Sunday River is a ski resort located in

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is one of Maine's largest and most visited ski resorts. Its vertical drop of is the second largest in Maine (after

Sugarloaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a ri ...

) and the sixth largest in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. Sunday River has the most terrain among the East Coast skiing destinations, including eight different peaks. The resort features 135 trails across eight interconnected mountain peaks, and is serviced by a network of 18 lifts. Sunday River and its sister resort Sugarloaf have been operated by

Boyne Resorts Boyne Resorts is an owner and operator of ski and golf resorts in the United States. The company employs over 7,000 full-time and seasonal staff. It operates 13 resort properties: 10 ski resorts and 11 golf courses. The company, based in Boy ...

since being sold by

American Skiing Company American Skiing Company was one of the largest operators of alpine ski, snowboard and golf resorts in the United States. Its resorts included Sunday River and Sugarloaf, in Maine, The Canyons in Utah, Killington, Mount Snow, Haystack, Heavenl ...

in 2007 for a combined $77 million. The resort's land has been owned by CNL Lifestyle, then

Och-Ziff Capital Management Sculptor Capital Management (formerly Och-Ziff Capital Management Group) is an American global diversified alternative asset management firm. They are one of the largest institutional alternative asset managers in the world. The firm operates m ...

, and leased back to Boyne. In 2018, Boyne Resorts completed the purchase of all leased ski areas in New England from CNL Lifestyle, allowing Boyne to "accelerate and fine tune" investment in those areas (Loon, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River). In direct correlation with this event, Boyne announced a list of improvements for all three mountains, to be spread out over a span of 10 years.http://2030.sundayriver.com/

Vertical descent

Vertical Descent of the mountain, as well as the vertical descent from the chairlifts. *Total Vertical: 2,340 ft. *White Cap: 1,630 ft. *Locke Mountain: 1,460 ft. *Barker Mountain: 1,400 ft. *Spruce Peak: 1,500 ft. *North Peak: 1,000 ft. *South Ridge: 500 ft. *Aurora Peak: 1,100 ft. *Oz: 1,100 ft. *Jordan Bowl: 1,490 ft.

Terrain

The following describes the different mountains of Sunday River (From left to right: *White Cap: Located at the eastern end of the resort, it contains mostly difficult terrain consisting of steeps and glades. ''White Heat'' is an expert run, one of the steepest at Sunday River. White Heat is a main attraction, with ''Shock Wave'' on skiers right. ''Obsession'' is a long advanced to intermediate trail full of rolls and variation in pitch. *Locke Mountain: The resort's original peak. Features predominantly intermediate trails like ''Cascades'', ''Monday Mourning'' and ''T2''. The lower section of Locke is also home to Lift 5; a T-Bar going directly under the Locke triple for

Gould Academy Gould Academy is a private, co-ed, college preparatory boarding and day school founded in 1836 and located in the small town of Bethel, Maine, United States. History In 1835 citizens of Bethel, Maine, formed an organization as trustees of the ...

to train on lower Monday Mourning. Monday Mourning and the race arena parallel to it host a variety of alpine ski races. *Barker Mountain: Features a high-speed quad serving a variety of terrain. ''Three Mile Trail'' is a beginner run that winds across the mountain. ''Ecstasy'' and ''Right Stuff'' are other important trails leading over to T2 and White Cap. Also under the Barker Lift is ''Sunday Punch'' and the ''Flow State''

boardercross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

course. *Spruce Peak: Contains 2 intermediate trails, ''Risky Business'' and ''American Express''. ''Downdraft'' is a short and steep difficult run that often contains moguls, or is iced over. The peak also offers quick access to the western side of the resort with the beginner trail ''Sirius''. Spruce peak is at the middle of the mountain is the only lift to have a three-person loading conveyor. *South Ridge: South Ridge services mainly beginner trails. ''Broadway'', and ''Sundance'' are the most kid-friendly, with ''Mixing Bowl'' also being a popular trail with beginners. The South Ridge area services 3 magic carpets, a high speed quad, and a Chondola lift (high speed six-pack + 8-person gondolas). *North Peak: Has the mid-mountain Peak Lodge that offers food and beverages. Also contains a high-speed quad (Lift #6) and that services more beginner and intermediate terrain. North Peak is oriented toward "family" skiing, so jerries and gapers are always plentiful. There are many beginner trails on North Peak. The ''Dream maker'' trail is a long and wide beginner to intermediate trail that is another favorite for families. North Peak is also home to the terrain park ''T72'', Maine's biggest park. During weekends and holidays, North peak offers night skiing on both ''Escapade'' and ''Dreammaker'', both serviced by the Chondola. *Aurora Peak: A mix of intermediate and difficult trails serviced by a quad chairlift. There is also a double chairlift (Lift 13) that connects the base of Aurora to the base of Jordan Bowl *OZ: A unique bowl with difficult and expert terrain. Runs are a mix of glades and open trails that emphasize natural terrain features and steep pitches. This peak only opens on the weekends and holidays due to its difficulty and light snow cover. *Jordan Bowl: Contains a mix of terrain that covers all ability levels. The Jordan Grand Resort Hotel is located off the beginner trail ''Lollapalooza''. Other runs include ''Rogue Angel'' and ''Excalibur''. *Merrill Hill: ''Under Construction'' Out of these "peaks," only one actually has a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

great enough to be an actual peak. White Cap, Locke Mountain, and Barker Mountain are, technically, all part of a mountain called Barker Mountain. Barker Mountain's peak (el. ), inaccurately, is the peak that the ski area calls "Locke Mountain." North Peak, Spruce Peak, Aurora Peak, OZ, and Jordan Bowl are technically all part of Black Mountain (el. ). The highest point of the ski area is what the resort calls OZ, which is technically on Black Mountain (el. ). Although OZ is the highest point of the Sunday River ski area, it is not Black Mountain's summit.

