Best of Maine skiing

Looking for a few inside tips? The Globe has surveyed the scene from top to bottom and taken notes:

Best offseason improvement

Saddleback has replaced its Kennebago T-bar with a quad lift, which will allow novice and intermediate guests to ski from the 4,120-foot summit ridgeline for the first time. For advanced skiers and boarders, the new chair will provide easy access to a separate bowl and snowfields, which are billed as the largest self-contained advanced trail network in the East. Three trails were added to the bowl over the summer, so the Kennebago Quad will now service 12 top-to-bottom advanced runs, plus the 3-mile America and Hudson Highway trails geared toward less-strenuous skiing.
- T.D. THORNTON

Best place that's tucked away

Mount Abram lives in the shadow of Sunday River. The small family ski area in off-the-beaten path Locke Mills is under new ownership and will retain its Thursday-through-Sunday hours, along with being open daily during Maine's school vacation weeks. About the only thing high speed here are the student racers zipping down the race course. Grandmas and grandpas get a break, with discounts for senior skiers beginning at age 60.
- MARTY BASCH

Best alternative to lousy movies

In Bethel, the Mahoosuc Arts Council and Gould Academy both produce terrific musicals and theater performances throughout the season, including an annual holiday concert by Gould Academy students.
- TONY CHAMBERLAIN

Best example of prices holding steady

If you ski or ride in Maine often enough to make a bulk purchase, it's important to note that the price points for the top two tiers of Ski Maine Association's multimountain passes have not increased from last season's rates. What has increased slightly, though, is the number of lift tickets you get with each package. The Quad Pack gets you four vouchers to each of Maine's larger resorts, plus two vouchers to each of the state's community areas and snow tubing parks - 58 total lift tickets for $550. The Double Pack (40 total tickets) costs $300. The Solo Pack price has gone up $10, but you now get one voucher to each of 20 areas for $175. Details at www.skimaine.com.
- T.D. THORNTON

Best time-saving lift improvement

The Chondola has arrived in New England, and Sunday River is the first to have one. Think of it as a hybrid way to move people up the mountain faster - a single high-speed lift that carries both detachable six-person chairs and eight-passenger gondola cars. There are several Chondolas in Europe and the Western United States, but the one at Sunday River will cut what was a 20-minute ride on two separate lifts to a single ride of seven minutes, spanning from the South Ridge base directly to North Peak. It will ferry skiers and riders to a selection of trails, including Dream Maker, Escapade, and Broadway. Scheduled to open in time for the New Year, the Chondola will offer direct access to six of Sunday River's eight peaks in a single run. With the addition of lights on six trails, skiing hours will be extended Fridays, Saturdays, and holidays, although pricing has yet to be unveiled on a 12-hour or night skiing (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) ticket. Taking the lift for a North Peak Lodge dinner is also in the works.
- T.D. THORNTON and MARTY BASCH

A view unlike any other

If you favor quality over quantity, no list of Maine mountain bests would be complete without a mention of the panoramic coastal view from atop Camden Snow Bowl. Just 5 miles in from the Atlantic Ocean and perched 1,300 feet above a quintessential Down East harbor, the community-operated ski hill also boasts Maine's only toboggan run ($5 per person per hour). On Feb. 6-8, Camden will once again host the US National Toboggan Championships.
- T.D. THORNTON

Best motivation to ski everywhere

Got that "staycation" mentality? Passionate Mainers and those from away can take the Peak to Peak Challenge. Ski or ride at all 18 Ski Maine Association members from northern outpost areas such as Quoggy Jo near Presque Isle or Big Rock in Mars Hill (where's that?) to tiny town-owned Powderhouse Hill's 800-foot rope tow in South Berwick and get a shot at winning a Ski Maine VIP pass good at every area the following season. Do 6 or 12 and be entered into a lottery for other ticket bunches. Last season an intrepid group of skiers and riders tackled all the mountains (17 areas last season) over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
- MARTY BASCH

If you like the buzz of gas engines . . .

