My birthday party (see previous page) was a hard act to follow but this great mountain held its own.  Let me get the Sugarloaf award done right up front – “Most friendly big mountain”.  First the ticket manager who gave me my ticket was friendly and prompt.  But next – it was Laura and her friends in the main reception area who made me feel welcome.  First you must realize that my sisters forced me to wear the orange jump suit that Dee gave me (see photo) – add to this the thick bundle of 28 ticket stubs I wore proudly around my next and I was a pretty easy target.  But it was Laura in the reception that gave me the biggest smile and told me her amazing story.  She was an avid skier through her early thirties when a fluke ski accident left her a paraplegic.  After much medical treatment and physical therapy she pulled herself back into the mainstream with skiing and working for Sugarloaf.  Well, Laura was very forthcoming with her story – the ups and downs – and she was captivated by all my sisters and my winter adventures.  Thanks Laura for your warm greeting and thanks to all the lift attendants who also had a smile and a how-do-you-do from us all.

The mountain skiing was great as well.  Sure the lifts have been relocated since my youth – sure new slopes have been cut and other widened leaving very few old woodsy trails like the old Double Bitter – sure the lodge and shops have expanded and less intimate – but ya know, the skiing is still as great as it always was.  Tote Road is still the same long, wide sweeping cruiser, Narrow Gauge headwall still very steep and the Sluice a triple black to challenge the best of them.  I have now skied most of the big mountains in New England and Sugarloaf gets a big high five.