Skiing Black Mountain of Maine
Monday, February 16th, 2026
Runs: 13
Distance: 13.59 miles
Elevation: 14,826 feet
Max Speed: 39.8 mph
Avg. Speed: 14.6 mph
Moving Time: 1 hour, 1 minute, 6 seconds
Total Time: 5 hours, 5 minutes, 45 seconds
Legs were TIRED from a big day at Saddleback yesterday, but naturally it was time to get going again! I was telling myself that I'd take it easy on our BMoM day, which I guess rang slightly true? The lift is slow, so I had to go slower than yesterday! We woke up before our alarms (yay!) and had a nice slow morning with a stop at Dunkin in Rumford. The lodge was basically deserted when we arrived at 8:30am, which was a treat! We got our beloved wicket tickets and slowly booted up, getting ready to ski just after 9:00am!
Mountain Report
Feb 16th 6:00am
School Break is On & we're open all week long with special events and live music. Check out the full schedule. We're skiing and riding on 38 trails and the mountain is in fantastic shape. Today's forecast is calling for a few flurries this monring with the possibility of the sun peeking out this afternoon and temperatures in the upper 20s. Expect fresh corduroy on groomed trails and skier packed poweder on ungroomed surfaces. There's still plenty of pow if you know where to look and you've got a little Moxie... hint hint.
Just be sure you know the policy before venturing out. Our free live music series continues in the Last Run Pub this weekend. Saturday it's the return of Kitty and JT from 2pm-5pm and Sunday we welcome father daughter duo Chad and Nora from 1pm-4pm. All ages and admission is FREE!
Runs 1-4
Run 1: Summit Lift - Allagash - Songo
[1.16 mi; 3:56; 1,096 ft; 30.4 mph max; 17.6 mph avg]
Run 2: Summit Lift - Allagash - St. John - Allagash - Sandy - Lower Rapid
[1.06 mi; 3:13; 1,066 ft; 36.1 mph max; 19.8 mph avg]
Run 3: Summit Lift - Androscoggin
[0.81 mi; 2:28; 1,119 ft; 39.8 mph max; 19.7 mph avg]
Run 4: Summit Lift - Upper Androscoggin - Kenduskeag - Androscoggin - Upper Sunday - Big Eddy Glades - Arostook
[0.78 mi; 3:42; 1,102 ft; 28.7 mph max; 12.6 mph avg]
Sarah, Gen, Andre, and I spent the first few laps all together exploring the groomers that the mountain has to offer. I forget how fast this mountain skis! Our first rus was down our beloved Allagash, which was a dream first thing in the morning. It really is a perfect wide blue cruiser, and the penultimate headwall is a nice challenge for a newer skier without too much consequence. I followed Songo on the way out, which was full of death cookies!
Run #2 was similar, but we altered the route by hitting St. John (one of Gen's favorites) and exiting via Sandy and Lower Rapid, the ladder of which had some nice fun rollers! We were really enjoying our quiet morning, which was full of tee's and hee's. Truly our only complaint of the day was that there was no wind (which is a crazy complaint) - the paper factory in town had quite the smell, and it had made it's way over to the mountain. Alec was getting ready for his snowboard lesson ($100 for a ticket, lesson, and rentals!) and asked about the smell, and the instructor told him it only gets like this on no-wind days.
Run #3 was fun because we got to cheer Alec on during his lesson as we rode the lift! We skied Androscoggin all the way down, which was just in spectacular shape. I was glad the mountain basically had nobody becuase 1) no lines but also 2) I didn't feel bad practicing my giant S-turns all the way down. Turns out this was my fastest run (mph-wise) ever! My speed record for last season was also at Black Mountain of Maine, so that added up.
Run #4 was our final variation on the groomers. We followed Upper Androscoggin to Kenduskeag, which had some dirt showing! We got back on the main part of Androscoggin and then took Upper Sunday (fresh cords!) to the Big Eddy "glades," where Gen got some practice making turns around widely-spaced trees! She was killing it, especially for having no poles!
Runs 5-7
Run 5: Summit Lift - Moxie - Upper Bagaduce - St. George - Upper Saco - Lower Saco - Lower Sunday
[1.54 mi; 10:12; 1,309 ft; 23.4 mph max; 9.0 mph avg]
Run 6: Summit Lift - Piscataquis - Peobscot - Lower Rapid
[0.83 mi; 3:23; 1,106 ft; 25.5 mph max; 14.7 mph avg]
Run 7: Summit Lift - Swift - Upper Rapid - Kenebec - Sticky
[0.82 mi; 3:58; 1,102 ft; 27.8 mph max; 12.3 mph avg]
Our next three runs featured just Sarah and I - Gen and Andre went in for a break and then some practice rounds, which I think turned into the two of them doing their own things. Run #5 brought Sarah and I up the Summit Lift and then a steep little 5-minute hike up Moxie. I really had two goals for this Maine trip: explore Casablanca at Saddleback, and do at least one of the Moxie runs at BMoM! The hike really wasn't bad, minus a few minutes of huffing and puffing. The view from the top of Moxie was the best, I'm pretty sure we could see Mt. Abram! Our run brought us down Upper Bagaduce, which was surprisingly groomed (and therefore a little hard-packed). We then kept going wide onto St. George, which was all-natural and fun! Not wildly deep snow, but just enough to ski without hitting any sharks. These trails just felt more rugged than the main ones, I think partly becuase of the "logged in the past 10 years" characteristic of it. We also caught a little tree view to Saddleback (we think)! From there, we hit Upper Saco, which was a dream! Lower Saco was less of a dream, and basically an long ice chute down to Lower Sunday. It was a fun adventure!
