Sunday River: The Best resort of my life (Sunday River)

Member Name: gavallan2020

Product:	Sunday River
Date:	22/07/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very fun ski runs, lots of stunt parks, good hotels nearby, fast snow, several activities, free bus

Disadvantages: Watch out for the trees, quite easy to hit.

I first went to Sunday River last April (2008) on a ski trip. Having been skiing since I was 3 and having been on loads of ski holidays, I was really looking forward to this one. Especially as it was first time skiing in America. Sunday River itself is based in the state of New England, inside Maine. The resort has been around for quite a while and as you can see from the picture, the runs are cut out of the trees. If you are planning a big skiing holiday, this is the place to go.

Getting There
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If you live in the UK, then the way I did it was to first fly to Reykjavik (Iceland). The airport there is huge although it seems that half the time it is empty. Inside there are several shops including a restaurant, coffee shop and an electronics store. We then had a wait there for 3 hours and then we flew out to America. I think the best way to do it is to fly to Boston Logan airport. I say this because on the way back we came home a day early and spent a day looking around Boston. If you do get the opportunity to do this, try and go on the Duck Tour. The duck itself is basically and amphibious bus which takes you around Boston. The trip pretty much covers the whole city and you can drive the boat down rivers too. From Boston airport, we then took a long bus journey which took 5 hours. Although this isn't the most exciting way to get there, I don't think there is any other option as Logan airport is the nearest to Sunday River. After around a days worth of travelling we then arrived at Sunday River (around 3000ft).

Hotels
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There are two main hotels based in Sunday River; the Grand Summit (which I stayed at) and the Grand Jordan. Both running within the same chain. The Grand Summit hotel is situated right next to the ski runs. In fact you can literally ski out of the back door onto a run. The rooms there were also very nice. They come with a balcony, digital TV, shower, bath and the rest of it. The good thing about the TV is that you can download movies as well. Rooms are also available with a fully equipped kitchen too. On the ground floor there is a shop selling food, drinks, souvenirs etc. Just along from the reception there is also a room setup with a PS3, 60" TV and Guitar Hero- pretty awesome! Along from this is the games room and further along is the payphones. If you do stay at the Grand Summit, then you can purchase phone cards from the reception. I strongly recommend these as it is miles better value than using a mobile. Not to mention the signal is better too. The other thing that I strongly recommend using is the tumble dryers. When I was there, there were 40 people on the trip and I was the only one to find it. So if you can't find it just ask. It honestly is very useful as if your stuff is wet, it only costs 1 quarter for an hours worth of drying. In terms of food, in the morning there was the full American buffet breakfast. Consisting of sausages, bacon, scrambled egg, beans, potatoes etc. Although if you're not a great fan of this, then there is also cereal and fruit for the more healthy people. I had lunch up in a restaurant on the slopes so I cannot say anything about that. At dinner, what we got varied, although nevertheless it all tasted very nice. Pasta seemed to be the favourite. Although the back door leads straight on to the mountain. If you go over there, then the Ski School is in the complete opposite direction. So if you are going to the Ski School, then there is a hotel bus that goes back and forth to the main ski rental hire and ski school section. Getting there only takes around 10 minutes tops in the bus. So I would either recommend the Grand Summit or the Grand Jordan for staying at, both brilliant hotels!

The Slopes
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Personally I think that the slopes in Sunday River were fantastic. Since its America all of the runs were wide and long. Equally the snow was very fast, nothing like European snow. I've been skiing for 12 years and have never been on anything that fast. Its about 1.5x the speed of Austria, France, Switzerland etc. In terms of the runs themselves, there is a good variation of them. Ranging from Green (easiest) through to the double black diamond (hardest). Personally, I would say that the runs are slightly more aimed at the more experienced skiiers. Although this is only judged upon the steepness of the slopes. I mean, they are still very wide runs so you could just go across them instead of straight down. My favourite run when I was there was Lollapaluza. This is the run that you can see on the very far right of the picture. It is a double black diamond so you have been warned :). The best thing was that it is an ex-downhill course and if you are good at skiing, then you can go straight down it. Every 100 yards or so the ground levels out for about 2 metres and then it drops away again. So you can get some serious height off of these. Although if you crash, well I don't need to go over that. So on the whole, the runs are absolutely brilliant in my opinion. Although remember that there are more blacks than green and blues.

