Skiing Saddleback Mountain
Sunday, February 17th, 2026
Runs: 21
Distance: 21.41 miles
Elevation: 23,264 feet
Max Speed: 36.6 mph
Avg. Speed: 12.4 mph
Moving Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes, 14 seconds
Total Time: 6 hours, 42 minutes, 56 seconds
It's time!!! The grand return to Saddleback Mountain. This is the third year that Gen and I were visiting this wonderful mountain, and it's been fun to bring more friends every year! Each time we come we reflect on our first visit where we BARELY left the South Branch area. The first day we went we barely made up the Rangeley and down Hudson Highway, and the second day we DID make it to the Kennebago, but only made it down America (which was spectacular). Last year we definitely leveled up - I ended up skiing just about every blue on the mountain minus some bump runs, and I even did my first black/double black on the mountain with Tight Line! My big goal this year was woods, specifically Casablanca, and Sarah was super excited to take me over there! We had an early wake up (5:45am) and Gen, Sarah, Andre, and I piled into my car for a 6:15am departure! Our drive took a little over 1.5 hours due to ME-17 having a recent dusting of snow, which makes for some rough roads near the height of land all the way to the junction with ME-16 - I was STRESSED but we made it totally fine. The rest of the drive was great! We got to the lodge around 7:50am, soon got breakfast at 8:00am, and were all booted up and ready to go just after first chair at 8:30am!
Daily Report
Sunday February 15, 2026. 6:20 AM
Sunday Funday! Anyone up for some skiing and snowboarding?
It's an all-you-can-eat type of day up here at Saddleback; everything is good. 68 trails of trees, tricks, and incredibly inviting corduroy. 8:30am gets us going on all 6 of our lifts. Another inch of snow overnight and packed powder as far as the eye can see with an alarming amount of untouched powder still hanging around in the trees. The sun will be gracing in the mountain today adding more warmth to the mountain and bringing temperatures into the upper 20s by noontime
With this much snow it can be easy for your eyes to be bigger than your stomach. Always ski in contol and respect posted signage across the mountain. When venturing into the trees and other natural terrain, please be aware that natural hazards do exist. Always enter natural terrain with a buddy or two, as we like to say, "Threes in trees." not only is skiing with a crew the safest way to go about our natural terrain, it's also the best way to get photo evidence of those thigh-high stashes you'll be finding.
Plenty of events and activities on the docket for today and throughout the week. Brunch at The NEST today, DJ starts spinning the tunes as 12:00pm. Once you make your way into The Pub for the evening, our Apres Music Series will be underway from 3:00pm to 6:00pm, featuring the musical stylings of Barney Martin. A full lineup of this week's events is available online as well as registration to join in on Friday night's Torchlight Parade prior to the fireworks.
Stay safe and have a blast!
Runs 1-2
Run 1: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Royal Coachman
[0.95 mi; 2:56; 1,319 ft 36.6 mph max; 19.4 mph avg]
Run 2: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Grey Ghost
[0.91 mi; 3:01; 1,273 ft; 34.7 mph max; 18.1 mph avg]
We piled onto the Rangeley with almost no wait and were off! I will say, it was nice to be on a hi-speed quad after being at Mt. Abram and Camden Snow Bowl the past couple of days! We could help but gawk at the corduroy underneath us, so Sarah and I decided to hit the Royal Coachman first thing. Gen and Andre opted for the blue that runs mostly parallel, Grey Ghost. It was NICE. It was cold, but NICE. I am eternally working on carving on steeper runs, but it was still NICE. We met back up at the Rangeley for out next run, which was a four-person lap down Grey Ghost (Sarah and I always giggle on this one because the mascot for the school we teach marching band at is the Grey Ghost) - I forgot how fun this pod of blue runs is! Definitely on the steeper side, which makes for some great turns before it gets scraped off!
Runs 3-4
Run 3: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Green Weaver
[0.48 mi; 2:04; 633 ft; 26.5 mph max; 14.1 mph avg]
Run 4: Kennebago Quad - America - Hudson Highway - Red Devil - Hudson Highway
[1.77 mi; 7:05; 1,699 ft; 35.2 mph max; 14.9 mph avg]
It was officially time for our first America run of vacation! Run #3 was down Green Weaver, which really is a great trail before the sharp left turn to the Kennebago gets scraped off. From the Kennebago, we took a few pictures at the top (NO CLOUDS!) and truly giggled the whole way down America! The cords were to die for and the views were just spectacular, especially over towards the Presidentials. From there, we followed the Hudson Highway headwall disaster area to the Red Devil before finishing out on Hudson Highway back to the Rangeley. We were truly in the best of moods and so happy to be back.