Run #6 had us stopped on the chair for a few minutes, so naturally we started to practice our solfege skills to the Star Spangled Banner. As was the case with Black Mountain in New Hampshire, the chair started moving once we finished the first phrase! Very nerdy, very silly. We went to check out the blacks off the Summit Lift - Piscataquis to Penobscot to Lower Rapid. Piscataquis was scrapey up top but with some fun bumps towards its end, and Penobscot and Lower Rapid were hard and fast and fun!
Run #7 basically served as an excuse to fill in our map for the day. We followed Swift (the upper lift line), which was a little scrapey to Upper Rapid, which was fun, to Kenebec, which was more fun, to Sticky, which was different fun! Sticky was a bump run under the lower bit of the lift. Thankfully, the bumps were soft! Gen saw us bumping our way down and got a video - I didn't look too horrible! We quickly got back on the lift and I gave Gen a "WAIT FOR MEEEEEEE." She did!
Runs 8-10
Run 8: Summit Lift - Upper Allagash - Allagash Woods 1 - St. John - Allagash - Sandy - Lower Rapid
[0.85 mi; 4:21; 1,204 ft; 29.2 mph max; 11.7 mph avg]
Run 9: Summit Lift - Upper Androscoggin - Kenduskeag - Androscoggin - Upper Sunday - Magalloway
[0.99 mi; 3:31; 1,096 ft; 30.4 mph max; 16.8 mph avg]
Run 10: Summit Lift - Upper Allagash - Allagash Woods 2 - Allagash - Alley Loop - Allagash - Sandy - Lower Rapid
[1.11 mi; 7:43; 1,099 ft; 34.2 mph max; 8.6 mph avg]
Run #8 was with Sarah, Gen, and I. Sarah and I went into Allagash Woods 1 (entrance right at the junction with Allagash and St. John, and it was nice! It was right up my alley in terms of "not overly challenging but I still need to work hard." This spat us out on St. John, and we met Gen where Allagash and St. John came back together! From there we followed Allagash, Sandy, and Lower Rapid out.
Run #9 was a repeat of #4 per Gen's request, with a slight alteration of hitting Magalloway instead of Big Eddy after Upper Sunday - it was still a DELIGHT. After this run, Sarah went in to rent a snowboard to join Alec for a bit, Andre was having some lunch, and Gen and I got right back to it!
Run #10 was a semi-friend semi-adventure run for me. We went down Upper Allagash and I jumped into the woods for Allagash Woods 2, which I think was my favorite of the two I had done - snow was a little nicer, woods a bit more open, and the run was a bit longer. Gen waited for me at the exit (I'm impressed she landed at the right one!) and managed to get a great photo of me LAUNCHING out of the woods against my will. We continued down, and I went into the Alley Loop woods, which were pretty boney and less-than-pleasant. The exit was tight, steep, and just awkward to navigate (which in fairness could have been a me-problem. I met up with her at the Allagash/Lazy River junction, and we skied Sandy to Lower Rapid back to the chair.
Runs 11-13
Run 11: Summit Lift - Moxie - Bagaduce - Lower Sunday - The Bean
[1.44 mi; 6:35; 1,329 ft; 26.5 mph max; 13.1 mph avg]
Run 12: Summit Lift - Scrog - Androscoggin - Upper Sunday - Aroostook
[1.01 mi; 1,096 ft; 30.7 mph max; 13.6 mph avg]
Run 13: Summit Lift - Allagash - Sandy - Lower Rapid
[1.21 mi; 3:35; 1,102 ft; 31.4 mph max; 20.3 mph avg]
Gen went inside for a snack, Andre was off doing his own thing, and Sarah and Alec were snowboarding - I was back riding solo! I decided this would be my second Moxie run. The skiing the first time wasn't great, but it was like an old mosquito bite that you accidentally itch, I had to explore more! I rode the lift and hiked up solo and decided I'd follow Bagaduce all the way down. The sun had warmed up the snow at this point in the afternoon, so the snow was soft and almost creamy in the sun! There was one headwall that was exceptionally wonderful. The last bit towards Lower Sunday was similar to Lower Saco, but more forgiving. I wrapped this run up with The Bean, and then I found Gen again! She was ready for her "two more skip the last," so I happily joined her.
We decided to hit Upper Androscoggin to Androscoggin to Upper Sunday to Arostook. I hit Scrog (the woods between Swift and Upper Androscoggin, which were easy but I managed to fall attempting a tighter-than-necessary turn - all good! The mountain was still skiing great at 2:30pm! When we hit the beginner area we heard "MATT, GEN!" from the lift, and it was Sarah! We cheered her on as she stumbled off the lift and got some action shots of her SHREDDING (slowly) down Aroostook. Gen stayed with Sarah for action shots, and I headed back to the lift to get my "two more skip the last" before some apres at the Last Run Pub.
My last run was just a wonderful cruiser down Allagash, Sandy, and finally Lower Rapid. I was feeling good! Albeit tired, but good!
We all wrapped up just after 3:00pm and headed up to the Last Run Pub for a few apres drinks and to play a card game "Trailmaster" that I got off of Etsy - it was fun, even though the rules weren't super clear. We'll probably just stick to Rummy, but it was fun to try something new!
We made our way back to the AirBnb to rest a bit before dinner, which was going to be breakfast! Sarah brought her waffle iron, so we had that, eggs, bacon, tater tots, and lots of giggles! Sarah's mom also joined us! The rest of the night was chill and we had an earlier bed time because we were heading back to Saddleback tomorrow!
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