Ski Trip To Maine – Black Mountain, Saddleback & Sugarloaf

PHOTO: Bria in the trees. Saddleback Mountain, Rangeley, Maine has many acres of glades for lots of fun tree skiing. We found a lot of joy in the Dark Wizard and Intimidator Glades. Saddleback has 68 trails and a drop of 2,000 vertical feet. Just a short way down the road from the ski resort is the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center, which has over 50 kilometers of groomed cross country skiing. These resorts are part of the IndySkiPass.com network of independent alpine and xc ski resorts, Indy Pass.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Last winter we took a day trip to Saddleback and we vowed we would make plans to come back next winter. Bria and I planned this ski trip last summer with our decision to rent a cabin in Eustis, Maine for a couple nights. Bria made a few clicks on her cellphone and found us a place. Months later as our reservation date came near we rallied our husbands to join us.
Our plan was to ski Sunday at Black Mountain of Maine, Monday at Saddleback and Tuesday at Sugarloaf.
The rest of us all have the full Indy Pass that gives us two days at over 120 independent resorts. Black Mountain and Saddleback are on the Indy Pass, Indyskipass.com.
Charlie is only cross country skiing and he purchased the Nordic Indy Pass. Black Mountain of Maine Nordic and Rangeley Lakes Trail Center are part of the Indy Pass family.

We invited our friend Danielle to join us since she has an Indy Pass too. She couldn’t miss work but was happy to go on a day trip with us on Sunday. I caught a ride to Black with her so Charlie could arrive later in the day to cross country ski.
Bria and Jeremy wanted to ski in the morning at Mt. Abram in Bethel on their way to Black. This winter they are offering $35 dollar lift tickets on the weekends–made possible by L.L.Bean. This small ski area has 1,150 feet of vertical drop.
Black has a long history beginning in the 1920’s with a ski jump and Nordic trails supported by the Chisholm Ski Club. Today there is a triple chairlift to the summit and offers 1,380 feet of vertical. There are 17 kilometers of groomed trails. The resort is a non-profit and operates Thursdays through Sundays and selected Wednesdays through the winter.
Danielle and I checked in at the ticket office to redeem our passes and I signed up for the fun race, only five dollars! We hit the slopes and skied every groomed trail. The mountain was 100% open but overnight the snow had frozen and a crust formed on the snow left natural. We most wisely stayed off that tricky snow. The lift was running full and the lift line was less than a minute or two.
Bria & Jeremy arrived as we were finishing our early lunch. There was no lunch line at 11:30am and we needed a break. We all then went right out to ski and it began to snow hard.
I had watched them set up the race course and thought that can’t possibly be the fun course. It was a fast top to bottom set on their race trail–Kennebec to Androscoggin trails. I jumped in the race and it was fast and fun. There were a few kids in speed suits that were really fast. Also, a lot of little kids and others like me are just trying to ski fast for fun.
The four of us skied together until almost closing. Danielle and I made 16 runs, almost 18,000vf. Charlie was done cross country skiing too and he was waiting for us in the lodge.
Way back in 1993 Charlie and I competed in the United State National Cross Country Championships held at Black. Bates College held their college carnival races here in January. Charlie had a good cross country ski and it was nice to recall some good memories.
Danielle headed back home to New Hampshire. We drove in the snowstorm to Rangeley and then to our sweet little rental log cabin in Eustis.
Bria prepared us a yummy pasta bake dinner. I served my mother’s blueberry pie for dessert. We watched a movie and went to bed early.
We made it to Saddleback as the lifts were opening at 9 am. About 5 inches of new snow covered the slopes and the sun was peeking out. The three of us really enjoyed the new snow. Saddleback skis really big with its 2000 foot vertical drop and its big vista over the Rangeley Lakes that reaches far. Yes we could even see Mt. Washington. And not far above the lift terminals and the trees the Appalachian Trail crosses the bare summit of Saddleback Mountain.

I didn’t see any closed trails and we watched the ski patrol drop the ropes on the glades. We had a yippee kind of day. No lift lines on a Monday morning, we felt like we had the trails to ourselves most of the time. We made an honest effort to ski every trail but we did ski a couple of our favorites of the Kennebago Steeps. We skied everything between Tight Line and Mule Skinner. Oh, the glades were so much fun, the powder snow just piled up in the trees.
Charlie spent the morning at the cabin playing his guitar and practicing his German with Duolingo. He had a great ski, the classic tracks were perfect. The Nordic Center is just a little ways down the road from the ski resort. He knows the trails well there because we have skied in the Rangeley Lakes marathon a few times.
I met Charlie in the pub just past 3pm, I had skied 21 runs and over 23,000 vf. Bria and Jeremy stayed out for a couple more runs.
Jeremy had to head home to go back to work. Charlie drove us back to our cabin and it started snowing again.
We happily ate leftovers for supper and we went off to bed early again.

In the morning I had to brush the snow off the car before we loaded up all our stuff. We cleaned up and said goodbye to our cabin. Charlie dropped us off at Sugarloaf and he went off to the Nordic Center.
It was a lot colder and windier than the previous two days and more people were on the trails than the day before. A big elite junior downhill race was being held on Narrow Gauge and race training on the Competition Hill.
We got our tickets and headed up to do laps on the high speed Sugarloaf Superquad that delivers an amazing 1,750 vf for each lift ride. Timberline lift to the summit was closed due to the wind. Sugarloaf boasts a summit elevation of 4,237 feet and a continuous vertical drop of 2,820 feet.
The snow was firmer with some wind blown powder and it was cold. We made sure our faces were completely covered. The black diamond Hayburner Trail really held its snow all morning.
Most people skied past it to ski the less steep trails.
We made it over to the King Pine lift and the snow there looked like the snowfields above the treeline, well probably because it is near the treeline–lots of big chucks of packed powder dotted the upper part of the trails.
We noticed around 11 o’clock that there were a lot less people out on the slopes. I am guessing the locals all went home for the day. Nothing beats mid-week day skiing.
We skied 15 runs and, to our amazement, logged in 26,000 vf! We met Charlie at the lodge at 2:30 and it was our turn to drive back home to New Hampshire.
On our way home we stopped at Moose Alley in Rangeley: a family run entertainment business with state of the art bowling–ten lanes, billiards and an arcade. We ate good comfort food in their Cafe. Fun for the whole family.
Reminds me a little of that Funspot I like in the Weirs!
Have fun.