Sunday River Opening Day Plans

[RustyK]

Just got this email....

Let’s be honest: we’re thinking about skiing and riding long before pumpkin spice even hits market. And while we may not be able to say exactly when we'll be kicking off the season, we can certainly tell you where. This year we'll be mixing things up a bit and are planning to open with top-to-bottom skiing on Aurora Peak by way of the Chondola to get there and ride back down. We even added extra snowguns to line the trails on Aurora for optimal coverage and faster opening.

Are we ready? We were born ready. Now let's make sure that you are too. Here’s how you can prepare for the weeks ahead.

Get Your Pass & Get Ready
Don’t be left out in the cold on opening day. It’s only a matter of weeks before we start flexing our snowmaking muscles to kick off one of the longest seasons in the East, and with a New England Pass in hand you'll be ready to make the most of it. Passes start at just $495 if you act by October 10.

Don't Forget About Fall
We’re all about the winter ahead, but we’re also pretty big fans of fall season. From this weekend’s Harvest Fest in Bethel to our own legendary Fall Festival with the North American Wife Carrying Championship and New England Cornhole Championship over October 8 and 9, we’re as psyched for fall and all of its warm chowders, fun events, and yes, even some pumpkin flavoring, as anyone.

[MrsG]

The gauntlet has been thrown

[Highway Star]

[daytripper]

how is it top to bottom skiing if you have to ride the gondola back down?

[machski]

how is it top to bottom skiing if you have to ride the gondola back down?

Probably just in reference to top to bottom on the Aurora pod. Unlike when they open on Locke and to ski you have to board the Locke triple at the Midstation during skiing which with the downloading, makes for huge lines and a really slow ride. Aurora will be full speed and no downloading on it, you will ski back to the top of the Chondi for download.

[Andrew B.]

how is it top to bottom skiing if you have to ride the gondola back down?

Oh I have seen it done

[rogman]

At 2690', Aurora is maybe a 100 feet higher in elevation than Locke, but they have to cover about 1100' of vertical. That's a lot of snow to blow, particularly if you want to ski back Lights Out back to the Chondola. Bottom of North Ridge is about 3400 feet, so K starts off with about a 2000 foot elevation advantage, but gives away about 50 miles in latitude. I expect SR to open early, but K should have a bigger edge than usual. But hey, good on them for having a plan that will get them open as early as possible, given the lift issues they have.

[Dickc]

how is it top to bottom skiing if you have to ride the gondola back down?

If you consider that Killington's "top" to "bottom" is the top of Killington's K-1 to the bottom of Skyeship, Then Killington does not have top to bottom skiing until sometime in early January.

[daytripper]

i consider top to bottom not having to ride down on a lift....thats like calling it top to bottom when when K has the glades triple open but you still have to ride the gondola down. so by sunday river logic k is always top to bottom.

[Andrew B.]

so by sunday river logic k is always top to bottom.

By a pretty well known member of this forums logic as well.

[Southside_Bobby]

The first day I can ski to within 20 yards of my car in Bay 1.

If you have to download, it ain't TTB.