Stephen Kircher, President of Boyne East and John Diller, Sugarloaf General Manager announce the expansion at Burnt Mountain at a press conference last week. (Dan Cassidy photo) It’s been speculated about for a long time... And now the time has come.

Opening terrain on Burnt Mountain, just to the skier’s left as you ride the lifts at Sugarloaf is part of a major expansion that will surely make Sugarloaf Mountain right here in Maine, the largest ski resort in the east… barring none!

The announcement of the expansion at Burnt Mountain to access new terrain was the kicker at a meeting held at Sugarloaf recently. A 10-year comprehensive development plan called Sugarloaf 2020 was unveiled by John Diller, Sugarloaf General Manager and Stephen Kircher, President of Boyne East.

“In relationship to Boyne/CNL, CNL is the owner and Boyne, based out of Michigan is the tenant for the next 37 more years,” Kircher said. “We’re going to have bragging rights of having the largest ski area east of the Rockies. That is going to be a huge selling point to the State of Maine and Sugarloaf as we move forward.”

The expansion and other upgrades should attract visitors by the thousands according to Diller and Kircher.

Both Kircher and Diller outlined plans for capital improvements at the resort with new chairlifts, huge upgrades to snowmaking, base lodge improvements and additional summertime offerings that have already included zip-lines.

New zip line coming

“We really would like to get in a big zip line this fall that would be about 1,000 feet long, starting up on the Landing passing over the SuperQuad maze and you’ll land just to the west side of the base area. You’ll be able to zip right over those folks waiting to get on the lift. It will be a double line so you can race each other.”

Diller said that plans are to add another 500 snowmaking guns that will be low energy. “We’re already going into the next generation of guns to convert water into snow as cheaply as we can, and that’s what we’re working on. We’re going to double the capacity of our snowmaking which is presently almost up to 5,000 gallons a minute. We want to double that over the next 10 years, probably even the next five years, doing it in a real thought-out green way for about 50 percent of the energy costs that we would have spent three years ago.”

Another pump house to meet the demands is going to be installed, according to Diller.

Diller also spoke about adding lifts, from West Moun- tain to possibly the east. “We’re looking at a Spillway quad which would be a heavier lift that would work in the wind and would run 10 to 20 percent faster than the one we have now. We would use a magic carpet for loading to help with the speed issue and keep a lower profile, moving it a little more to the right to take advantage of the wind canopy. It’s out number one priority to get it in by next summer.”

Glade skiing isn’t new to Maine. Saddleback Mountain, Maine’s second highest ski resort opened up its Casablanca glades last season. The 40 acres of tree skiing has attracted many skiers and riders running down tight lines on natural snow. You won’t find groomed trails in the glades. What you see is what you get… natural tree-lined snow pack and that in itself is a real “hoot”!

For those of you who really don’t know what “glades” are… the dictionary defines glades as a brightness of a clearing or a gleam of light such as a bright space between clouds. Mmmm, I think the “clouds” they speak of refers to snow between the trees at Sugarloaf. Natural snow, not that man made stuff.

Glade terrain expands

The expansion is set up in three phases creating more than 270 acres of new terrain during the upcoming season and 655 acres of skiing and riding when the project is completed. Phase One of this sidecountry terrain is called “Bracket Basin,” and will be open this season for skiers and riders, according to Diller. Access to Burnt’s new terrain will be a cross-cut trail from the top of the existing King Pine Quad.

“I’ve always thought that developing Burnt was a logical expansion of Sugarloaf’s terrain,” said John Christie, former general manager and author of the Story of Sugarloaf. “I credit Boyne for doing so. And a glade makes more sense to me, and would be to Amos, I know, given the northwesterly exposure to the wind than would wide open trails.”

“It’s going to be sidecountry terrain,” Richard “Crusher” Wilkinson, Vice President of Mountain Operations, said. “You’ll traverse over as far as you can and then we’ll have a snow cat to bring skiers on a quick run up to the summit of Burnt and hopefully with enough snow, they’ll be able to ski the backside.”

Crusher said that in parts of Phase 1 and Phase 2, skiers and riders will be able to get back into the King Pine area. “Eventually you’ll be able to go all the way down to Snowbrook, crossing Bracket Brook, walk out to the road, board a shuttle bus or get on Snubber chair. That gives you the over 2,000 feet of vertical that Steve was talking about.”

“When a trail/slope is facing the northwest, from whence the strong winter winds blow, the snow gets blown off the trail and into the woods,” Christie said. “That’s why there’s so much snow in the southeast-facing snowfields. It all blew over there.”

Christie said that the popularity of glade skiing, and the Saddleback glade in particular, gives Sugarloaf reason to consider replicating the experience.

Because harvesting timber is not a major expense, Diller predicts that the cost of the expansion shouldn’t have an effect on ticket prices for the foreseeable future. At this time there are no plans to expand lift service to the area.

Sugarloaf is Maine’s second highest peak at 4,237 feet. Burnt “Hill” tops out at 3,595 feet.

“It’s definitely a great asset for Maine skiing and tourism in Maine,” said Greg Sweetser, Executive Director of Ski Maine Association. “Maine is a brand that is known world wide. Now people are going to have another vision of Maine in the wintertime.

Sweetser said that over the last three years, Maine has had the longest ski season than any state east of the Mississippi. “Starting with opening in late October and as Sugarloaf has gone into May, no other state has offered more days of skiing.”

“Now Maine will be the largest ski area in the east. This will put Sugarloaf head and shoulders above other states. It’s almost ski history as skiing has been around for over 70 years and people wanted to slide down the hill and they cut a few trees and they were on natural snow. Now Sugarloaf has this cycle of history and its major expansion will be about the snow. The demand has been to get back to natural snow,” Sweetser said.

When riding bikes, skateboards, white water rafting or rock climbing, use your head and don’t forget to wear a helmet.