Sugarloaf (formerly Sugarloaf/USA) is a ski area and resort located on Sugarloaf Mountain in Carrabassett Valley, western Maine. It is the second largest ski resort east of the Mississippi in terms of skiable area ( after Killington's ) and snowmaking percentage (95%); its continuous vertical drop of is the second longest in New England (after Killington's ). Sugarloaf recorded a total of 352,000 skier visits in the 2005–2006 season, ranking it second among Maine resorts and 11th in New England. At 4,237 feet (1291 m) Sugarloaf Mountain is third in elevation to Maine's highest peak, Mount Katahdin. It is second to Hamlin Peak, an adjacent spur of Mt Katahdin. The summit of Sugarloaf offers the only lift-serviced above-treeline skiing in the Northeast. The Appalachian Trail crosses within of Sugarloaf's peak and the summit offers 360-degree views of Maine's western mountains and New Hampshire's White Mountains. As of October 2022, there were over of marked trails and a total of of developed trails. There were of skiable area boundary to boundary. The thirteen chairlifts have the capacity to carry 21,810 skiers per hour. There are also 162 marked trails and glades, most of which are named after logging terms in a tribute to Maine's logging history. Trails include thirty-four rated as green circle (25%), forty-four blue square (32%,), thirty-nine black diamond (28%), and twenty-one rated double black diamond (15%). There are also thirty named glades, and three terrain parks. Lifts include two SuperQuads, three high-capacity quads, five doubles, one triple, one T-bar, and one carpet surface lift. The Sugarloaf season runs from mid-November through early May. History The beginnings: 1950–1960 The first trail was cut at Sugarloaf in 1950 by the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club and a group of locals known as "The Bigelow Boys". Led by Amos Winter, along with Stub Taylor, they transformed the mountain into what is today one of the largest ski areas in the Northeast. The founding of the mountain was called for by the US ski association. They hired Pheous Sprague to find a mountain in Maine. Initially, they planned to have the mountain on the Bigelow mountain range, but when Flagstaff Lake was made the plans had to be scrapped. Phin Sprague then found Amos and Stub which knew of a mountain called Sugarloaf. Many documents relating to the founding and early years now reside at the Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield, Maine.