Maine Ski Resorts Ranked & Mapped
There are eleven ski resorts in Maine, with the majority concentrated on the southwestern portion of the state. Acadia National Park is located on the eastern coast, and is only near two of the smaller ski areas in the state.
Acadia National Park
Best Months: May, September, June & July
Hours: Year round, 24 hours a day
Entrance Fee: $30 per vehicle, valid for 7 days
Maine Ski Season
The ski season in Maine typically runs from December to March, although this can vary depending on the weather conditions. Some ski resorts in Maine may open as early as November and remain open into April if conditions permit. Skiing and snowboarding are popular winter sports in Maine, and the state has several ski resorts that offer a variety of trails for skiers and snowboarders of all levels.
The length of the ski season in Maine can also depend on the elevation of the ski resort, as higher elevations tend to have longer ski seasons due to the colder temperatures and greater snowfall.
List of All Maine Ski Resorts
Sugarloaf and Sunday River ski resorts are a part of the super popular IKON nationwide ski pass. However, the majority of Maine’s ski resorts are not affiliated with any of these types of ski pass networks.
| Resort | Pass | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Bigrock Mountain | INDY | Cherryfield, ME, 04622 |
| Black Mountain | INDY | Rumford, ME, 04276 |
| Camden Snow Bowl | Camden, ME, 04843 | |
| Lost Valley | Auburn, ME, 04210 | |
| Mt. Abram | Greenwood, ME, 04255 | |
| New Hermon | Herman, ME, 04401 | |
| Rangeley Lakes Trail Center | Rangeley, ME, 04970 | |
| Saddleback | INDY | Rangely, ME, 04970 |
| Shawnee Peak | Bridgton, ME, 04009 | |
| Sugarloaf | IKON,COLL | Carrabassett Valley, ME, 04947 |
| Sunday River | IKON | Bethel, ME, 04217 |
| Titcomb Mountain | Farmington, ME, 04938 |
Explaining Our ‘Difficulty Score’
Parks & Trips created a proprietary Difficulty Score that is generated by looking at the number of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then gives each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
The Most Difficult Maine Ski Resorts
Sugarloaf Mountain is the most well-known of all Maine’s ski resorts, and for good reason. It is the most difficult in the state, and is one of the top three most challenging ski resorts in the Northeast. Sugarloaf has the most trails, the steepest vertical and the highest summit of all the state’s ski resorts. Sugarloaf is the unquestioned leader of Maine’s ski industry.
The Sunday River and Saddleback ski resorts round out the top three in Maine. Both have over 50% of their trails rated for experts, and they also happen to be the second, and third-largest resorts in the state as well.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Sugarloaf | 23% | 34% | 43% | 67% |
| #2 | Sunday River | 30% | 36% | 34% | 57% |
| #3 | Saddleback | 32% | 32% | 36% | 53% |
| #4 | Black Mountain | 29% | 35% | 36% | 45% |
| #5 | Shawnee Peak | 25% | 50% | 25% | 44% |
The Easiest Ski Resorts in Maine
New Hermon Mountain comes in as the most beginner-friendly ski hill in Maine. Just barely beating out Titcomb Mountain, New Hermon has about 40% of its trails dedicated to beginners.
In fact, most of Maine’s ski resorts are great for beginners. Outside of Sugarloaf, Sunday River and Saddleback, all of Maine’s ski areas are below average (in the US) in difficulty level.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | New Hermon | 40% | 30% | 30% | 32% |
| #2 | Titcomb Mountain | 25% | 50% | 25% | 34% |
| #3 | Camden Snow Bowl | 20% | 60% | 20% | 39% |
| #4 | Mt. Abram | 28% | 48% | 24% | 39% |
| #5 | Bigrock Mountain | 11% | 75% | 14% | 40% |
The Largest Ski Resorts in Maine
Choosing the largest ski resorts is a bit of a tricky proposition. Do you look at just the summit elevation? How about the total acreage, most trails, or steepest vertical drop?
Well, we decided to combine all four of those metrics into one ranking to get the best idea, although we fully admit this is completely subjective. We’ve given you all the data in the following table to make your own decision.
The three most challenging ski resorts in Maine are also the three largest. As mentioned above, these three are the only resorts in the state that have above-average difficulty, and their 2,000+ ft verticals are one of the main contributing factors. However, Sugarloaf is the largest by far. It has over 1,200 skiable acres, 160+ ski runs, and the highest summit in the state.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Base Elevation | Vertical Drop | Acres | Trails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Sugarloaf | 4,237 ft | 1,417 ft | 2,820 ft | 1,240 | 162 |
| #2 | Sunday River | 3,140 ft | 800 ft | 2,340 ft | 884 | 139 |
| #3 | Saddleback | 4,120 ft | 2,460 ft | 2,000 ft | 600 | 68 |
| #4 | Shawnee Peak | 1,700 ft | 400 ft | 1,300 ft | 249 | 40 |
| #5 | Black Mountain | 2,150 ft | 1,000 ft | 1,150 ft | 48 | 35 |
Neighboring States
New Hampshire and Vermont are great states for skiing as well, and are, in fact, slightly higher than Maine in our state-by-state rankings. To the north in Quebec, the skiing is not quite as good, but you’ll have loads of options (it has over 70 ski areas!).