Terrain Parks
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In Sunday River there are also three terrain parks. A Terrain Park is basically a stunt park. The one on the furthest left of the map. Personally I found this one truly awful, although it is the beginner park so what do you expect I suppose. The jumps there are just like lumps in the ground, you can't get any height even if you tried. The Terrain Park in the middle is probably the best. It features a mini half-pipe, grinding rails, stairs and several jumps. The half Pipe is quite good, although since its only about 6ft, you can go over the other side quite easily. Nevertheless, you can do 180s on it. Personally I avoid the grinding rails. Partly because I ski, making it easier to deck it. And partly because I think its a stupid way to break a bone. Heres a joke... What do you get when you put a pair of waxed skis across a 2 inch frozen sliperry pipe of metal that is 6 ft above the ground? The answer is the Grim Reaper! Joking, but still, I would avoid them unless you are experienced. The stairs are quite fun, so long as you can clear them with your jump. One of my friends went down them without knowing they were there and came out pretty sore. LOL . However, the jumps in this park are quite good. They aren't crazily high and they are quite easy to pull tricks off of. The final Terrain Park I was going to try out, although sadly its restricted to people with authorisation. Although I can understand why, the jumps themselves are based around 15-20 ft above the ground and you can travel about 50 yards off of them. The Terrain Park consists of around 4 of these massive jumps. There is also a very good half pipe which is on the right hand side of the map, this half Pipe is the full size and its sides are around 15 ft high. The half Pipe itself runs for around 150 yards which is quite good. The best thing is that there is a decent gradient on the slope, therefore it is easy to pick up speed. So if you are in to Freestyle, then you know where to go.

Other Activities
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There is plenty to do nearby Sunday River, including bowling, a cinema, tubing and climbing. Personally I think that the bowling and cinema were the best. Although the snow tubing was good, it just got a bit boring after a while. Mainly because it was quite a short track. The first few times that you do it, it is brilliant. You pick up really good speed and you quite high up the quarter pipes on the turns, although after you have done it. It just isn't that special. The bowling was probably one of the best activities I did. It is only about a 20 minute drive from Sunday River and although you have probably done bowling before. Its American bowling you're doing, and therefore the bowling balls are a lot lighter and smaller making the game much harder. With a heavy ball, its quite easy to keep the ball in the right line, although the small balls curve a lot. Although they do go a lot faster, I bet you will end up in the gutter quite a few times. The climbing centre was ok. The climbing itself wasn't anything special, as the wall was relatively small and not very challenging either. Although within the climbing centre there was also more bowling, although this time it was in the UK version. However this wasn't brilliant either. Mainly because there was no electronic scoring system. The final attraction within the Climbing Centre is the Games room. Unlike the rest of the pace, this was actually ok. It did actually have a lot of driving simulator games and a full air hockey table (amongst other machines). Although this did get quite boring after a while. So the Climbing Centre isn't brilliant so I recommend that you avoid that. The cinema was actually quite good and it showed the latest, up to date films. Its really just like any other cinema except it doesn't have as many screens. The final thing that was on when I was there (April) was the Pond Skimming competition. The way that this works is that the person doing it puts on their skis/snowboard and has to glide across a 15ft stretch of water. Hence the name, when I was there only 1 out of around 150 people made it to the end. As it's a lot harder than it sounds. Even if you don't take part, it is still very entertaining to watch.

Slope Restaurants
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Unlike European resorts, there aren't actually that many on slope places to eat. I say not that many, I mean there is only one. I did find this a bit dissapointing as in Austria there is places where you can stop for hot chocolate up on the mountain, although in Sunday River there is nothing like that. The Restaurant that there is is situated near to where the Ski School, about 20 yards behind it actually. The food there was actually quite nice, and very reasonable at the same time. For example, at lunch I tended to have a margherita pizza, large drink and a cookie. For all of that it was only $8 which I thought was brilliant. Alongside the pizzas there is also pasta, soup and various other meals. There is also chocolate bars and other items on sale at the checkout too. In terms of drinks, pretty much everything is on offer, you just need to find it. So the restaurant is good, although you may get bored of it after a while.

Hints and Tips
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Here are a few things I learnt from experience:

- Don't go off-piste unless you can see where the track goes. I followed one off of the side of the run and ended up going over an unexpected jump which lead straight in to a tree. You can guess what happened.

- Always wear a helmet, I know that everyone says this, but there is a high risk of hitting a tree. Even if you crash in the middle of a run, you can end up going off sideways and hitting something. Remember, Sunday River is cu out of a forest.

- There is a ski locker room next to the area where the ski school meets. Its only $10 a week which is outstanding. For that you can put your skis in overnight and collect them the next day. Saves you dragging them around.

- Watch out for steep drops on the runs. I can think of plenty runs that I have been on that run quite close to the edge of very steep drops. On a black run, I was going straight down it, I turned a corner and the run went into a T junction with another. I barely stopped myself going off the edge down a steep drop and into trees.

- In the restaurant, there is a ski boot dryer. Its at the back left of the eating area and its a orange box, its looks a bit like a payphone. Its only about 1 quarter for a 5 minutes dry, for 1 quarter, it makes a massive difference.

- Finally, don't forget about the tumble dryers in the hotel - very useful

- You don't necessarily need to bring your own skis (if you have them). The rental shop has the very latest editions in stock. I was quite surprised at how good they were when I went.

Summary
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So to finish up, Sunday River is a fantastic resort. Easily the best I have been to in my life. Although the runs tend to be more based on the harder side, I am sure you will get used too them. If you aren't overly confident, then there is a 3 mile long green run that is quite nice. The Grand Summit is the place to stay at, just to add in; I forgot to mention that the hotel also has a ski locker room, a heated outdoor swimming pool and a jacuzzi.

Summary: see the end of the review