Saddleback ski area, which underwent a period of tough sledding, has grabbed the No. 1 best place to ski in the region, SKI Magazine says.
The mag’s poll also treated Maine to the No. 2 most-popular ski area selected by its readers – nearby Sugarloaf.
Poor Vermont, which boasts the best moguls in these parts, didn’t show up in the top-20 survey until No. 6 with Killington.
SKI magazine shows Whiteface Mountain in New York as No. 3.
The first time New Hampshire shows up in the poll is No. 5, Bretton Woods.
Maine’s Sunday River claimed No. 10.
Saddleback’s top ranking – it even bumped Vermont’s Mad River Glen out of first place in the yearly survey – represents a significant turnaround for the resort.
In 2015, the ski area – the largest independent such operation in the East based on acreage – closed after investors pulled out.
Five years later, a Boston firm, Arctaris Impact, bought Saddleback and has rejuvenated the resort.
Samantha Berman, the SKI mag reporter who wrote the survey piece, explained how Saddleback grabbed the top grade.
“A ski resort doesn’t clinch the No. 1 spot because it gets the highest scores across the board in every category,” Berman said. “It earns the top spot by getting consistently high rankings in the categories that matter most to serious skiers.”
Snow, terrain variety, challenge, lifts, grooming, and value are the top categories rated in the poll.
Rating the quality of snow in the East is kind of laughable because New Englanders learn ski on ice – which differentiates eastern skiing from the west, which actually has snow.
The bitterly cold, so-called lake-effect temperatures along the eastern seaboard, are famous for turning mountains into ice.
Skiing on ice requires sharp edging, a fine art form tried by many, accomplished by few.
Ski areas adept at snow “grooming” – moving snow around to cover the ice – get high marks, such as is the case at Saddleback.
The highly rated mountain, with an elevation of 4,120 feet and 600 skiable acres, opened in 1960.
All its trails are named after famous fishing flies created in Rangeley by anglers Carrie Stevens, Bud Wilcox, and Dick Frost.
The names include Supervisor, Peachy’s Peril, Royal Tiger, and America.
All the chairlifts are named after popular fly-fishing rivers, such as the Rangeley, South Branch and Magalloway.
Down East Magazine named Saddleback the best Maine ski resort in 2022, 2023 and 2024, beating out both better known Sunday River and Sugarloaf.
