Sugarloaf and Sunday River Ski Resorts 2030 Master Plans Move Forward

Maine's two largest ski areas, Boyne resorts owned Sugarloaf and Sunday River, have major expansions in the final planning stages as part each resorts 2030 master plan.

Drawing of the Jordan 8 Chair

Sunday River Jordan 8 Chairlift

Sunday River just announced the The Jordan 8, which will be the fastest 8-person chairlift in North America. This Doppelmayr lift will feature 8 heated seats per chair and the occupants protected by weather-blocking bubbles. This lift will replace the Jordan Bowl quad, giving greater access to the Jordan Bowl Hotel and planned future terrain expansion west of the Jordan Bowl area named the "Western Reserve". The lift is planned to be ready for the 2022-23 ski season.

The current Jordan Bowl lift will be redesigned and rebuilt on Barker Mountain to replace the Barker Mountain Express for the 2023-24 ski season.

Sunday River is a very wide resort and is known for their high capacity lift systems to get skiers up the mountain and across the various skiable peaks. This is a very exciting development for Sunday River fans and should unlock some very interesting terrain expansion in the future.

Sugarloaf Mountain West Mountain Expansion

Proposed Expansion Drawing (subject to change)

Sugarloaf recently submitted applications to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection detailing plans to significantly expand the West Mountain area. This expansion will feature a new high speed chairlift (likely a quad) and almost 200 new residential housing units that will include single family, duplex and condo buildings. 

This development is planned for a largely undeveloped tract of land just east of the current West Mountain chairlift. The terrain expansion will provide some additional blue and green square terrain and take some pressure of the middle of the mountain to spread the skiers out across the resort property. 

Additionally, new parking areas at the base of the lift will allow for day-trippers to avoid parking on the access road on busy days, and the lift will terminate at the Bullwinkle's mid-mountain lodge providing year round access for both summer and winter activities.

Pending DEP approval, Sugarloaf hopes to start some work in the summer/fall of 2022 with work starting in earnest in 2023.

As fans of Maine skiing, it is super exciting for us to see such major development planned for Maine ski resorts. With its northern latitude and society's new emphasis on outdoor recreation, Maine ski areas are in an ideal position to provide amazing opportunities to recreate outside. We will be following the developments closely as Sunday River and Sugarloaf execute on their 2030 master plans. 

Sunday River 2030 Master Plan

Sugarloaf 2030 Master Plan