CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Sugarloaf announced its 10-year plan this week, proposing the development of nearly 450 acres of terrain on West Mountain, new or upgraded lifts, real estate development, technological improvements and other upgrades relating to year-round recreation, according to information released by the resort.
The centerpiece of the 10-year plan, according to the resort, will be a West Mountain expansion that will include a high speed lift transporting skiers and riders from the West Mountain Road to Bullwinkle’s restaurant. Construction on that lift is expected begin in the summer of 2021. The lift will provide access to new alpine trails, snowmaking equipment and an eight-lane tubing park on West Mountain. The new trails will expand the mountain’s beginner and intermediate offerings, designed to shift skier traffic off of the SuperQuad lift.
Other proposed additions on West Mountain include a lift-serviced mountain bike park, 75 residential real estate lots and a 450-space parking lot. A renovation of Bullwinkle’s is also planned, allowing it to operate through the summer to host wedding and conference guests.
“This will be the most significant project at Sugarloaf since the SuperQuad was built in the mid 1990s,” Sugarloaf General Manager Karl Strand said, as part of a statement released Tuesday. “We’re thankful for leadership of Boyne Resorts, which, over the past 13 years, has helped us get Sugarloaf to a position of growth that allows for development projects like this.”
Planning, permitting and trail cutting associated with the project is expected to begin this summer.
Also planned for this summer is the construction of a 4,600 square foot spa at Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel, the installation of equipment associated with dual-frequency Radio Frequency Identification passes and snowmaking improvements that include a new dam on Caribou Pond, the source of the water used for Sugarloaf’s snowmaking. That dam will be the first step in a multi-year effort to improve the resort’s snowmaking system, more than doubling the system’s pumping capacity.
Other, future improvements in the plan include replacing or upgrading a number of lifts, improvements to the former gondola terminal on the summit of the mountain and a children’s center and the construction of a 9-hole short golf course.
I wonder if there will be any protests. Cutting swaths through this pristine forest is frowned upon in these parts.
Hmmm don’t you know playgrounds for the elite are exempt, let’s go after Poland Springs for pumping water but say nothing about the millions of gallons drained from rivers for snowmaking and golf courses irrigation.
Wow .. is this another project for Tom and his crew to protest?
Large steel towers suspending huge cables across the skyline. Clearcutting large swaths through our undeveloped natural beauty all for the benefit of a non-Maine based company interested solely in profits and corporate greed. They will probably use pesticides to maintain the open areas and they will use mostly out-of-state labor to construct this eyesore project on the land they already own.
Perhaps Maine should take over these recreation facilities and run them in the best interest for the people of Maine. It would certainly be cheaper since they wouldn’t have to pay taxes. I see an awful lot of out-of-state licenses plates up there. Aren’t there already ski resorts in Vermont and New Hampshire? According to their website there is. Let’s vote on this.
By the way, they messed up on my bill when I bought hot chocolate there last time.
an expansion announced shortly the sale of Saddleback, lol?
hmmm, a coincidence? new dam, trails, through glades & Glen.
Let the competition begin & may the victors be the users
Sugarloaf as a corporation, formerly known as SMC, screwed their investors and the corporate fat cats laughed all the way to the bank and their next jobs. One of the guilty parties opened a cable company and later started the now failed huts and trail scam. It’s no wonder the later endeavor is now looking for any moneys they can get their hands on. Carrabassett, the town that supports this private company, is using taxpayer money to further this business interests while turning a blind eye to citizen concerns.
I think Peter knows what he’s talking about.. not to mention taxpayer money used to fund part of their transportation system. BB.
Well at some thing is being built there in Maine while here in NY the people in government don’t do any thing with out getting their cut! Was on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway a couple years ago I was told that the logging industry is ran by the Canadians. Good luck getting them to care about environment there in Maine.
Ron, perfectly penned comment! The anti-NECEC fanatics are squirming in their seats as I’m sure many of them enjoy strapping something slippery to their feet and sliding down a hill. ‘Oh crap, how do we respond to this without looking even more foolish?’
Ron, funny. Apples & oranges, but still funny.
There is no pristine forest on Sugarloaf. Take a ride up west mountain and look at the forest. You will see every tree was damaged from the ice storm of 98’. The difference between Sugarloaf and CMP one has a much better reputation of not screwing their customers. As for the dam on caribou pond someone should notify the ASF there might be salmon on that thar mountain!!!
At the heart of this of course will be the 75 tiny way over valued houses and lots. Someone is allready drooling on the tax dollars. As the ski resorts provide a lot of jobs,not fictional jobs but real people through the years that I personally know that received paychecks I can ignore some corporate thievery financed by partly insane people who travel down a mountain on two pieces of wood at totally insane speeds.The last time I see this kind of inter-dependent genius at work was when Gov.Lepaige supported a five cent deposit on nip bottles. Anyone with that kind of grasp on reality had my vote. At least what Sugerloaf mountain offers will allways be on Sugarloaf mountain it will not be shipped out of state or out of our area in tankers to be bottled.
