Terrain	4.3
Service	4.3
Crowds	5.0
Activities	3.0
Value	5.0
Overall Rating	4.3

3 Viewer Reviews

Darryl K. Lewis from Jamaica, New York	Mar 18, 2008
Overall Rating:  3.8

SkiTown Review

Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. My perspective is focused on the actual skiing experience (terrain, crowd, and snow factors), and not so much on the ancillary aspects surrounding skiing. I am a middle-age advanced skier with no interest in jumping off cornices or cliffs. I will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air, but thats about the extent of it. I venture in and out of moderate mogul fields in an attempt to become a better all-around skier, but I tend not to spend a majority of my ski day dealing with the bumps. If I had to describe the type of skier with which I most closely identify, it would be a high speed cruiser who enjoys medium to giant slalom turns. Three other ski buddies and I just finished a one week skiing trip in the wilds of northwest Maine. The locals were saying that the 2007-2008 ski season brought the most snow seen in 10 to 15 years. We skied Sugarloaf USA (The Loaf) and Saddleback mountains and were the timely benefactors of this humongous snowfall. All trails on both mountains were completely covered and open. With that said, here are my impressions of Saddleback:

Terrain: Rated 4.0:
In this region The Loaf gets all the play and publicity, but you can rest assured that Saddleback is not just another chump-change mountain. At 2,000 vertical feet and 440 acres, it represents a potential major player in the eastern ski scene. The Loaf is currently bigger than Saddleback, but although it has its Snowfields, an additional 820 feet of vertical, and the extra 211 acres; Saddleback packs the same excitement. The statistical advantage held by The Loaf may only be temporary, and that is according to the prospective Saddleback development plan for their West Bowl on the right of the mountain and their False Peak Bowl on the left.

As an advanced skier, never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be singing the praises of a green circled beginner trail. Saddleback has one of the most enjoyable and interesting beginner trail that I have ever skied. The trail is called Hudson Highway, and it starts almost at the summit and winds through the woods with all kinds of twists, turns, and switchbacks. It ends maybe 100 or so yards from the base lodge. Initially you will have to skate or pole some to get started, which is typical when skiing most beginner trails. But then begins the constant but moderate descent without any flat areas throughout its entire length. Rank beginners may control their speed by snowplowing (wedging or what is now called pizza), and making S turns. The fun for advanced and expert skiers is to ride a flat ski and constantly pick up speed. Soon your descent becomes similar to a scenic bobsled run with all the twists and turns and snow walls of what could be considered a mild but crookedly extended modified half-pipe. What added to the excitement was that it narrowed and became a classic New England trail. It is long and fun, and listed at 9,800 feet. It was so nice, we had to do it twice.

Just to the right of the summit are three super cruisers that are side-by-side; Silver Doctor, Blue Devil, and Red Devil. The conditions were superb, and the steepness of their initial headwalls generate a great deal of speed. In all my years of skiing, I may have skied faster than I had ever gone before. Saddleback has bump runs, thick glades and thicker glades. The Dark Wizard glades are adjacent to the Kennebago T-bar to the summit. At many selected points along the T-bar route you are allowed to jump off and enter the glades. The terrain at Saddleback certainly lacks very little.


Service: Rated 4.0:
Saddleback has a brand new base lodge which is extremely user friendly. It has several levels, but you can still find everything inside of the lodge (no standing outside in front of a booth trying to purchase a lift ticket) and on the same main floor. It is therefore not necessary to clunk up and down stairs in your ski boots. For once, this is a lodge that provides cubbies that are adjacent to the dining tables and large enough to fit huge bags and footwear. All the staff, from those issuing lift tickets to cafeteria cashiers, were extremely pleasant, helpful, and friendly. I had my usual bowl of chili and I can confirm that it was definitely better than what I received at The Loaf. It had a slight spicy kick and I could at least find some meat.

Relatively new skiers to this sport would give Saddleback poor service scores due to the use of two T-bars which serve major portions of the mountain. I enjoyed riding those T-bars, especially since I havent ridden one in over 22 years. It gives the resort a retro feeling and a skiing like it used to be mystique. For those of you who may hate T-bars, you will be rewarded for the 2008-2009 ski season with the replacement of the Kennebago T-bar by a chair lift.

Crowds: Rating 5.0:
Unfreakin-believable! Superb conditions and nobody was there. I could almost count the number of skis outside of the base lodge on the ski racks. No lift lines! No cafeteria lines! Sit anywhere you want in the lodge? That is truly rare. On each run down the mountain we may have encountered five to ten other skiers. We had a camera with us and rode to the top of the Royal Coachman lift, hoping to find a fellow skier to take our group picture. There were gaps of 5 to 6 unoccupied chairs before we could find an occupied chair. Unfreakin-believable!

Activities: Rating 1.0:
Saddleback appeared to have one small terrain park, but besides the great skiing, that was about it. This place is surrounded by beautiful lakes, but it is truly in the boondocks! Rangeley is nice, but it is a one-horse town. Farmington, Maine is the largest town in the vicinity, and is over 40 miles away with only a population of approximately 7,400. Listen, we are not talking megalopolis here. To survive this region during the winter, you have to be a skier, boarder, snowmobiler, or ice fisherman; and that is it!!!

Value: Rating 5.0:
This is the area where Saddleback is unbeatable. Compared to other ski resorts, the on mountain dining at Saddleback is extremely reasonable. Many of the resorts accessible to the New York City area (Catskill and Pocono mountains) charge almost 48% more for lift tickets than what Saddleback requests that you pay. When you compare these mountains to Saddleback, they are mere mole hills of 800 to 1,000 vertical feet. Heaven help us when the discussion turns to the premier resorts of Vermont. They charge 100% or twice the amount compared to ticket prices at Saddleback. There is also a host of Saddleback promotion days where the low ticket price is discounted even more (e.g. Mens Day is Wednesday and Womens Day is Monday, where you can purchase an all day lift ticket for $25). Saddleback grants discounted lift tickets to local lodging facilities. We stayed at the Rangeley Lake Resort and purchased our tickets at their front desk for $25, no matter what day it was. When Saddleback begins to implement their development plans, I am sure that these bargains will not continue. You had better get there as soon as possible while it is still a great ski hill as well as a steal.

In summary: I enjoyed my skiing experience immensely at Saddleback. When the conditions are good, you couldnt ask for a better ski experience east of the Rockies. Since my focus is on the actual skiing experience, between The Loaf and Saddleback, I could not decide which one I enjoyed the most.

Andre Corkum from Halifax, Nova Scotia, CDN	Dec 2, 2006
Overall Rating:  4.2

Very nice moderate sized mountain. Low cost alternative to Sugarloaf and very affordable, no lift lines and very nice new lodge. New on hill condos and nice selections of Inns, motels and cabins in the beautiful surround area with lots of lakes.

S. Williams from Cumberland, ME	Nov 3, 2005
Overall Rating:  5.0

Saddleback has gone through many changes, the lodge is beautiful!! More trails and lifts, new owners recently and they are just doing everything right. It is not a flashy mountain but just a fun family place! They are building some nice condos, hotel plans delayed but will eventually come. And they are keeping the locals in mind when they make their changes so EVERYBODY is happy! Great family fun, great value!