CARRABASSETT VALLEY — Receiving more than two feet of natural snow on its trails and glades since it opened, Sugarloaf opened its summit last week. This is vastly due to a revamped and enhanced snowmaking system which includes an abundance of new snow guns, higher capacity pumps, lines and expanded snowmaking terrain.

With the 4,237 foot summit now open, Sugarloaf is reporting some of the best early season conditions in the resort's history.

In addition to high elevation skiing and riding, Sugarloaf last week opened a full-size terrain park in the Stomping Grounds, and plans to open terrain in its eastern bowl, pushing its trail count to over 90 as of Monday.

"Sugarloaf currently features the most open terrain of any resort in the east," a spokesman says.

"We've been extremely blessed with great early season snowfall, and the offseason upgrades we made to our snowmaking system have allowed us to be more aggressive during the early stages of the season," said Rich (Crusher) Wilkinson, Sugarloaf's Vice President of Operations.

"All of the factors combined have enabled us to expand our terrain faster than we ever have before."

With the cold temperatures ahead, this makes for favorable conditions for continued snowmaking and continued open terrain.