Carrabassett Valley, Maine — It’s been a good 75th anniversary season for Sugarloaf, but they’ve been without one core missing ingredient for a good chunk of it.

Since January 5th, Sugarloaf has been without the Superquad due to a gearbox failure. Installed in 1994, the high-speed quad chairlift is arguably the most important chairlift at Sugarloaf. While this led to a multi-week closure, Sugarloaf’s extensive lift network allowed it to still serve the terrain that’s usually covered by the Superquad. The chairlift reopened on February 4th, a big gain for the ski resort before this upcoming weekend.

The good news for Sugarloaf this winter is that its snowmaking team is crushing it. The Maine ski resort has had 5-10 more trails open this winter than last season, thanks to continuous snowmaking investments over the past several years.

“We now can run every gun off the summit at the same time (if it’s not too cold). And we’re able to do so with the most efficient HKD’s on the market. Sugarloaf’s elevation and cold water make it able to run the most efficient configuration of HKD’s on the market,” said Brendan Ryan, Principal of Alpine Solutions and former VP of Snow Surface Design & Management at Boyne Resorts.