You can generally see good management in action not by watching good managers but by watching good employees. Such is the case at Sunday River. As I approached the Locke Mountain Triple Chair, the liftie greeted me with a welcoming “How are you doing today?” After the chair was bumped, I was whisked away to an enthusiastic “Enjoy your run!” Even though Sunday River is not my cup of tea, I could easily see that the resort has a special buzz. One aspect of said buzz is being treated like a friend rather than a guest.

Sunday River is the first ski area in the Northeast to open top to bottom. Skiing was on T2 and Upper Sunday Punch to the mid-station, followed by Sunday Punch and Lower Sunday Punch below it. Snow guns were blowing on a significant number of trails including Upper Sunday Punch, Sunday Punch, Jungle Road, Ecstasy, and Right Stuff. With a few more snow making opportunities this week, I expect all of these trails to be open wall to wall next weekend.

Today’s conditions varied greatly from trail to trail. T2 offered the best coverage with some sugar on the sides. Upper Punch contained some sections of dirty snow and death cookies. Below the mid-station conga line, Sunday Punch had delightful soft bumps under a frozen waterfall of blowing snow and Lower Punch was teeth chattering refrozen hard pack, several sections of thin coverage were easily avoided. Skiing was true top to bottom with no need to take skis off or walk, though some less adventurous skiers still opted for a download.

The comparison to last year when–leading up to Thanksgiving–conditions got worse every week instead of better is night and day. Any skiing during the first week of November is good skiing. Top to bottom skiing without walking is especially delightful, which is more than can be said about Killington’s current offering costing twice as much with lift lines twice as long.