# Sunday River:  February 6-11, 2005



## thetrailboss (Feb 15, 2005)

*Date(s) Skied: *   February 7-11, 2005

*Resort or Ski Area: * Sunday River Resort, Newry, Maine

*Conditions: *   3 days of soft spring snow and warm temps 8) ,  2 incredible powder days!!!   

*Trip Report: *  Because peope look for different things in a ski vacation, I will include the following:

a.  Ski Days.
b.  Perfect Turn Clinics.
c.  Eatin' and entertainment.

*The Skiing*:  We booked our trip in November hoping for prime conditions and instead got three great spring skiing days and two epic powder days...to have this combo in a vacation is usually impossible, but it happened and I am still thrilled!    Before skiing, I took Ms. Trailboss for a mini tour in our car on Sunday afternoon.  Her mouth dropped when she saw the South Basin and I said, "this is less than half of the place."  We did manage to drive the rough road to Jordan for a sneak peek and she again was taken aback.  "This place is huge."  With that, we watched the Superbowl and got a good night's rest.  

*Monday saw temps in the 40's under blue skies.*  The snow was soft, so I took her on a tour of the place.  We hit fresh grooming on Monday Mourning and Right Stuff before heading over to Spruce Peak and hitting Am Express and Risky Business.  After a quick spin down Northern Lights, we headed over to the Jordan Bowl where Ms. Trailboss fell in love with the wide Lollapalooza, Excalibur, and Rogue Angel.  Trailboss attempted Upper Wizard's Gulch, but found thin cover before ducking out onto !Caramba!.  It was quite warm.  Trailboss' lesson in the afternoon was on the slopes of Barker and Ms. Trailboss braved the bumps on 3D for her lesson.  

By the time we arrived on the slopes at 8:30 *Tuesday morning, it was already sprinkling*.  The parking lot at Barker was empty and we boarded the lift at 8:45.  Both of us enjoyed the soft, fresh grooming on Sunday Punch, Right Stuff, and Cascades.  By 10:30 it was raining at a steady pace and Trailboss was getting wet.  We headed in for a short break before hitting some runs at South Ridge.  We warmed up at North Peak Lodge before taking one last run down Grand Rapids to Barker.  "I'm wet and I can't see," I said, "Wanna hit the hot tub?"  Our day on the slopes ended at 12:30pm as opposed to Monday's full 9-4 shift.  In hindsight, it was good that we called it quits because I would not have been able to go as hard as I did later in the week...though I was bummed that it was raining   

*Things were cold, clammy, and dreary at the start of Wednesday*, but we found the exceptional grooming that we had grown accustomed to on Barker before we headed towards Jordan.  We hit Aurora after coming down Sirius off of Spruce Peak to find ungroomed icy/frozen snow and fog as thick as that found on the cost.  It was not nice at all and Ms. Trailboss was bummed that we could not head to Jordan.  "How about we head to White Cap?"  I asked and so we did taking one long run down Downdraft and Roadrunner to the White Cap Quad just in time for the skies to open up and the sun to send the temps into the high 30's!     8) We warmed up in the sun as we took our first ride on the lift.  "Now this is what I call skiing!" Ms. Trailboss exclaimed before taking some nice turns on the soft snow that we found on Tempest.  Wildfire was getting thin.  From here we enjoyed soft snow on Obsession and Trailboss hit the famous White Heat before going down Shock Wave, an old favorite of his.  The latter was showing the effects of the warmer temps...rocks and ledge poked through the crests and one had to be careful but otherwise the bumps were soft and the sun was incredible!    Taking Salvation, Trailboss snapped some pics before they headed back down to the White Cap base to find the Little White Heat Quad spinning and FRESH GROOMING   on the short runs that it served.  It was 11am and I easily convinced Ms. Trailboss to board the lift to sample this area.  "This is the place to be...soft snow, sun, stay here," the liftie said and we did taking runs on what some would consider lesser runs.  Ms. Trailboss swooned as we made first tracks down Moonstruck and later Green Cheese.  The snow was incredible!  From here we headed to our lessons...Trailboss' instructor (Merrill) kicked it up by taking us for two "circle" runs down White Heat   .  I gained quite a bit from that lesson!  After this, I hit Shock Wave again with some new friends from my lesson before taking two more runs at Barker and calling it quits just before 4pm.  