Lift System

Sunday River has 16

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

s, and 3 surface lifts.

Main Lifts

highlight indicates lifts that are open for night skiing. highlight indicates secondary lifts that only run on weekends and holidays, with adjusted opening and closing schedules.

Former Lifts

Summer

In the summer months, Sunday River is a summer resort with activities including golf, disk golf, geocache tours, hiking, and scenic lift rides. There is also a series of annual music festivals from late July to August, located at the south ridge lodge. Weddings are also a frequent occurrence at Sunday River, mostly at the summit of North Peak, but also the Grand Summit and the Jordan Hotels. In 2019, the Bike Park at Sunday River was discontinued, after 13 years of operation. According to resort officials, "Topography and other factors contributed to the decision to close. Riding areas and lessons for beginner riders are a large part of a successful bike park and Sunday River was unable to provide this to their resort users without a substantial monetary investment."

Golf

The Sunday River Golf Club is a

Robert Trent Jones, Jr. Robert Trent "Bobby" Jones Jr. (born July 24, 1939) is an American golf course architect. He is the son of golf course designer Robert Trent Jones and the brother of golf course designer Rees Jones. Background Jones was born in Montclair, New J ...

design and has been ranked as the '#1 course in Maine' by ''

Golfweek ''Golfweek'' is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett's USA Today Network. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1975 by Charley Stine and was originally named ''Florida ...

'' magazine and one of the 'Top Ten Best New Courses in the World' by ''

Travel + Leisure Golf ''Travel + Leisure Golf'' was a bimonthly American magazine published by American Express. Unlike other golf magazines, ''Travel + Leisure Golf'' focused less on the sport than on the affluent golf lifestyle, with regular features on cars, resorts ...

''. The course offers dramatic elevation changes. The club also features a large log and stone clubhouse with a pro shop and grille, as well as a mountainside practice facility. While the course is open to the public, memberships are also available from Harris Golf, who operates the golf club in partnership with Sunday River.

Gallery

Image:beautiful-sunday-river.jpg , Looking up toward the Jordan Bowl summit. Image:Broadway042619.jpg , Sunrise over lift #2, early January 2021. Image:Sundayrivermaine.JPG , Sunday River from the Jordan Bowl, with

Old Speck Mountain Old Speck Mountain, also known as Old Speckle Mountain, is a mountain located in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The mountain, the fourth-highest in the state, is the northeasternmost and highest of the Mahoosuc Range, the northeasternmost ...

on center horizon. Image:Sunday-River-Kansas.jpg , Looking down the trail "Kansas."

Competition

Sunday River is home to the

Competition Program for skiing. The program is for junior skiers in Alpine skiing (slalom, giant slalom, super G and downhill), Freestyle skiing (moguls and freeride), and Snowboarding (halfpipe, slopestyle, Slalom, Giant Slalom and boardercross), and runs from mid November through March. Sunday River is home to the Dumont Cup created by

Simon Dumont Simon Francis Dumont (born July 9, 1986) is an American freestyle skier. Skiing Dumont is known for his exceptional amplitude in half-pipe competitions, regularly reaching heights up to 20 feet out of the pipe, and for his signature big-air tri ...

. *Dumont Cup In 2009,

wanted to create an opportunity for young and rising skiers to gain exposure and decided to host it at his home mountain, Sunday River in Newry, Maine. Six Dumont Cups later, the success stories of amateur skiers like Nick Geopper and Gus Kenworthy winning the Dumont Cup and stepping into the pro scene has help achieve Simon's vision. The event was eventually officially discontinued in 2016, and the last competition held in March 2015 on the T72 terrain park. *Frozen Rush In early 2014, the first

Frozen Rush The Red Bull Frozen Rush is an off-road motorsport match race on snowy alpine skiing slopes. The event debuted in 2014 featuring eight short-course and desert off-road racing drivers. '' Road & Track'' magazine said "The unique action provided a ...

race was held on the slopes. It was the first off-road race of its type on snow. The event featured a match race of the United States' top

short course In swimming, the term short course (abbreviated SC) is used to identify a pool that is in length. The term is also often included in meet names when conducted in a short course pool. "Short course" is the second type of pool configuration current ...

off-road racing Off-road racing is a form of motorsports consisting of specially-modified vehicles including cars, SUVs, trucks, motorbikes, quadbikes and buggies racing in off-road environments (e.g. snow, dirt, mud, etc.). North America Desert racing Desert ...

drivers racing their

trophy trucks A trophy truck, also known as a Baja truck or trick truck, is a vehicle used in high-speed off-road racing. This is an open production class and all components are considered legal unless specifically restricted. Although any truck that meets t ...

Ricky Johnson Richard Bernard "Ricky" Johnson Jr. (born July 6, 1964) is an American former professional motocross, off-road truck and stock car racer. He competed in AMA motocross and Supercross during the 1980s and, won seven AMA national championships. He ...

beat Johnny Greaves to win the inaugural event.

References

External links

Sunday River
- official website {{Ski Areas in Maine Buildings and structures in Oxford County, Maine Ski areas and resorts in Maine Tourist attractions in Oxford County, Maine