short version of the tour

[Andrew B.]

If you had a few windows of opportunity to explore Saddleback what are the must do's?
I have never been bu I have a chance to spend sometime at SB. My son has an MHS appointment there and between my wife and I, we are trying to see a little of the mountain other than the beginner stuff with him. I hope to get at least two, 1-1.5 hour windows to explore. Where should I go?
Not looking for anything secret just what's the best way to see the best Saddleback has to offer?

[Skimaine]

What is on the menu? Trees, un groomed, expert, intermediate etc?

[Andrew B.]

What is on the menu? Trees, un groomed, expert, intermediate etc?

All are in play
Love a good bump run
Love flyng down a groomer at mach 1
Most of all I love the trees but......
Not sure I have time to check out the woods as indepthly as they deserve (I'm thinking Casablanca) and with out "local knowledge" I dont wanna go somewhere that if I get a call I cant find my way back in a hurry.

[yardsale]

IMO you don't need local knowledge to ski any of the mapped glades at Saddleback. Just be advised the traverse out to the Cassablanca lines is flat. Assuming the wait on the Rangely double isn't 40 minutes, you can get up and lap some runs off Kennabago in the time you have. Have fun.

[xwhaler]

When are you going to be there?
Reason I ask is because if you like bumps SB will usually seed bumps on Tightline sometime in late February into March.
Naturally formed bumps occur all over the mtn...off the T bar on Parmachenee Belle, some less regular ones on Golden Smelt mid mtn, Wardens Worry, Black Beauty, Frostbite off the upper quad.

Saddleback has some nice fast groomers you can let em rip on. Tightline, Supervisor, Red and Blue Devil, Silver Doctor and Grey Ghost are all great runs to lay into some turns.

But most of all I love Saddleback's trees. I was there on Sat and all trees are game on. Nightmare Glades are prob the easiest intro to Saddleback's glades on the mtn. Intimidator ramps it up a notch, Thrombosis Glades are tight, Dark Wizard is real tight in spots.
Csablanca can be skied however you want...theres so much terrain in there that you can go find real tight steep chutes in #1/2 or more wide open "western style" glades in 3 and 4.
The variety that Saddleback offers in their terran is really special. Enjoy

[Andrew B.]

Thanks for input so far

So after looking at the map a little:
would a good strategy be to take the dbl up and take the NW Pass to the Quad and sample a few there
then go to bottom (check in on family) and then take a few laps off the double?
Silver Doctor and Grey Ghost have some special diamond markings, is it marked that way for a reason?

[Skimaine]

Thanks for input so far

So after looking at the map a little:
would a good strategy be to take the dbl up and take the NW Pass to the Quad and sample a few there
then go to bottom (check in on family) and then take a few laps off the double?
Silver Doctor and Grey Ghost have some special diamond markings, is it marked that way for a reason?

Good strategery. Instead of NW Pass ( it's pretty flat) I take Green Weaver over to the Quad. Silver Dr and G Ghost are used for racing and that is probably the special diamond thingy.

[Loafman138]

Be careful with lines at the Rangeley, they can often get out of control. If you find yourself stuck at the base, it's many times quicker to take the baby chair over to the T-bar then take the Pass back over to the Kennebage. My advice, if the snow is good Casablanca #3 and #4 are definitely worth the traverse. They're a little bit more open than #1 and #2, and you can always bail out to the always swell muleskinner. While big their big name groomers are always great, make sure to hit up Professor and Jane Craig in center mountain, those trails can be epic.

[xwhaler]

IMHO if you want to sample the highest # of trails in a short amt of time (say an hour or 90 mins) I'd head straight for the upper quad first thing.
Do as much as you can up there in the trees....as mentioned the traverse out to Casa especially #4 and muleskinner can be a slow go.
Another nice thing abt lapping runs on the upper quad is you can ski the upper sections of Jane Craig, Professor, and Peachy's Peril, Thrombosis Glade without returning back to the double. Just turn right onto the pass before starting the lwr sections and back to the quad.

Next, u can get a solid # of runs on the T Bar...the runs arent very long but all trails over there are nice classic new england style cruisers with character. The expection would be silver doctor which is one of the widest trails on the mtn and is straight down (used for racing)

[Pow on the Mao]

you can't get lost in casablanca, it was designed well - bounded on all sides by trails. you can get to almost everything in there from entrance #2, so don't sweat the extra hike. casablanca is a must if trees are doable. lapping the quad is fast and enjoyable. loafman had good advice on avoiding the line at the rangeley. IMO its all about the quad. waiting for some snow to meet you over there!

[Andrew B.]

Thanks folks good info
I will report back after my excursion in a few weeks
Feel free to mention other stuff to
Since I will likely be hanging around the base a bit how about food options and where is the good beer spot

[salsgang]

good advice being given. Sounds like you would be happiest lapping the upper quad. Tight Line and Supervisor will satisfy you for expert groomers, and you have all the trees and natural trails you want.

