December 2022 - A Month to Remember at Saddleback Maine

Saddleback December 30, 2022 pc: Alec Salisbury

Wow! December 2022 was one for the record books at Saddleback! From Opening Day December 10th to Big Snow mid-month to a Crazy Snow/Rain storm right before Christmas resulting in a Stellar Holiday Week, it was a definitely a month to remember and worthy of a post on the MaineSkiFamily blog.

We came away from the month realizing that lots of work has been done at Saddleback... and lots of work to still left to do... but we think it is safe to say... SADDLEBACK IS BACK!

Now that the MaineSkiFamily crew has a home at Saddleback, we are able to really soak in the on-mountain experience for extended periods of time. The Saddleback mountain ops crew faced a big challenge coming into the targeted December 10th opening day. The weather was pretty warm right up to December 8th, really setting things back on the snowmaking front. But the weather turned colder, and the snow guns fired setting up a good opening day ski-product on Grey Ghost. It was great to get out on the snow again.

MaineSkiFamily Crew Opening Day December 10th

After a week of good snowmaking temps, a tremendous, and very unique snowstorm hit Saddleback on December 17th. Tremendous in that 30" of snow fell over 3 days. Unique in that the snow fell straight down. There was very little wind resulting in some fabulous skiing. Saddleback was buried!

The snow was DEEEEP!

Major Snow at the Saddleback Parmachenee A-Frame Village

Then after a week of stellar skiing, a rain, high wind (and some snow) storm hit the Northeast on December 23rd causing a lot of misery and power outages right before and during Christmas. For Saddleback, the higher elevation hung on, and the snow pack stayed intact and power to the mountain was restored just in time for the holiday week rush.

And what a holiday week it was! Parking lots overflowing with lift lines short. The lift capacity at the moment is well equipped to handle the crowds. Hats off to the Saddleback Crew for pulling of a great experience for the skiers. As the holiday week progressed temperatures warmed leading to bigger crowds and happy skiers.

After a couple of warm spring-like days December 30-31, the snow pack on the natural trails and glades finally succumbed to the temperatures leading to groomed only trails skiing. Saddleback has good coverage on their snowmaking trails and are set up well for the next snowstorm.

Saddleback January 1, 2023

It is pretty amazing what Saddleback has done in its now third year of operating since re-opening. The lift infrastructure has to be now the newest in the east coast. The new Sandy quad in front of the base lodge was a big hit during the holiday week and the lift capacity handled the holiday crowds well with short lift lines.

While Saddleback provided a great ski experience this December there is still work to do. Long lines at the ticket window need to be improved; the mid-mountain lodge, phase 2 of the Parmachenee A-Frame development and the employee housing building still need to be completed. Saddleback also needs to address overflow parking on busy days as well as finding a partner to build an on-mountain hotel to get more "heads in beds" which is very much needed. All this will need to be done while not losing the essence of what makes Saddleback special. Independent, friendly, family orientated, big mountain skiing for all ability levels.

Saddleback has shown that it is up to the task of meeting the challenges of reopening a ski area after a 5 year closure and they are rolling up their sleeves to tackle the projects needed to move the mountain forward. Saddleback is off to a very strong start for the 2022-23 ski season, the future is bright and we look forward to what is next. Looks like we have to grin and bear some marginal weather for the first part of January, but fingers crossed for a great rest of the season!