USA: Sunday River, Maine - a compact, fun mountain!
The resort
Sunday River is a picturesque, purpose-built ski resort in Maine, located a mere 10 minutes drive from the quaint New England town of Bethel. Sunday River is a good choice for schools because of its excellent progression, modern lifts, exemplary snowmaking and extensive, easy slopes. The accommodation works well for schools and is 3.5 h from Boston.
The skiing
Ski facts
Resort height: 780 feet, resort range: 2340 feet, highest lift: 3140
No. trails: 128, snowmking: 92%, photo: No
% Easy trails: 25, % medium trails: 35, % difficult trails: 40, longest run: 3 miles
128 trails cover 8 inter-connected mountains so there's plenty of interest for skiers and boarders of all abilities. However, a feature of Sunday River is the excellent progression and miles of fairly easy slopes. Both beginners and intermediates are well catered for, and for the more advanced there are some double diamond runs (the most difficult category in the US grading system). The beginners ski area starts at the South Ridge Base Lodge, where the runs are confidence-giving, wide and gentle. Beginners will soon be enjoying bigger challenges on rolling blues and tree-lined trails. Intermediates have a good range of reds, and the powerful lift system makes the most of all 8 peaks. Advanced skiers head for the moguls on Barker Mountain or the testing tree-lined skiing on Aurora, Oz and in Jordan Bowl.
The accommodation
There is a range of accommodation, from the luxury of the Grand Summit Hotels to the more basic style of the Snow Cap Ski Dormitory. Whichever you choose, you can be assured that the standards will be excellent, and the location and accessibility to the slopes is well organised. You will never have more than a few minutes walk to the slopes and there is a free on-mountain shuttle bus as well.
The Snow Cap Ski Dorm is a unique building that was designed with youth groups in mind. It features four identical wings, each providing lodging for up to 47 people (43 students & 4 teachers) Each wing has five rooms sleeping eight people and two full baths, two rooms sleeping four people with a single bath - bed linen and towels are provided. Meals are served in the cafeteria-style dining area. Upstairs is a common room with ping-pong tables, video games and sitting areas with TVs.
The Snow Cap Inn is a comfortable, modern inn, a short walk from the lifts at South Ridge base area. Rooms are for 4 students sharing queen sized beds which is common in America. All rooms have private facilities and there are meeting rooms at the groups disposal. Meals are taken in the adjacent Snow Cap Dorm. There is a hot tub for adults only.
The Grand Summit Hotel is a luxury slope-side ski out-in location close to the White Cap base area. Rooms are for 4 students sharing queen sized bed and have private facilities. There is a large reception area with open fire, games room, outdoor heated pool and meeting rooms. Meals are taken in one of the function rooms.
Apres-ski
The après ski includes avariety of activities for schools. A price list is available and we can organise your programme in conjunction with the Sunday River Team for the nights you want. Activities include bowling, tubing, cinema, video rental, the Big Adventure Centre with laser tag and climbing wall, arcade with pool tables and video games, disco (peak weeks only) and an ice cream party.
What your holiday includes
* Return Scheduled flights to Boston with onward transfers
* UK airport transfers
* Accommodation of your choice, full or half board
* 6 days ski hire
* 6 days lift pass
* 6 days ski school x 4h per day
* Evening entertainments programme
Not included
* Meals on journey other than in-flight meals
* Personal travel insurance
* Personal spending money
* Snowboarding supplement - £35 or 44€
