunday River shuffle”. Some of the traverses are slightly uphill, that is negative skiing, which should be avoided at all costs.

Here is one approach to maximize vertical and avoid crowds. Start your day at the South Ridge base area and jump on the detachable quad. Exit to your right at the top and enjoy a short jaunt down to the North Peak Express Quad.

From the summit of North Peak ski down Grand Rapids, Escapade or American Express down to the the Spruce Peak triple. All there are nice cruisers, groomed nightly with an eastern exposure for early morning light!

Ride the Spruce Peak Triple and take a run on the long, sweeping descent of American Express. Halfway down take a hard left and cut just above the North Peak Lodge to the blue square Paradigm (or Quantum Leap if you are ready for a moguled black diamond). Both trails will deliver you to the base of the Aurora Peak quad.

At the top of Aurora you will discover 2 advanced-intermediate trails. Start down Northern Lights and near the bottom take a hard left turn to Firestar. TAke some speed across the short flats and you will find yourself at the very popular Jordan Bowl.

As this hi-speed quad comes in for a landing at the summit be ready for an eyeful of the majestic Mt. Washington to the Southeast and sister Sugarloaf to the North!

While you are in Jordan Bowl, ski ‘em all. Lollapalooza is one of the longest, prettiest runs featuring 1.5 miles of mellow cruising and awesome views. Rogue Angel and Excalibur are both blue/black rolling fun trails, impeccably groomed as a rule, as is most of Sunday River. iCaramba! brings back the classic, narrow, bumped-up, under the lift challenge for the exhibitionists with elastic knees. For the tree-hugger, Blind Ambition is a fun and gentle glade with plenty of wide-open spaces to maneuver. Then move on to Wizard’s Gulch for wilder glades.

Once you have “done the bowl”, travel to OZ. Interesting to note that atop OZ you are at the highest Sunday River elevation of 3,140ft. This trail network is a return to classic New England skiing. Emerald City and Lost Princess are dotted with birch groves, while tree lovers should try double black diamond glades called Flying Monkeys,. Ruby Palace is a true lift line trail for the hard-core. Looking for open space? Try Eureka, located in between all this wild glade action. No Dorothy you are not in Kansas anymore.

Ready to exit back toward the main base are to look for some lunch? Time to look for "Kansas," this is one of those flat trails that is simply impossible to entirely avoid. But as you traverse back and get to the Aurora area you can still get a nice run by dropping down Northern Lights or Airglow to take you back into the Aurora Peak Basin.

Now you have experienced the popular Jordan Bowl and OZ, and you are well ahead of the crowds. Time to explore Aurora Peak some more. Take an exhilarating trip down Vortex, which is often bumped up, with quite a pitch. Sometimes they will groom one side of Vortex.

Lights Out is the most common way to exit Aurora, but I recommend another great run like Airglow, maybe a detour into Black Hole which some argue is the steepest section on all of Sunday River or a pretty slip through the woods on Celestial Glade will round out your Aurora experience. From the base of Aurora, ride up Lift #3 (the Quantum Leap triple) and bid farewell to Aurora & Jordan Bowl. No tears please, there is plenty more great skiing in store for you.

You have not reached the summit of North Peak (in an unconventional manor), take a long, gentle cruiser down Dream Maker (one of my favorites) or jump into the intermediate moguls on 3-D. Ride the North Peak Quad and you may find yourself smelling the barbecue on the sunny deck at North Peak Lodge. Run count by lunch may be as many as 15 - 22. A “legal day” already. Another old skiing proverb, lunch early, so you may ski while others wait in cafeteria line.

The Barker quad is a great destination during the traditional noon lunch hour. This original site of Barker Mountain Ski Area is serviced by a detachable quad, which launches you across a snowmaking water pond. There is much exciting terrain to carve on Barker including black diamond and usually groomed Right Stuff and double black diamond Top Gun (sometimes groomed) and double diamond, hardly ever groomed, lift line Agony (the name says it all).

Last Tango is acclaimed to be the biggest, widest glade trail here, it gets tighter if you hang in there, but you can always bail on to Right Stuff.

As the crowds reemerge from lunch, time to ride the Locke Mountain triple, originating from the same base as the Barker quad, it gets you to another grand vista. “Those little ski areas in the distance are Mount Abram and Shawnee Peak. After a great cruiser down the wide-open Sunday Punch, try T2 or Bim’s Whim for a fun little excursion then bang a right on to Snowbound and you are finally at the legendary White Heat area.

The White Heat quad rarely sees a lift line and the White Heat trail is still acclaimed to be the “longest, steepest, widest, lift-serviced trail in the East.” Riding up the lift watching skiers bash the bumps is often more fun than skiing down. If you take a left off the lift, you are in NFT, No Fall Terrain, and this is no joke. A fall here and the ensuing slide can have disastrous results on terrain this steep. You will notice how the Ski Patrol hang out at the top of these slopes. A coincidence? I think not.

Obsession has an action packed blend of steeps and compressions or Salvation to skier’s right, both are better choices for the timid. White Heat has a nearly 70% pitch that is threatening and constant. I chose the groomed half of the trail, while my husband explodes in the enormous bumps.

Another super steep challenge awaits you on Shockwave, the farthest east trail at Sunday River, this is another true double black diamond. For some gnarly glades, try Hardball or Chutzpah, which was selected as one of the 10 most extreme runs in the East by Skiing magazine. You have now skied 8 mountain peaks across 3 miles from West to East. When you are weary from White Cap, head for Heats Off to Tempest under the quad.

If the North Peak lodge did not tempt you for lunch, The Shipyard at the White Cap base area is a great spot for a burger and beer, and ahhh- table service. If you are up for some real mellow cruising, point them down Moonstruck or Starburst.

To starting heading back to the South Ridge area, take the Tempest quad to Wildfire or Cascade back to Barker Mountain.

If you want to end on a lazy note, the Three Mile Trail is a less than vertical experience from the top of Barker Mountain to sauntering Dream Maker past the North Peak Lodge all the way back to the South Ridge base. Use some caution in the South Ridge base area, as this is the learning area, a confusing network of green trails scattered with beginners and ski school classes and more advanced skiers zooming to their destinations.

An important note: Sunday River snowmakers tend to make a nice layer of fresh powder on a few select trails each night. Seek a snow report or consult a knowledgeable Sunday River Patroller or Ambassador for the scoop. Skiing this freshly made powder is like nothing else you have experienced in you skiing lifetime. They call it Sunday River Snow and it deserves a name of its own, like talcum powder on a baby’s bottom. The Gods intended snow to be this good.

There is a great day in a nutshell. These are not steadfast rules, just one way to get maximum vertical and maximum fun from your ski day (we could do it again entirely differently and still have an awesome day).

There are some great runs that will have you thinking, “I could ski that all day”, but around the next corner and up the next quad is yet another assortment of exceptional terrain. Forrest Gump would find Sunday River is like a box of chocolates. Get to know the mountain, and have at it.

Hot Trail Picks

Best Trails by Ability
Long, Mellow Cruisers
Lollapalooza
Dream Maker
Moonstruck

Fun and Friendly Intermediate Runs
Too many to name, 3 of my personal favorites:
American Express
Sunday Punch
Rogue Angel

Great Steeps
Shockwave
Airglow to Black Hole
White Heat
Wild Bumps
iCarumba!
Agony
White Heat

Ski Sunday River Ski Area

Official Ski Area Web Site

Sunday River Ski Area, Maine

How to Ski Sunday River