The Unofficial Sugarloaf Chat

well, here is what i heard from a very good source-- Mr Farmer (SB general manager/president)is headed out west and he didn't bring his ski's... BUT... he did bring his check book! Word is he has several business meetings, speculation is he is meeting with Dopplemeyer rep in Utah. Bigelow can you ask the Dopp girls to confirm??

Herd he was going to look at possibly looking into acquiring a used Quad at a Utah resort also. Still should've brought his skis. Hopefully we can get a little more trail work this summer too

I'm hearing detach but it hasn't been confirmed...It makes sense as far as I'm concerned. We'll see what happens!

Farmer is out there with Jim Quimby. Quimby on Facebook said he was skiing anyway. Will be interesting to see what happens with the rumors / scuttlebutt.

Detach for the Rangeley seems like the only way to go with future expansion in mind. IMO having a detach would finally put saddleback on the radar of a whole lot more people.. Especially the type of people who have the money to invest in real estate, and sustain the mountain over the long haul.

Ahhh I'm not sure the Rangeley and fellow trails can support a H/S Quad.... I would certainly welcome it but a few concerns on the Detach...

More capacity means A LOT more trail crowding
Which means probably more trail cutting/widening
And probably a lot more snowmaking/grooming driving up prices
+ I faintly remember hearing somewhere that a detach was like 4 times more expensive upfront and 7 times more expensive to maintain over it's life?
The biggest thing I worry about though is cost. We don't need ticket prices driving up to 69$ a day. I just don't see how Maine can support it. Maybe they've calculated that projected home and condo sales will support it. I'm not sure, I don't know much about this stuff. They've had a few years to do their homework and hopefully this winter gave them numbers suggesting it was needed.

Part of me wants this place to Never Never change because I love it the way it is.... But part of me sees the potential that this place is.
Hopefully they do it right, because none of us want The Smelt turning into part of the Ghost, Peachy's Peril turning into a groomed run, Weaver turning into a Freeway... Idk I hope they do it right this is risky! Just don't touch the ASC and Casablanca or I will be very moody.
Encouraging that there is life at Saddleback and shows that their talk and maps isnt a bunch of BS. Exciting times!

(I had a dream earlier this year that they bought Camden's Double and ran it up to The Pass right next to the Rangeley, and put the Kennebago T at West Bowl, and the Cusuptic T up False Peak... Now that's a master plan!)

Sorry saddlebackman138 aka loafman138
I think they are coming home with Maines first 6 pack! A ride to the top for 6 at a time!!

b632 wrote:Sorry saddlebackman138 aka loafman138
I think they are coming home with Maines first 6 pack! A ride to the top for 6 at a time!!

Go SB. That will help move some people.

At full capacity, a fixed griped quad will dump about the same amount of people at the top of a chair as a high speed quad.

Fixed Grip - slower but chairs closer together. shorter lift lines - longer hang time
HSQ - faster but chairs farther apart. longer lift lines - shorter hang time

Obviously when not full capacity - more more runs per hour possible via HSQ due to faster lift ride.

Will the trails be more crowded? Yes - particularly Grey Ghost and Green Weaver... so I think the intermediate stuff (Mallogaway area?) will be needed... but there are enough ways down the mountain for expert skiers plus there is always the "Kennebago Steeps".

b632 wrote:Sorry saddlebackman138 aka loafman138
I think they are coming home with Maines first 6 pack! A ride to the top for 6 at a time!!

Do not forget the heated seats and the bubble.

klrskiah wrote:Detach for the Rangeley seems like the only way to go with future expansion in mind. IMO having a detach would finally put saddleback on the radar of a whole lot more people.. Especially the type of people who have the money to invest in real estate, and sustain the mountain over the long haul.

Agreed. Any concerns of trail crowding will be silenced by addional trail development. That of course is the plan and they certainly have the room for it. Naturally I'll take limitless tree skiing but I agree with Salsang...The biggest need for the mountain is probably some more intermediate terrain to help mitigate the addition of more uphill capacity. A fixed grip quad is a bit of a short-sighted approach IMO. I personally wouldn't install a lift until I could get a detach in there for the reasons mentioned above.

b632 wrote:Sorry saddlebackman138 aka loafman138
I think they are coming home with Maines first 6 pack! A ride to the top for 6 at a time!!

That would be sweet..........a perfect signature lift for saddleback!!

SpillwayEast wrote:

b632 wrote:Sorry saddlebackman138 aka loafman138
I think they are coming home with Maines first 6 pack! A ride to the top for 6 at a time!!

That would be sweet..........a perfect signature lift for saddleback!!

i hear the only debate is 4 or 6, a lift is coming

You cant' be serious with the 6-pack...

It doesn't need to be a six.

Loafman138 wrote:It doesn't need to be a six.

If they're looking to address their wind issue this is one way of doing it. You could ski in a hurricane with a 6 pack.

They're a little more fortunate when it comes to wind. The double almost never goes on hold, and when it does the whole mountain often gets shut down. The top goes on hold more often, but there have been quite a few days of 100% open there... T-Bar and Squad only at Sugarloaf. Make the Quad low profile and they will be fine

what! no love for the 8-pack

Tram anyone??

b632 wrote:Tram anyone??

Thats what i heard

10 pack. hi-speed, 1/3 chairs, 1/3 gondola 1/3 tram cars 1/3 tbars

Everyone is happy

1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 =1?

skidor wrote:1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 =1?

The chairs ride inside the the tram cars.

i looked at Jimmy's pics on FB and yea he brought his skiis. looks like the boys had fun. and yes they were looking at lots of different lifts, including pics from inside the doppylmayer orange bubble.. looks like a great trip, both for them and saddleback. great pics.

Pow on the Mao wrote:i looked at Jimmy's pics on FB and yea he brought his skiis. looks like the boys had fun. and yes they were looking at lots of different lifts, including pics from inside the doppylmayer orange bubble.. looks like a great trip, both for them and saddleback. great pics.

i know he brought the skis...BUT ..it was a good head line for dramatic effect didn't you think