Runs 5-7
Run 5: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Professor - Jane Craig - The Pass
[0.47 mi; 4:27; 643 ft; 18.8 mph max; 6.4 mph avg]
Run 6: Kennebago Quad - Dazzler - Tight Line - Lower Tight Line - Lower Green Hornet - Dusty Miller
[1.88 mi; 6:53; 2,024 ft; 34.3 mph max; 16.4 mph avg]
Run 7: South Branch Quad - Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Peachy's Peril - Col. Bates - Thrombosis Glades (R) - Lower Peachy's Peril
[0.94 mi; 6:26; 1,273 ft; 23.7 mph max; 8.7 mph avg]
Sarah and I were getting ready for our adventure runs, but naturally we all wanted to keep riding the lift together. Run #5 brought us back up the Rangeley. Gen and Andre continued on Green Weaver to the Kennebago, while Sarah and I went down Professor to Jane Craig to get to the Pass before hitting the Kennebago. Professor had some big bumps, Jane was a bit more mellow. Jane did have an impressive headwall, though! I'd say I navigated them decently!
Run #6 was up the Kennebago - it was time! We said "goodbye for now" to Gen and Andre, who went off on their own for a while, and Sarah and I hopped onto Dazzler to the infamous Tight Line. I forget how ridiculously steep the headwall is! It was also pretty wind-scoured, which was less than ideal, but also completely fine. We (I) too a deep breath and reminded myself that the first turn is the heardest mentally, and once that first turn is over the rest is literally fine, and I was correct! It definitely was a little scrapey (I also have not tuned my skies in a while...), but I made it down pretty decently! I was ahead of Sarah, and I enjoyed looking behind and seeing just a cloud of white smoke from everyone skiing down. From there, we followed Lower Tight Line, which was a DREAM. Legally ungroomed, it skied super fun with just a few small bumps here and there. We didn't plan to go all the way to the tippy bottom (mostly because the South Branch Quad is dreadfully slow), but then we saw the untouched Lower Green Weaver and simply had to - we giggled the whole way down! Our run ended with Dusty Miller, and then we had a nice relaxing on the South Branch Quad, which is comically noted as being for "beginners, terminal intermediates, and tired folks."
We went back onto the Rangeley for Run #7! We were going to start dipping into some trees, but I wanted to start with some lower on the mountain to get my feet wet before going into Casablanca (joke was on me - this next run was much harder than the Casablanca glades). We bumped our way down Peachy's Peril, which had larger bumps than Professor and Jane Craig, and then turned onto Col. Bates before dipping into the Thrombosis Glades (we picked it for the fun-to-say name, mostly). The upper stretch of them were definitely the tightest and some of the steepest glades I had ever skied, but I handled them well (I think)! They opened up after crossing The Pass, and were super fun! We got spat out onto Lower Peachy's Peril, which was a mellower bump run (truly the best kind of run for me to practice on). I was feeling good!
Runs 8-11
Run 8: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Peachy's Peril - The Pass
[0.40 mi; 4:01; 597 ft; 19.4 mph max; 6.0 mph avg]
Run 9: Kennebago Quad - Dazzler - Casablanca #1 - Black Beauty
[0.90 mi; 9:22; 1,060 ft; 25.6 mph max; 5.7 mph avg]
Run 10: Kennebago Quad - Dazzler - Casablanca #4 - Nymph
[0.88 mi; 9:56; 1,040 ft; 22.4 mph max; 5.3 mph avg]
Run 11: Kennebago Quad - Dazzler - Tight Line - Firefly - Frostbite - Lower Green Weaver - Lower Peachy's Peril
[1.38 mi; 7:12; 1,680 ft; 25.8 mph max; 11.5 mph avg]
Now we were getting ready for the main adventure! We took a long ride up the South Branch Quad followed by a nice, fast one up the Rangeley. Lines were prominent at this point in the day, so we started riding the singles line, which moved quickly. In an attempt to avoid Green Weaver at it's worst, we followed Peachy's Peril to The Pass to get to the Kennebago. Bumps were big, but soft! I think I make my turns too tight on these larger bumps, which causes me to slide and slam into the troughs... Just a thought.
Run #9 was the big one for me - my innaugural trip into Casablanca! We skied down Dazzler to Tight Line, and then Sarah coached me for what's to come next - basically get speed on any down hills and then lots of side stepping for the uphills. There was a small conga line of people making their ways across, but I wouldn't call it busy. There was an older couple that was struggling on the side stepping that held us up, but Sarah and I were both relatively unbothered (the people behind us felt differently). After some more skiing up and down, we eventually made it to the signs for the Casablanca Glades! We followed the little entry side-cut off of Black Beauty, which brought us to the fabled winter wonderland I had heard so much about!
