Report from John Celender – Sugarloaf Trip 2022 – 2/6 – 2/11

The trip worked out quite well in the end after many bumps beforehand and the price couldn’t be beat. The group was quite pleased with the accommodations for the most part. The main hang up was no shuttle after 4:00 P.M. to go to dinner up on the mountain. We did manage to have a very nice group dinner on Wednesday by arranging an outside company to take us down to Hug’s Italian Cuisine, which we have done for the past 15 times we were there.  We had a great dinner which everyone enjoyed immensely. Conditions were good for the most part with unusually comfortable temperatures every day. Had snow on Tuesday which made conditions challenging for some of us and great for others. Travel connections worked out quite well with a little hiccup on departure from Pittsburgh with radar out of commission for a while in DC. Sugarloaf was not as accommodating as in the past and blamed Covid for that.  Not so sure that was the real reason as I heard there was a new owner since we were there last in 2014.  Not even sure if that is the case or just a rumor. Next year there is going to be a new lift on West Mountain which has some very nice and a little easier blue terrain but is only open on weekends currently. When I skied that area about 14 years ago it was a really nice area, but the lift was very slow.  I think it took almost 20 minutes to get up to the top by Bullwinkles mid-mountain restaurant.  Everyone seemed quite pleased overall and some even ask if there would be a trip next year.