Some favorite riders’ trails are on Jordan Bowl, which is a pain in the glutes, calves and feet to get back from. You either have to hike to the #13 lift, which brings you to a somewhat maneuverable pitch, or chance the possibility of having to unstrap and skate your way over the dreaded Kansas trail, a long and almost uphill traverse (we’re definitely a long way from home, Toto). Other flat spots to avoid at all costs are Three Mile Trail, Southway and Easy Street. For bumps, try Agony; for trees, head into Wizard’s Gulch; for cruising, you can’t beat Cascades or Obsession.

Parks and pipes

Sunday River’s commitment to terrain playgrounds is strong, as evidenced by a full-time parks and pipes manager on the operations staff. The resort consistently responds to its faithful freeriders with innovative park designs and new or larger elements. The park plan mirrors the trail plan with something for every level of rider, in a progression of four parks spread across different mountain peaks.

PARK CONDITIONS

Starting with beginners, Whoville on South Ridge is designed for kids with many snow features like bank turns, a 10-foot jump, a couple of rollers and some small rails. The South Ridge Jib Park, on Easy Street near the minipipe, is still perfect for novices, but offers a little bit bigger rails. Next on the difficulty scale is 3D Park on the 3D trail on North Peak. It's served by a high-speed quad, making it easy to do laps in the park. The hits here are larger and the rails and flat boxes longer for the upper-intermediate rider. It also has a mini mogul course with airs. The premier park for experts is Rocking Chair Park, directly beneath the Barker quad and in plain view of thousands. The park features a little bit of everything, including 40-foot jumps, a 48-foot C box and S box, 24-foot connectable boxes, saddle boxes, 30-foot flat-down boxes, rainbow and battleship rails, and a wall ride. Rocking Chair finishes up with a nice quarterpipe. The superpipe is near the Locke Mountain triple chair. The Starlight Park at White Cap is a boardercross course.

The parks and pipes benefit from state-of-the-art maintenance equipment and the mountain’s legendary snowmaking system. The superpipe gets carved frequently by a Zaugg Pipe Monster. A Terrain Master Park Cat also is put to use by a seasoned crew that samples their work every day and demand excellent results. Sunday River commits early-season snowmaking to opening its parks as early as possible. In most seasons, the mountain opens its superpipe and a couple of parks by Christmas.