It was BEAUTIFUL in there and felt borderline other-worldly, especially on a bluebird day. It was steeper up top and the trees trended a little tight, but nothing was out of my comfort zone. I even linked a few turns! We took a ton of photos, continually gawking at how pretty it was. The snow got better and better the lower we got. The glades are roughly marked with numbered signs on trees (1, 3, and 4, but we never found a #2?). We followed the 1s basically the whole way down until we found a #0 sign, which we think marked the exit to Black Beauty. I felt really proud of myself for not just surviving, but also skiing medium decently! Black Beauty was a natural-snow bump run that didn't have many big bumps to contend with, which made it a FUN bouncy cruiser. We were hooting and hollering all the way down back to the Kennebago!
We went a little more adventerous for Run #10. We were simply curious what it was like out near Muleskinner, so we hiked all the way, with the goal being Casablanca #4. We learned that the entrance for our last run was just for the "Casablanca Glades," and that there were seperate entrances each for Casablanca "Chutes" 1-4. The ski/hike out was a tiring, but still beautiful. We eventually accidentally skied past Chute #4 and came to Muleskinner, where ~7 people were hanging out, likely catching their breaths. There wasn't a clear entrance to Casablanca 4 from here, but we asked the folks and they said there's plenty on the left side of Muleskinner, so we went for it!
Casablanca 4 is otherworldly looking - wide open and just WHITE. The upper stretch was a bit... the word I would use bony but not the usual bony. Lots of small treetops it seemed scattered between the larger trees. A bunch of stumps, too. Thankfully, no rocks! Just very hard snow. The skiing wasn't hard but the thinking was! Thankfully, the wide open views made up for it. We were initially under the impression that the glades got harder 1-4, but it turns out #4 was the easiest - no complaints from me!
The snow was deep down low and we eventually exited onto Nymph, which was a fun cruiser with just a few bumps. We found ourselves thinking about how much fun Black Beauty was, so our next goal would be to find our way there, but higher up. The main entrance off of Dazzler was closed, but on the map it looked like we could take Tight Line to Firefly over to Frost Bite, which seemed to be identical to Black Beauty. Back to the Kennebago!
The Tight Line headwall was rougher than before, and we had to really hit the breaks to stop in time to hit Firefly. Firefly was naturally ungroomed and pretty narrow, but plenty easy to follow. We were soon on Warden's Worry, which was hard and crusty with exposed stumps. We could have descended from here, but we wanted Frost Bite! Firefly seemed to evaporate after Warden's Worry, though. Two kids got ahead of us and continued on, so we assumed we could follow? This was basically a single-track near-bushwhack traverse. Our skis were getting caught between trees and it was overall not a glamorous journey, but thankfully we were rewarded with... more stumps! When we came out of the remnants of Firefly (on the paper map the trail does go to Frost Bite, but on the interactive map online it appears to stop at Warden's Worry) we flew onto more hard, crunchy, stumpy, branchy, nonsense. At this point, I accepted fate and made a few turns down, ultimately landing in some spectacular natural snow. Sarah took the gentler approach. Eventually, we were both in the land of the goods and had a super fun run down. We continued past the Kennebago and went down Lower Green Weaver to Lower Peachy's Peril, which was a fun way to wrap up this adventure run. Afterwards, Sarah went in for a snack break and I started a bit of a solo adventure.
Runs 12-14
Run 12: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Kennebago Quad - America - Hudson Highway
[1.52 mi; 5:45; 1,040 ft; 26.0 mph max; 15.9 mph avg]
Run 13: Cupsuptic T-Bar - Blue Devil
[0.56 mi; 2:32; 682 ft; 22.6 mph max; 13.2 mph avg]
Run 14: Cupsuptic T-Bar - The Pass
[0.38 mi; 1:50; 279 ft; 19.8 mph max; 12.4 mph avg]
Something that was fun about this day was that I kept trading friends! Sarah went away, but I almost immediately ran into Gen! She was getting ready to wrap up her day, so I joined her! Run #12 was all the way up and down America and Hudson Highway. America was perfect as usual and I hadn't skied ALL of Hudson Highway since last year. I thought "wow, this is great!" until I got to the flats, which were actually uphill... Oh well! It was still a lovely cruiser.
