Sunday River vs Kmart

[DSM]

I'm trying to plan a trip for Presidents weekend with my wife and two daughters, who are all decent intermediate level skiers. My preferred option, truth be told, would be to stay at Joe Dodge and let them go to Balsams or Cranmore or even Wildcat, while I poke around Ole George. After all, it is his holiday. But in the interests of inclusion, I'm not the decider on this trip, so am suggesting to the ladies of the family a long weekend at either Sunday River or K-mart. I haven't been to either in at least 10 yrs, so am seeking advice on which mountain will offer both steep and challenging skiing (me) and intermediate groomers for the girls. Or are they close enough that I should let the pocketbook decide? I've priced out packages at both places and one is substantially more expensive, guess which? :D Any other suggestions welcome too.
Thanks in advance. :skismile:

[BigSpencer]

Well to begin with let me insert Sugarloaf, although it'll probably get you nowhere;-) Great mountain, not as much intermediate terrain as SundayRiver, but will be less crowded then either ..and great dining @base and off-mtn..;-) My dining around Bethel and SR is limited, but for a pub-style restaurant/good-pizza joint..the Matterhorn is good, along with Bethel Inn. Dynamite intermediate terrain scattered over all 6 mtns @SundayRiver..added to imho the best mtn-grooming crew around...but K-Mart's access road is tough to beat for food. Although you'd notice more private ownership around the SR access road area, still hasn't changed a lot, hardly any commercialization around..
$.01

[drewvw]

The 'loaf is definitely great, but its a haul and I wouldn't characterize as a family time mountain. Weekend trip with your boys, looking for trouble, oh yeah! I once brought a girlfriend there for an "easy" ski day and it was a near diseaster.

Sunday River has something for everyone, just a solid mountain. Plus you can get condos cheap and/or stay on the mountain which is fun.

No opinion on Kmart. When I go to vermont, I either do Mt. Snow (closeness to Boston) or usually head RIGHT TO STOWE. God I love that mountain.

[Lost Kodiak]

I've been up to Jay a few times over the last few years, and their slopeside lodging deals are unbelievable. Check out their packages for all inclusive tickets, dinners, breakfasts and rooms. They practically give it away. Over MLK weekend, I spent 1 night w/ 4 in a room. We had 2 day lift tickets, dinner and breakfast for $360 total, or $90pp, which we split. Im sure they are offering good deals for presi week.
Plus, they just got 3 feet last week, and when there's snow up there, it's THE place to BE!
I live 4 hours away from there, and can't wait to get back. Its a sweet place for the fam! Good luck wherever you go.

[RR]

Big Spencer hit a good one. The Loaf is great for an on-mountain lodging experience.

There are two more on mountain options that I'd like to mention. Better call soon wherever you go!

The first, also in Maine and also a big drive, but a potential money saver is Saddleback. There's less apres-ski happening at Saddleback than there is at Sugarlloaf, but they are both remote so not much happens after hours either way

The other, crazy, I know, but your goal is their bread and butter, plus the snow is totally manicured into submission...ready? Stratton. Go ahead, laugh all you hard men and women...go check the prices on shuttle-distance, family ski and stay lodging! On-slope is way high priced. The village scene is artificial, but it's never offended my sensibilities

Additional:
If you like apres ski and cool town life, You can't beat Warren/Waitsfield. Reserve a large room at the Golden Lion (very reasonable) and you have multiple nordic centers, Sugarbush and Mad River Glen

Jay was already mentioned...clearly Lost Kodiak is paying attention to the finer things :D ...the Jay Hotel is very reasonable and you walk to the lifts...not much going on after dark...which is good for getting the kids to sleep early ;)

PS: Honestly I can't recommend K-Mart as I really don't like it much and Sunday River is a place I haven't been to for down mountain skiing since the late 1960's so I know nothing about it. Better to get the faithful to give you the skinny on both of those places.

[clg898]

George is less than 45 mins from Sunday River...

[Justin]

My folks have a place at Sunday River and i went to Gould Academy in town Bethel. I'm very familiar with tat Mt and Bethel. I've also spent alot of time at Kmart. I raced there for years and then in college my roomate and good friend was from Rutvegas (rutland).