If you want a couple of trails off the Rangeley:

Royal Coachman > Lower Professor is my favorite groomer bomber run.

Gotta hit upper Jane Craig for the cliff drop when there is snow.

Parmachenee Bell and Golden Smelt are super natural trail runs along with Peachy's Peril.

I better stop now or I am just going to name every trail on the mountain.

Lift lines are a lot lighter this year than they were last year... so far anyway. I am sure feb school break will be busy.

For what it is worth, I have a short description of all 66 trails on my blog here:

http://maineskifamily.blogspot.com/2011 ... south.html

Plus a review of Saddleback here:

http://maineskifamily.blogspot.com/2011 ... eback.html

There are a few trip reports from Saddleback on my blog you may find helpful as well. They are kind of aimed at 'family skiing' but we ski them all.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!

[xwhaler]

[quote="Andrew B."]Feel free to mention other stuff to
Since I will likely be hanging around the base a bit how about food options and where is the good beer spot[/quote]

On mtn the only option is the Swig and Smelt for food which is upstairs in the lodge. Good menu, nice selection of draft beers. If you go into town, Sarges has decent pub food and cold beer. The Red Onion is ok pizza but kinda greasy. A nice experience if ytou plan to stay overnight is dinner at Bald Mtn Camps on Moooselookmeguntic. Take you abt 25-30 mins to get out there from the base of Saddleback. Old camp restored to a nice restaurant, all done in pine and animal heads on the wall. the remote location makes you really feel like your in the wildnerness.

If you can hit that around sunset, facing west it would be really nice.

[rootwitch]

Eat chili dogs and drink beer in the yurt.

[xwhaler]

And the yurt now has draft beer up in the yurt...just got a keg up there last wknd.
Uusally they waited until March and brought a keg up outside but now it seems itll be a regular thing inside as well.
Allagash White was being poured last Sat!

[Glade Monkey]

+1
FYI - when heading over to Casablanca there is a new "ski in" diagonally across the top of Black Beauty. By the 2nd or 3rd trek over there it gets tempting to ski in and across rather than keep walking.

Be careful with lines at the Rangeley, they can often get out of control. If you find yourself stuck at the base, it's many times quicker to take the baby chair over to the T-bar then take the Pass back over to the Kennebage. My advice, if the snow is good Casablanca #3 and #4 are definitely worth the traverse. They're a little bit more open than #1 and #2, and you can always bail out to the always swell muleskinner. While big their big name groomers are always great, make sure to hit up Professor and Jane Craig in center mountain, those trails can be epic.

[WrathOfAramark]

If it's like it was this past Saturday, bring your edge files and some PTEX candles. Black Beauty and Frostbite made for a fun route finding expedition through sticks and stones. Be careful of some sneaky rocks on the downhill side of some of them bumps. It was a weird softish crusty type of snow. You could definitely get an edge and a couple times I over did it and sunk the front of the board into a bump. The groomers were pretty solid hardpack perfect for Mach-10 tucking.

Trees were fun. Didn't make it out in Casa, but took a couple runs through Nightmare, lower Intimidator, and Dark Wizard and they were skiing pretty good.

Pick of the day for me was Nightmare.

Overall we had a good day at the Back on Saturday. Like everywhere else right now, they need snow.

[Andrew B.]

Great day at Saddleback on Wednesday last week.

The first thing I noted was the freindly staff at the drop off area. they can right up not only helped off load the skis they offered to carry our bags into the lodge! Nice touch.

Next we went in and got my son set up for his MASR lesson which could not have worked out any better for him. the trail below the FG quad down low is a perfect learning terrain for him. Nice, long, straight consistent pitch which gave him the perfect opportunity to work on turns and not worry about following the fall line into the trees like at SR on the south ridge quad. He did 8 runs which is his biggest ski day yet. He slept for over 12 hours that night. The MASR instructors were great!

As for Dad, I was able to make 6 runs that day. 4 out in Casablanca, one on intimidator and one on thrombosis. The glades lived up to their hype that is for sure. the cover was good and the snow quality allowed for some real tight lines through the trees. The glades have great pitch and some nice man made and natural features. I felt like I could have skied Casablanca all day and not see the same tree twice. The natural run out trails were a little thin but over all I was impressed with the cover. Overall an A day.

It would have been A+ day but for one small draw back, lunch at the Swig and Smelt. I had brown bagged lunch but one of my traveling companions ( 3 adults and 5 kids) told me that we had to go because when he was there last year he had on on the best burgers ever. When you order a medium rare and it comes out like a hockey puck and cold cheese (not melted) on top its OK to send it back. the server returned later with apologizes and another burger that was exactly the same. He ate it because the day was wasting. problem was when we turned to the children's table two of the four orders had never been put into the kitchen, and one of the kids complained about their burger as well. They comp'd the late orders and the bad burgers but we blew too much time.