Ch-Ch-Changes at Sunday River

Combining two words into one can be useful ('brunch,' 'spork,' 'beefalo'), hip ('bootylicious,' 'sexcapade,' 'stagflation'), and hilarious ('Viagravation,' animal hybrids such as 'grolar bear' and 'zonkey,' any scandal with the suffix '-gate' on it). But they can also be annoying ('Brangelina,' 'ginormous,' 'guesstimate,' 'jazzercize') and downright rage-inducing ('chillaxing,' 'fantabulous,' animal hybrids such as 'labradoodle'). So I didn't know what to think when Maine's Sunday River came up with their new "Chondola," a chair lift-gondola combo. But after checking out Sunday River's changes for this season-including the Chondola -I came away mostly impressed this weekend.

While the "Chondola" name falls into the annoying category, the lift itself undoubtedly belongs in the "useful" one. The new detachable lift consists of 6-person chairs with an 8 person gondola in place of every fifth chair. I had previously wondered why they should bother with what I saw as a poor-man's gondola but after hearing about the $7.2 million price tag and being a poor man, I guess I can see the rationale. I also understand the weight implications of having an all-gondola lift and the idea of providing an alternative to those with difficulty boarding a chair/inability to keep their pants on while riding the lift. Not to mention is it impossible to become suspended upside-down from a gondola with your pants down. In any case, the new lift cuts the ride time from a downright rage-inducing 20 minute ride(including changing lifts midway)from South Ridge Lodge to North Peak to just 7 minutes. And it puts you on your way to accessing 6 of the resort's 8 peaks. It also virtually reduces the Obama-inauguration-level crowd that once clogged the South Ridge area to something more reminiscent of an NRA meeting in San Francisco. One of four such hybrids in the country, Sunday River's snazzy new lift is one-of-a-kind in the northeast. Befitting of a one-of-a-kind mountain.

But the Chondola is not the only project Sunday River worked on during the off-season. Also new this is season is a 12-hour lift ticket, extending the day well past sunset. They even put lights up to make the night skiing easier. Two lifts (our friend the Chondola and the South Ridge Express)serve 8 trails that they groom individually between 4-5 pm. The lifts are open until 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and holidays-plenty of time for both skiing and some QT with the Foggy Goggle and its cute Peruvian hostess.

Once you get to the Goggle, however, you will discover one change that nobody likes: beer prices have gone up. A pint of craft beer is now $4.50-not quite rage-inducing, but enough to consider heading back to the condo instead. Some people have even reportedly been seen choosing to have some "glove sodas (beers disguised in ski gloves)" in the parking lot en lieu of beers at the bar.

Getting the most out of their new lift, Sunday River has also installed a new restaurant on North Peak and features Dining at The Peak on Saturday nights with regularly changing menus and an emphasis on Maine ingredients. Very cool if you can afford the $50 per person price tag. For obvious reasons, I didn't go into The Peak, but from the outside, it looked delicious. And I think Maine lobster speaks for itself.

So Sunday River has been busy and the Chondola and night skiing are two more reasons Sunday River is (in my opinion) New England's premier resort. And the past weekend was great-no crowds and over a foot of powder. But I spent too much time at the Foggy Goggle, so excuse me while I go 'joggling' for a while. (Za-zing!)

(Top image: The crowd at the Chondola's Grand Opening Party-which, ironically, is what exactly what South Ridge looked like before they put the new lift in.) (photos courtesy Sunday River's Chondola website at www.chondola.com )