We stopped at the T-Bar, where she was thinking about calling two or three more to skip the last. We got a nice run down Blue Devil before hopping back on. She wanted to ski Lower Tight Line (or Lower Green Weaver, unclear which she meant...) for her final run, but I proposed we go to the tippy top and get a tippy bottom run in to put a bow on her day - she was in! Run #14 was up the T-Bar and over The Pass to the Kennebago (ALERT: some uphill side stepping/aggressive skating was required).
Daily Report
Sunday February 15, 2026.
Afternoon Update: 1:01 PM
We're kicking the week off in style here at Saddleback. After a long spell of skiing in multiple layers, we have hit the sweet spot for all you February Vacationers. We've got MOUNTAIN (get it?) of family-fun activities every day all week long with a tasty mix of sunny days and snowy days. Take your pick, it's a WIN either way!
Runs 15-18
Run 15: Kennebago Quad - America - Sneaky Pete - The Pass - Lower Tight Line - Little Inky Boy - Hummer
[2.46 mi; 11:02; 1,969 ft; 28.6 mph max; 13.4 mph avg]
Run 16: South Branch Quad - Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Grey Ghost - The Pass - Silver Doctor
[0.66 mi; 2:32; 955 ft; 27.2 mph max; 15.6 mph avg]
Run 17: Cupsuptic T-Bar - Parmachene Belle (R)
[0.49 mi; 5:16; 666 ft; 18.5 mph max; 6.9 mph avg]
Run 18: Cupsuptic T-Bar - The Pass - Golden Smelt - Lower Royal Coachman
[0.80 mi; 5:35; 896 ft; 23.1 mph max; 8.6 mph avg]
Gen's final run was an absolute delight! America, Sneaky Pete, The Pass all the way to Lower Tight Line, then Lower Inky Boy and Hummer to wrap things up. Truly my favorite part about this run was just skiing with Gen again! Her season basically ended this week last year due to some family troubles, so it was so nice to have her back. Our super slow ride up the South Branch Quad was also lovely. We roasted in the cold sun and just talked about how much we love Saddleback.
On the spirit of trading friends, I said "goodbye" to Gen (who went to get a waffle and sit outside listening to the DJ they had playing) and "hello" to Sarah and Andre! The three of us hopped onto the Rangeley, which had a much smaller line now, and checked out Silver Doctor, which was relatively unpleasant in terms of both people and snow conditions. We got back to the T-Bar where they rode together and I got some introvert time in behind them. They went down Blue Devil and I checked out Parmanchene Bell (the right side at the split) which was... fine. Narrow, bumpy, would be a hoot and holler on a pow day! It was mostly hard bumps on tired legs.
We all got back on the T-Bar for Run #18. Andre was calling his two more skip the last and Sarah had to pee. I was juicing for more! I told Sarah I'll get a quick lap of the Rangeley in while she uses the bathroom and then I'll meet her at the bottom so we can get a few more runs in together.
Runs 19-21
Run 19: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Green Weaver - Lower Green Weaver
[1.17 mi; 4:01; 1,253 ft; 25.8 mph max; 17.4 mph avg]
Run 20: Rangeley Hi-Speed Quad - Green Weaver
[0.45 mi; 1:50; 610 ft; 21.6 mph max; 14.8 mph avg]
Run 21: Kennebago Quad - America - Sneaky Pete - The Pass - Lower Green Weaver - Green Hornet
[2.07 mi; 8:07; 1,640 ft; 30.3 mph max; 15.3 mph avg]
My solo lap was mostly lovely! I took the Rangeley to Green Weaver, which was scrapey in the expected area, and then I continued onto Lower Green Weaver to connect the two dots. The Lower Green Weaver was still in EXCELLENT shape and just a delightful cruiser. When I got to the bottom I saw a text from Sarah that she got on the Rangeley (rude), so I got right back on, assuming I'd meet her at the top (which I texted to her). She was no where to be found! I waited for about five minutes for a text, phone call, or just an apperance, but nothing. I was feeling a bit let down/ghosted, but I decided to move on with my day and finish up my runs. I took Green Weaver over to the Kennebago and then from the top I followed America, Sneaky Pete, The Pass, Lower Green Weaver, and Green Hornet (first and last two of which were wonderful). I did get COLD on this last run, so I called it there. I definitely could have squeezed in one more, maybe even two off the Rangeley, but my legs were cooked and the groomers were rough.
I met up with everyone inside by the fireplace and told Sarah how HURT I was (she missed the part where we agreed to meet at the bottom of the Rangeley) and then we all went upstairs for dinner/apres at The Pub! The view of the mountain was exceptionally beautiful as it changed colors with the sunset.
The drive home was remarkably easier than the drive there, and once we were all cozy we watched the classic "Hot Dog... The Movie"! It was Andre's first time watching it. I forget how spectacular it is every time!