Both mountains get quite busy. I would say Kmart slightly more so. Maybe its the nj/ny crowd there but man ive seen that place more zoo like than any other place i've skied. Both mountians are substatials size and have good variety as far as eastern skiing goes. I bet Kmart gets slightly more snow and i'm positve it has more Vert. Skiable acerage is prolly pretty comparable.

Kmart has the Nightlife hands down. Best in NE if you ask me. Not to say Bethel doesn't have some fun spots. The materhorn is indeed fun and the pheonix is alright. THe brew pub is alright sometimes too (beer is marginal). Occasionally they have music on moutain. Intown, i highly reccomend Suds Pub. You can bring the little ones there, order some pizzas, drink from a wide range of beers on draft. Its a favorite among locals.

And yes, George is very close to the River.

P.S. - Ill be at Sugarloaf this weekend for some skiing and Derek Trucks Band. Pretty frikkin sweet. drink>ski>drink(music)drink>ski>drive home to portland with one eye closed ;)

[icelanticskier]

I've been up to Jay a few times over the last few years, and their slopeside lodging deals are unbelievable. Check out their packages for all inclusive tickets, dinners, breakfasts and rooms. They practically give it away. Over MLK weekend, I spent 1 night w/ 4 in a room. We had 2 day lift tickets, dinner and breakfast for $360 total, or $90pp, which we split. Im sure they are offering good deals for presi week.
Plus, they just got 3 feet last week, and when there's snow up there, it's THE place to BE!
I live 4 hours away from there, and can't wait to get back. Its a sweet place for the fam! Good luck wherever you go.

one of the probs with jay is the trails $uck compared to most places. for intermediates that don't want to be in the woods the whole time, jay is very limiting and $ucks imho if it isn't storming or fresh in the woods as most of em get way harder hit than other mountains. sugarloaf for challenge, vert, groomers of all levels is hard to beat. if yer lucky enough to hit a pow day there, game over, not much can touch it. a true destination resort that skis big.
rog

[DSM]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions - I considered the loaf, but am trying to get somewhere within 3 hrs from Boston, so both loaf, and Jay as well, are just out of our range. Stratton is a possibility, and I have skied there a few times in recent years. Big Mountain, just not very challenging terrain, at least what was open and on the trail maps. For example, Cannon has much steeper terrain than Stratton, by and large. So I'm looking for a big area, close to Boston, where we can stay slopeside, and have lots of nice groomed runs as well as some steeper stuff. If price was no object, I think I would go for K-mart, but given the current deals - Sunday River is looking pretty good. So I appreciate the comments, and more are welcome, since I haven't called in any plastic yet.

[bucksaw]

How about BrettonWoods? No huge steeps but nice trees and if the weather is nice you can hike up the W from the west side. sure has your target of "groomers right out the door". Also you could hit Cannon on the way up or home.

If slope side was not a requirement, you could just hit a bunch of mountains around north conway. You've got a good number of options all about a 30 minute or less drive, BrettonWood, Attitash, Cranmore, BlackMt, Wildcat... then you could still get a day in d'Mount while keeping the family happy.

[mtd2007]

the loaf I would suggest Saddleback, it's smaller but I love that place and in terms of value you can get a great deal right now there -

[RR]

Mr B makes a good suggestion. Bretton Woods also provides a bit of History not related to skiing as the Mt Washington Hotel across the road was the site of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in July 1944 IMF and GATT were formulated there and the International Bank's charter was drawn up.

Don't get too casual on Bodie's Run as there is a dangereous suprise down low for folks not paying close attention. Let me echo praise of their Glades, all on fairly moderate terrain and cut with generous spacing, btw.

There's nothing like Thrombosis :eek: or Nightmare* :eek::eek: at Bretton, gotta hit Saddleback to ski/ride those two.