Later that night I watched the groomers do their magic on Barker as the clouds rolled in.  And then it came.  In the silence of night, the powder came.  I awoke at 4am to find that it was snowing hard...3 inches on the ground.  By the time we awoke * on Thursday morning * and got out the door, that had grown to 6.  I stared at the mountain in disbelief...it was snowing hard and we were all grinning.  Our first few runs down South Ridge were incredible...fresh grooming covered in six inches of pow!      But it was   STILL SNOWING and SNOWING HARD!!.  Ms. Trailboss became overwhelmed on her first powder day and we stopped at North Peak.  "I know you may be sore and miss grooming, but remember this day," I said because it was her first powder day ever.  Grand Rapids, Escapade, even Broadway were in excellent shape.  The runs we did later off of Aurora and Jordan were even deeper...it was snowing twice as hard on that side where the air was colder.  By the time we made it back to South Ridge, my goatee was covered in ice and my neck gator had frozen from the snow/perspiration.  The skiing was intense.  My lesson was in the Aurora Peak area with Merrill where we worked on powder/chowder skiing technique.  Our last run was to be in Eureka, but we opted to head home when we stood at the top to find white out conditions.    

*Friday morning we found many locals had dug themselves out to do some skiing*.  The wind was whipping and White Cap, Jordan, and Aurora were all closed because of it forcing the crowds to Barker and South Ridge.  Everyone was smiling and who wouldn't?  It had dumped all day and all night...somewhere between 20 and 30 inches.  The snow had settled nicely and was about the consistency of flour.  Ms. Trailboss got tired because she had wore herself out in the powder the day before, so we opted to take the morning lessons after a couple spins on South Ridge and Spruce Peak (Downdraft had ice on one side and four/five foot powder drifts on the other).  I had a one-on-one lesson with Don and we hit groomed powder on Escapade and Grand Rapids where I worked on my technique.  But we could not resist and hit KNEE DEEP powder bumps on 3D!    We yelled as we bounded through the first headwall.  "I should be paying you for this experience," Don said with a smile.   Before the morning was out we had hit the miniglades on South Ridge and done some great powder skiing.  After lunch, I hit Barker (which had been closed on and off during the day due to wind) and found incredible powder in Last Tango and some big bumps on Agony.  By this point I was fatigued...I had to stop almost every 100 yards from exhaustion.  After a bad fall on EASY STREET (of all trails), Trailboss opted to do some mellow runs on North Peak and South Ridge (Dream Maker, Last Mile, Escapade) before calling it a day.  We both limped off the mountain grinning from ear to ear...it had been intense and incredible...the memories of our first ski vacation will not die anytime soon!   :wink: 

The goods:  

Excellent size and variety kept us entertained...no need to ski anywhere else!  

Good value!  We got lesson, lift tix, and on mtn lodging for under $300 per person (before taxes/service fees).  

The conditions were sweet.  

Cons:

Crowds on Friday when the wind kicked in.  

Some confusion on the booking agent's part.  

It did not last long enough!

*Perfect Turn Lessons*  Trailboss took expert clinics taught during the week by Mad Mike, Merrill, and Don.  The latter two did an excellent job helping me (Mad Mike kind of forgot about me at times it seemed).  The group I had was pretty consistent throughout the week (Marc and Louise from Montreal, Dick from CT, Dan from Boston, Kevin from Nova Scotai) and they were fun to ski with.  I had scoffed at the idea of taking lessons (since I had not done so since the early 1990's), but they did an excellent job helping me!      We were able to pick the terrain and skills that we wanted to work on.  Ms. Trailboss made progress as well and enjoyed hers, but wished she had more consistency regarding who was her instructor.   :-? 

*Entertainment*  We watched the Superbowl at Les Otten's new restaurant, The Phoenix, which is directly across the road from South Ridge.  Excellent place (Mr. Otten was there himself).  Supper on Monday was at the Sunday River Brewery, Tuesday was the Bethel Inn, Weds at The Matterhorn (excellent), and Thursday at Legends in the Grand Summit (thanks in part to a gift card from ASC and the snow).  All were quite good in menu choices and service.  The free Comedy Night at White Cap on Thursday was fun...though Saturdays was getting shopworn!


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## Greg (Feb 15, 2005)

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the report; now where are the pics?!


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## thetrailboss (Feb 15, 2005)

Greg said:
			
		

> Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the report; now where are the pics?!



Being developed.  We are still in the artsy-stoneage era of film!


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## MichaelJ (Feb 16, 2005)

And I must thank you for that wonderful snowstorm, because Saturday and Sunday were *terrific* !!! I just have to keep practicing until I'm a good enough skier to hit all those other fantastic trails.

I posted a report as a reply in this thread and I have a small set of pictures here.

Gotta get offline and get to work ... dang!


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## Brettski (Feb 16, 2005)

My favorite eastern resort...haven't been since they opened Aurora

Suprised you didn't mention all the "negatives"...like there's no ski town...

I always thought that was a benefit...you're there to ski...so If you have an energy left..then you weren't skiing...(ok, ok, there's that 20's thing)

Plus, there's always the Sunday River Brewing Company...please say they're still there...