You'll love the town of Rangeley, where Saddleback Mountain is making a comeback. This remote western village is staging point for one of the largest snowmobile populations in the Northeast.
- TONY CHAMBERLAIN

Best chance to see young boarders

Snowboarding Nation will focus on Sunday River during a World Cup stop Feb. 27-March 1, but don't forget about up-and-coming riders during the 2009 US Snowboarding Revolution Tour at Sugarloaf March 9-11. Known as the nation's top junior event tour, the tour features riders as young as 13 in halfpipe and slopestyle competitions. There's boardercross, too, with athletes 15 and up. Some 300 riders tend to show up for the tour, and given that several academies are within easy driving distance (and Carrabassett Valley Academy is down the road), the amplitude and attitude should be huge.
- MARTY BASCH

Best (ski industry) college town

The University of Maine at Farmington boasts that it is "closer to more world-class, four-season ski resorts" than any school in New England. Within reasonable driving distance to Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and Saddleback - and with smaller Titcomb Mountain just minutes away - UMF students aren't cutting class just to hit the slopes: The school offers one of the nation's only Ski Industries Certificate Programs. Students enrolled in any major can combine a bachelor's degree with a specific concentration in ski business management, professional coaching, or adaptive ski teaching.
- T.D. THORNTON

Meat-eater's delight

For some of the best ribs and barbecue in Western Maine check out The Rack on the Sugarloaf access road. This smokehouse, opened a few years ago by Seth Wescott has everything a discriminating carnivore could ask for.
- TONY CHAMBERLAIN

Best blanket coverage on ticket deals

Shawnee Peak has an aggressive money-saving perks plan that covers every day of the week, plus deals for college students, members of AAA, and skiers who arrive by the carload. For the fifth straight year, Shawnee Peak is offering free family season passes to the spouse and dependents of deployed soldiers, and when the family's military member returns home, he or she is also eligible for a complimentary season pass.
- T.D. THORNTON

Best apres ski

At Sunday River, check out the fireside scene at Foggy Goggle, and later, Phoenix House and Well.
- TONY CHAMBERLAIN

Best martini and steak

At Sunday River, Rooster's Roadhouse will mix you the very finest libation, but the Matterhorn has the finest steak.
- TONY CHAMBERLAIN

Best answer to 'Who's fastest?'

A new advanced terrain park at Sugarloaf will include a snowboardcross/skiercross course designed, in part, by Olympic snowboardcross champion Seth Wescott. The run will feature "live timing," allowing guests to test their speeds against each other and against Wescott's best runs. This new Sidewinder course will be located in the area formerly known as The Yard, while the advanced terrain park formerly located in The Yard has been moved to Haywire. Not quite ready to race at Olympian speeds? Novices have a new area this season, too, on Whiffletree, located in the former Turbo Tubing area.
- T.D. THORNTON

Best program to encourage kids

WinterKids, a nonprofit organization that helps children develop positive health habits and physical fitness through participation in outdoor winter activities, offers all Maine fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders a low-cost "passport" good for free and discounted skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, skating, tubing, and dog sledding. There are no blackout dates for the passport program, and parents and family members who are outside the middle-school age bracket are eligible for sibling discounts. A no-cost passport is available for families that cannot afford the $45 or $20 processing fees. Full program info is at www.winterkids.org.
- T.D. THORNTON

A little something for everyone

Maine's Black Mountain is somewhat eccentric. In the Nordic world, the Rumford area's 17 kilometers of cross-country trails are good enough to twice host the US Cross-Country Championships, and there's even rare snowmaking on select trails. Many of the events are aided with enthusiastic support from the Chisholm Ski Club, which began in the 1920s. For the recreational skier and rider, the small 20-trail hill with a punchy 1,150 feet of vertical provides some easy learn-to-turn patches. with some stimulating stuff off the top. Tickets are a still reasonable $25 (up from $20 last season).
- MARTY BASCH