Сахарный Лоф: Крупнейший горнолыжный курорт Новой Англии

a ski resort in Maine, USA
Ski resort in Maine, USA
At 4,237 feet (1291 m) Sugarloaf Mountain is third in elevation to Maine's highest peak, Mount Katahdin. It is second to Hamlin Peak, an adjacent spur of Mt Katahdin. It has the highest peak elevation of any ski resort in New England (just 8 feet above Killington's 4,229 foot summit) and offers the only lift serviced above treeline skiing in the Northeast. As of October 2022, there were over 60 mile (97 km) of marked trails and a total of of developed trails. There were of skiable area boundary to boundary. The thirteen chairlifts have the capacity to carry 21,810 skiers per hour. There are also 162 marked trails and glades, most of which are named after logging terms in a tribute to Maine's logging history. Trails include thirty four rated as green circle (25%), forty four blue square (32%), thirty nine black diamond (28%), and twenty one rated double black diamond (15%). There are also thirty named glades, and three terrain parks. Lifts include two high speed quads, three fixed grip quads, one triple, five doubles, one T bar, and one carpet surface lift. The Sugarloaf season runs from mid November through early May.

The first trail was cut at Sugarloaf in 1950 by the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club and a group of locals known as "The Bigelow Boys". Led by Amos Winter, along with Stub Taylor, they transformed the mountain into what is today one of the largest ski areas in the Northeast. The founding of the mountain was called for by the US ski association. They hired Pheous Sprague to find a mountain in Maine. Initially, they planned to have the mountain on the Bigelow mountain range, but when Flagstaff Lake was made the plans had to be scrapped. Phin Sprague then found Amos and Stub who knew of a mountain called Sugarloaf. Many documents relating to the founding and early years now reside at the Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield, Maine. In the summer of 1950 Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club was formed and club member Amos Winter and many volunteers helped cut the first trail up Sugarloaf Mountain, appropriately named Winter's Way. It wound down the Mountain with a 1,800 vertical foot drop and was cut in many places across the hill. Amos noted later that this trail was flawed in its design.

In August 2007 Sugarloaf was sold by American Skiing Company to CNL Lifestyle Properties, to be managed by Boyne Resorts. CNL/Boyne also purchased Sunday River, another Maine ski area owned by ASC. Under new management, the resort promptly began performing overdue maintenance and upkeep that had begun to be neglected during lean ASC years. This included dismantling the old Gondola mid station building, re painting and maintaining lifts, towers, and buildings that were showing signs of neglect, and making significant upgrades to the resort's snowmaking system. Boyne Resorts also removed the "USA" from "Sugarloaf/USA." In the fall of 2009, Sugarloaf and Boyne, with the help of Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott are trying to team up with the town to help purchase a new "signature lift". Seth Wescott presented a proposal during a town meeting to see if the town would help finance for a new $10 million gondola that would run the same path as the original gondola. This led to the announcement of the resort's ten year plan, which was revealed in September 2010, going by the name Sugarloaf 2020. This plan announced expansion of sidecountry glade terrain into Brackett Basin and Burnt Mountain, areas controlled by the resort for years that were only rumored for expansion. Sugarloaf 2020 also announced many new upgrades to the mountain's snowmaking and lift systems. Lifts listed for potential upgrade included the Spillway, Double Runner, Timberline, and West Mountain chairlifts. As for new lifts, the "signature lift" was listed as well as a T Bar that would run from the top of the #3 T Bar to the summit. Brackett Basin would open immediately for Winter 2010 2011. A crew of 12 men worked clearing 60 acres of terrain from the top of the King Pine chair directly to the east of the existing Cant Dog Glade, introducing Cant Dog 2, Birler, Edger, and Sweeper Glade. Glades were woven together and emptied out at the bottom of the King Pine chair. Low angle terrain sat beneath the King Pine chair and was cleared down to the bottom of Lower Stub's, offering run outs via the Sugarloaf Nordic Center to the Snubber chair or by crossing Mountainside Road through local condominium complexes to the Whiffletree chair. Logging companies were given the opportunity to log the lower terrain. The glades opened in Winter 2010 down low included Rough Cut, Red Horse, High Ball, and Blacksmith Glade, as well as the Logging Road. The Brackett Basin project was completed in co ordination with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection so as to protect environments home to endangered species such as the Bicknell's Thrush. On January 19, 2011, the terrain accessible via the King Pine chair opened for the first time. As a result of the derailment of the Spillway East chair, it was announced that in the summer of 2011 a new fixed grip quad chairlift would replace the aged Spillway lift. That work was completed and the Skyline lift, a $3 million Doppelmayr carpet loading fixed grip quad chair, opened during the 2011 12 season. The construction process started on April 19 with chair removal on Spillway West. Spillway East continued to run until May 1. Demolition of the old Spillway chair was complete by the end of June. Construction of the new Skyline chair was completed by November 17 when the load test was conducted. Also for the 2011 ski season cutting began on phase two of the Burnt Mountain Expansion and the Drive system in the SuperQuad was upgraded from analog to digital. On Burnt Mountain, the existing Brackett Basin section saw additional trimming and cutting while the glade traverse was added this year into Phase 2. This traverse, called the Golden Road, started a hiking trail over the ridge between Sugarloaf and Burnt Mountain, offering higher entrances to Birler, Edger, and Sweeper, as well as the furthest down entrance into the Eastern Territory, a logged area mixed with glades and skidder roads on the western and northern facing, low lying slopes of Burnt Mountain. The Eastern Territory did not open in 2011 12 as more clearing needed to be done in the summer of 2012. In addition to clearing the Eastern Territory in 2012, the entrance to Brackett Basin was improved to minimize skier backups and exposure of rocks and brush through the snow. The main additions of the offseason included the purchase of 300 low energy HKD snowguns, remodeling the ski shop and renaming it the Downhill Supply Company, as well as implementing a $1.4 million irrigation system on the golf course. In 2013, 200 more low energy HKD snowguns were purchased and a new snowmaking line was put in on Gondola Line. In terms of guest experience, the lodge saw improvements to the Mountain Magic area for beginner skiers, a newer and larger hot tub was put in at the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel and the renovation of the new restaurant 45 North was completed. Additionally, the Upper West Mountain trail was widened in sections for ski team usage. Off to the skier's left of West Mountain, Greenhorn Glade was cut as a sidecountry experience, starting as a glade opening up into logged terrain as the pitch levels out, the run dumps out above the West Mountain developments. On Burnt Mountain, Phase 3 was started with the first glade cut off the summit, Androscoggin Glade, only accessible via the Burnt Mountain hiking trail at the end of the Golden Road, dumping into the Eastern Territory as a run out. It covers 68 acres and 1200 vertical feet. A new glade was cut on the main mountain as well off the skier's right on Upper Gondola Line called Gondi Glade. Finally, land was acquired off the backside of the mountain that locals had been skiing for years. These runs known as Awesome, Adrenaline Rush, Hell's Gate, and Ball and Chain offered extreme skiing with cliff drops from the backside runout to the Brackett Basin traverse in the King Pine area. In 2017, cat skiing on Burnt Mountain was announced. Starting from the log yard, the cat will travel up Burnt Mountain on the boundary line near Androscoggin Glade to the top of Burnt Mountain. Kennebec Glade was cut in 2018 to introduce another run off of Burnt Mountain.

Sugarloaf has 14 lifts and 1 magic carpet.

Name Type Builder Years of Operation Length Notes Bucksaw Double Stadeli 1969 2015 5360 Bottom terminal is now used for lift operations and snowmaking. Gondola Stage 1 Gondola 4 PHB / Hall Ski Lift 1965 1988 5900 Accident in 1986 closed this section. Gondola Stage 2 Gondola 4 PHB / Hall Lift 1965 1997 2530 Did not operate from 1988 to 1991, re built in 1992 with pillaged parts from stage 1. Spillway East Double Borvig 1975 2011 4020 Suffered a deropement on December 28, 2010, due to a misaligned cable. Spillway West Double Borvig 1983 2011 3085

On February 3, 1987, a counterweight cable on the lower section of the Gondola snapped, resulting in two injuries and subsequent rope evacuation. This resulted in the gondola's closure until 1991, when the lower section was pillaged for parts in order to reopen the upper section. The gondola closed permanently in 1997 and summit access is now provided by the Timberline Quad. On December 28, 2010, the Spillway East double chair derailed, sending some passengers on a 30 feet (9 m) fall. The accident injured 8 people and was blamed on a misaligned cable. At least one lawsuit against Sugarloaf was filed in regards to the incident. On March 21, 2015, the King Pine quad chair experienced a rollback, seriously injuring seven skiers, including three children, when a chairlift malfunctioned. Four were taken to the hospital.

Sugarloaf offers many on mountain summer activities such as golf, hiking, mountain biking, ziplines, and court sports such as tennis and basketball.

The Sugarloaf Explorer is a free public transportation system that services the resort. It features eight bus routes linking residential neighborhoods, condominiums, inns, and hotels in Carrabassett Valley with the Sugarloaf Base Lodge, the Outdoor Center, and local shops and restaurants. There are no regular service coach buses, commercial airline flights, or rail service to the mountain. The closest bus service is Augusta (80 miles), which is served by Greyhound Lines and Concord Coach Lines. The closet commercial airline service is also Augusta, which is only served by Cape Air. However, Portland International Jetport in Portland (134 miles) is served by eight different airlines, including low cost carriers such as JetBlue and AirTran Airways. Amtrak also serves Portland, with five round trip trains daily on the Downeaster.

Sugarloaf is home to three mascots: Amos the Moose, Blueberry the Bear and Pierre the Lumberjack. Amos' cabin is accessible off of the Moose Alley trail.