If you leave with a little time in hand for the trip home there are a couple nice stops. The NH Ski Museum next to the Tram House at Cannon is wayyyyy cool! Next up, if you all like diner food, the Tilt'n Diner in Tilton, NH. Food and service are great and you can fill some holes in your comic book collection too :D
http://www.techsourceconsultants.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10040/TiltonDiner.JPG

* For you Cannon skiers, Nightmare is like Lost Boys for tightness, but with bigger trees and it is both a lot longer & a lot steeper!

[Luddite]

I'm a big Saddleback fan as well. Get out your Gazeteer and you'll see that if you stay at Sunday River it's not that bad to take a hop north for a day trip to Saddleback, that's what we do. I love the Loaf too, but also in a "bad boy" kinda way. Now that my wife and I drive to the ski areas in a "Council for the Aging" van :) the rowdiness is less attractive. As noted you can also go see Geo from S.R., so you're in range of a lot of good stuff.

[RR]

Kids Ski and Stay Free!

A lot of places do that. Here is a link to Stratton's plan (http://www.stratton.com/deals/hot-deals/kids_ski_stay_free.htm)

[mtd2007]

spent a lot of time at the loaf and stopped there years ago on the way home, it was april and every trail was open including all the trees and mule skinner, they replaced the t-bar this season and I personally am sad to see it go....

[boardman]

I haven't seen nearly the amount of traffic at Killington as in past years (i.e., when the All For One Pass was still around). $82 a pop might have something to do with it. And frankly, a lot of people don't have a much discretionary income kicking around these days. I was at Killington this past Saturday. Conditions was utterly fantastic. There is so much snow up there right now, it's ridiculous. Did not wait in line for more than 1 minute at either the Superstar Quad, the Snowden Triple, the Snowden Quad, or Canyon Quad. Even the K-1 gondola lines were pretty non-existent. This was on a SATURDAY, after receiving 24" of snow in the 72 hours prior (and that was no exaggeration - they had every bit of that). Pulled up at the Skyeship at 9:15, and parked 40 feet from the door. The only lines encountered all day, for some strange reason, were at Bear Mountain. Needle's Eye quad had lines, but they were only 3-4 minutes at most. South Fridge Triple was abandoned. In short, you didn't have to wait in a line all day if you didn't want to. Everything was skiing beautifully.

I'm no K-Mart cheerleader, but I don't get the haters. There's some great terrain up there, and conditions are top-notch right now (they were far, far better than what I got at Cannon only three days before).

[surfsnowywaves]

If you want groomed intermediate trails...why not go to Okemo? I'm sure that if it comes down to it, you can find some interesting terrain for yourself, but the place is like a bigger version of Sunapee, in my opinion. Or, if you want to try and escape Presiday Weekend crowds, how about Ragged? I've never personally been, but hear some praise for their woods and uncrowdedness. Thinkaboudid.

[stoneman]

Ragged is nice, but smallish. Good for a day, but certainly not a weekend. Okemo is a big resort, but the skiing is all pretty much one dimensional.... and it will be nutso on Vacation week.... as will Killington. For ski areas within your zone of travel, i'd check out Sugarbush as it totally s*cks. It's a fairly good sized place with alot of interesting.. oopsi mean s*cky terrain. Plus you can sneak over to Mad River Glen which also s*cks - just tell the wife you're going out for some milk & eggs.

But if it had to be either Killington or Sunday River, i'd do Sunday river. Less crowded, and i absolutely cannot stand that drive once you get off I89.
When they get the direct tunnel built from So-Ro then it's a different story!

[SkiStooge]

How's about Loon? Not my favorite but family friendly and fairly diverse. That said, if anyone else said Loon and I didn't see it, my apologies. I met Icelanticskiier the other day at EMS and am pretty sure that, after talking to him a few minutes, that I'm gonna pick up some AT gear before next winter. OK, as usual, enough from me for now. Later. Peace out. Al

[stoneman]

President's weekend at Loon? It could be the most crowded ski area north of Meatloaf Mountain. Under normal weekend conditions they have some of the longest liftlines on the planet.. i wouldn't want to be there president's week.

[Mac D]

T Bar is still operating at the 'Loaf, in fact they built a new shack for it. I rode it early in December when almost everything else was on wind hold.:sugarloaf: