- T.D. THORNTON
Satisfying highway cruising
Sugarloaf’s Tote Road is a classic Maine 3-plus mile cruiser on a wide boulevard with mountain vistas. But don’t forget nearby Saddleback and its sweet combination of America, Hudson Highway, and Lower Hudson Highway. More benign than Tote Road, the 3-mile run from summit to base is a low- to mid-level skier’s delight. The gentle mixture serves up alpine frost and glistening lakes below.
- MARTY BASCH
You’ll love shooting down this chute
The Camden Snow Bowl, which features the only structural toboggan chute in New England, also features the only annual US Championships, Feb. 5-7 next year, the 20th straight competition. The end of the event will comprise the World Toboggan Championship, for winners of the four-person teams over the last 20 years. The 400-foot wooden chute is also available to the public, when open. Always call ahead.
- TONY CHAMBERLAIN
Here’s looking at you, glade
Casablanca debuts at Saddleback this season, and resort officials are billing the 44-acre double-black tree-skiing area as the largest glade in the East. Ungroomed and unbound, Casablanca is located between Black Beauty and Muleskinner, and resort management had been eyeballing the location for nearly a decade before finally turning loose an 18-member crew this summer to thin and shape it. Before you fire up your best Bogart imitation, please note that Casablanca is not named after the famous flick, but instead after the Rangeley Lakes Region’s well-known line of fishing flies (just like other runs at Saddleback, such as Peachy’s Peril, Royal Tiger, Supervisor, and America).
- T.D. THORNTON
Barking up the right tree
Gotta have glades? Two more Maine mountains are unveiling new tree skiing caches this season. More than 20 volunteers hit Camden Snow Bowl over three days to clean up and expand the three glades between Lookout and Mussel Ridge. They cut a new glade between Clipper and Mussel Ridge in the middle third of the hill, too. A few miles from Sunday River, Mt. Abram in Greenwood is where skiers will find three new double black diamond tree caches.
- MARTY BASCH
Paws on powder
