Classics: Sugarloaf, Maine
Point your compass North and East to the lofty steeps of the right coast’s largest resort.
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In the 1940s, a group of young men from Maine’s western mountains began skiing 4,150-foot Bigelow Mountain. When a new dam and reservoir complicated access, “the Bigelow Boys” shifted their gaze to the rugged flanks of a slightly taller mountain nearby called Sugarloaf. They finished cutting their first trail, Winter’s Way, named after ringleader Amos Winter, in early 1951, and a stream of hardy skiers soon followed in their bootprints, hiking to schuss from the summit snowfields. Since the first lift was installed in 1953, Sugarloaf has cultivated a vibrant village scene full of tough, proud, welcoming locals eager to share the 4,237-foot object of their affection.