Awww…..Somehow I don’t feel that I have been getting screwed by CMP.. My bill is reasonable for all the use I get each month… Also, as far as pristine forest.. which the anti’s have been harping on for a few years… and the damage to trout streams and wildlife habitant……..Will the proposed development cause any harm The damage of the ice storm could recover if not completely cleared and kept that way… Also another golf course in the works.. How much new clearing will that require along with water and fertilizer? I have no problem with either… Whether you know it or not they are both…. CMP and Sugarloaf …big businesses…. According to the editor I have already said this bit… not sure when and where..
Funny Story Ron,,
Question,,, when a private vendor working at the Greatest Ski Mountain in existance screwed up your bill for your Hot Chocolate, did you ask them to correct their mistake?
If you did,,, they would have gladly made it right for you.
Now,,,,,,, if that was CMP Hot Chocolate, they would tell you it was YOUR fault. Then they would bribe the Hot Chocolate Commission to ensure they were not held responsible for their error. Then, they would spend oodles of cash marketing the expansion of their Hot Crappy Chocolate……
Or that’s their track record anyways..
C’Mon Man!!
Ski the East!!!
No CMP Corridor!!!
No Frickin Way.
@ J.S. Kennedy, This has nothing to do with the article but there is serious misinformation in your comment. Did I read this wrong or did you make a mistake? “The last time I see this kind of inter-dependent genius at work was when Gov.Lepaige supported a five cent deposit on nip bottles. ” (spelled LePage or Florida Man)
Lepage vetoed the 5 cent deposit bill on nips and when the Lawmakers overrode his veto he had a temper tantrum and tried to de-list the bottles from sales in Maine. He literally tried to just do away with nips to avoid putting a 5 cent deposit label on them. I mean FYI.
And everyone comparing this to other things: How did we get from Sugarloaf Mtn, to CMP? By way of the one common but very different thread of environmental impact? As far as I see it these are two vastly different companies and two very different issues. I would suggest that if you have an issue with the Sugarloaf expansion effecting the environment then you should absolutely start a movement to protest and petition its halt. Seriously, it would be a noble cause. In the mean time trying to use this unrelated issue to downplay the CMP issue is just a desperate attempt to take unrelated things and tie them together to make fake point. Stick to one or the other.
Glen the difference is Sugarloaf doesn’t use pesticides to keep trails clear they mow or trim by hand. The “forest” up there would take 40+ yrs to even look like a pristine forest if they all left today. The elevation is high enough so the trees grow slower than the ones in Farmington. More trees are damaged a year from old damaged ones falling than sprout from the ground its rock and leaves in most of the ground and steep. Erosion might be an issue if contractors didn’t cover every base. Which they do ie. silt fence, hay, and all BMP’s out there. Yes both are big corporations yet Sugarloaf isn’t the worst ski area in the country it is in fact one of the best though.
CMP Hot Chocolate….High Five!
Hot Chocolate is the same color as….
No Corridor!
I’m curious how much pristine forest (which I would say is one that has never been logged over once or more and reforested in the last 200 years of Maine’s existence) we have anywhere in the state, especially along NECEC corridor? I’m not talking simply about nice remote areas but forests that have not been already exploited and returned to regrowth -old growth forest.
I’m not a fan of CMP by any stretch of the imagination. I just wish that people would be more honest about the fact that their opposition to NECEC is firmly grounded in their hatred of CMP and Massachusetts residents to the exclusion of any economic tax benefits that would come to Maine towns. Don’t like the economic deal presented by CMP? Then negotiate a better one.
Yes MaineBoy, you caught me.
I’m opposed to the corridor out of Pure Blind Hatred of any and all residents of the state of Massachusetts.
How did you figure me out??
I will now drive an electric car thru broken glass to Foxborough and beg that they don’t revoke my Pats Seasons Tickets…for being a hater.
Oh the utter shame of it all!!
I will pray like Pelosi that I can somehow be forgiven….
Abe,
It hasn’t been that hard to figure out – all I had to do was pay attention.
SAMMO-Guilty as charged on the spelling, I would like to think its a french version but its just slack homework. It may be the de-listing was the original goal as it would save a lot of pick up on the side of the road in the spring. Our lawmakers were doing a half-a —d job. He knew that. Nips are like snow machines that will do 125 mph out of the box, not really anything you can defend with a sane mind. Other states are allready way ahead of us in the selling of small amounts of alcohol. To compare any business as to what they give to what they take is natural and just good business. As far a telling people what they can or not do with their property it happens everyday with state,city,local laws,rules or codes. Nothing new here. Just on a much larger scale. I dont think I have ever actually said I was for or against this CMP line but what I will say right now is if they can not make this a win-win for everyone go some where else.