We were in North Conway one year....and the temps went up in to the 50's for a couple of days...then poured down rain and temps dropped 20-25 degrees...everything was bullet proof...but not the river..

They can recover faster than any mountain I have ever seen....bar none...

If you go...the Hotels are cool with the outdoor pool and jazuzzi (bring your own booze....the margarita prices are steeper than the heat)

BUT I loved staying in the Northridge townhomes....ski right to your back door...crack a brew, have lunch and your gone...

The BEST slopside lodging....Smugglers is great as well for lodging and skiing...but it's not fair to compare...


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## thetrailboss (Feb 16, 2005)

Brettski said:
			
		

> Suprised you didn't mention all the "negatives"...like there's no ski town...



Well, when you come from Northern Vermont anything is great for entertainment  :wink:   Seriously, we found plenty of dining and entertainment options for us...laid back 20 somethings who love to ski.  The service and folks were all great.  The Matterhorn Pub was a Trailboss fav.  The comedy was great as well on mountain.  

Les Otten is now running the aptly named "Phoenix" which was nice.  

I had a hard time coming up with negatives...my legs are still aching from that powder...oh yeah...my head is still there as well!   :wink:


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## Brettski (Feb 16, 2005)

Well it's been awhile...And I'm sure they added on....Comedy club?

Sunday River for us was all about the mountains...staying slopeside..and making massive home cook feasts...and drinking to fell asleep in front of the fireplace...put on some Jean Luc Ponty and you were toast...

What's the Phoenix?

Don't tell me a good old Hoboken boy from Jersey Mountain Mogul is now a restaunteur...

He's the reason the river is as great as it is....

I'm dying to get back and ski oz for the first time..and are all the trails on oz like one big wide open wide open wood skiing?


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## thetrailboss (Feb 16, 2005)

Brettski said:
			
		

> What's the Phoenix?
> Don't tell me a good old Hoboken boy from Jersey Mountain Mogul is now a restaunteur...



BINGO!!!  (Holds up smelly sock as a prize...sorry low budget operation) :lol:  :wink: 

An aptly named place...get it?  The Phoenix rose from its own ashes after it died...so LBO gets ousted from ASC, buys a piece of land at the END of the South Ridge parking lot and builds a restaurant overlooking the mountain he owned an developed.  Pretty sad and ironic isn't it?    

As for Oz, everytime I have skied there it has SUCKED.  It is too exposed and the snow gets blown off...some locals last week confirmed.  A nice attempt though on his part  :wink: .  I'd say hit Jordan or White Cap.  Shockwave was SWEET last week.

Hope I did not scare you away with the long PM about Burke...feel free to send me more questions.


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## Brettski (Feb 16, 2005)

OZ must be great when they get dumped on...

I remeber the year (ok, maybe not the year) when shcowave was first opened...

They still got that 15 foot headwall anout a 1/3 of the way down?

And black hole...man you carry some speed through there...

Houston...we have lift off....

Damn...am I jonesen

And yes..poor Les..a mere mortal now...should've stuck with 1 mountain (oh wait, 7) 

Best trail system in the east....

What the Jordan Grand like...I hope it's nicer than the Summit


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## Brettski (Feb 16, 2005)

Good Lord...tell Les to hire a Web Designer

http://www.phoenixhouseandwell.com/index.html

I'd take care of the database backend...but it doesn't appear he'd need one

EDIT: At least it seems popular...but it was his house...dude...

http://www.familyskitrips.com/Pages/MaineSkiDining.htm


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## MichaelJ (Feb 16, 2005)

Actually, my friends and I were all talking about the "ski town" difference between Sunday River and Killington. We think of it mainly in terms of restaurants - how K has a zillion options along the access road, including our favorite, The Garlic, vs. how SR has so little, and even though one of them is the Brewery, which is highly redemptive, we noticed that the menu has been changed around and it's all pub food now - the dinner options are all bbq.

But it's remarkable that at K you could go out to a great dinner every night for a week and never repeat, while at SR it's far more tempting to just hit the grocery store and stay in at the condo.

And yes - slopeside ski-in ski-out condos *rock* !


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## thetrailboss (Sep 4, 2005)

At looonngg last:  *the pictures from the trip!!!*

Enjoy!


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## ga2ski (Sep 5, 2005)

thetrailboss said:
			
		

> At looonngg last:  *the pictures from the trip!!!*
> 
> Enjoy!



Thanks.  Nice pictures.  i love to see others experiences at my home away from home.


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## Vortex (Sep 6, 2005)

Any new ski pictures help.  You picked a great week.


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## bvibert (Sep 6, 2005)

Took ya long enough! 

Nice pics!  Makes me wish it were Winter already even more!


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