This is huge! You have to go to Sunday River

A skier winds his way down a wide packed powder trail last weekend at Sunday River. (Harrison Thorp photos)

NEWRY, Maine - The first thing that strikes a first-time visitor to Sunday River Ski Resort is the enormity of it all.

But after a lifetime of skiing there were several other firsts that struck me just as singularly.

Namely:

Enjoying homemade potato chips that came with my sandwich at the South Ridge base lodge cafeteria outside on the deck under a warm sun.

A slope with some slope up at Sunday River.

Sauntering outside my hotel door after breakfast, snapping into my bindings and skiing down a wide, winding slope to an empty chairlift line.

Going to a breakfast buffet where there are no scrambled eggs to be had in a steam tray. They actually force you to get a custom made omelet handcrafted by one of two omelet chefs (Btw, you have a staggering array of ingredients from which to choose).

Prepare to be amazed by many things at Sunday River, where eight peaks, 15 lifts and more than 135 trails, glades and slopes await to challenge you as much as you care or dare.

We kept to the greens and blues (novice and intermediate) trails, where wonderful corduroy or packed powder allowed us ample purchase for smooth turns and easy stops to get more pictures.

The views are as spectacular as at any ski area in the Northeast.

The views are spectacular from most every slope, with 20-minute cruisers galore to give you a good long ride back to the base.

If you’ve never been to Sunday River before, a word to the wise: Take a trail map. With about 820 acres of groomed trails and glades it’s easy to get lost.

Unlike some smaller mountains where you’re up and down so much you get dizzy, it’s not unusual to fill your day with just 15 or 20 runs.

And when you’ve had enough, where else do you go but the pool, the Jacuzzi and the sauna.

We started planning our return to the east side near our hotel, the Grand Summit, around 2 p.m.

As we skied down trails next to the hotel, we could plainly see the outdoor heated pool and Jacuzzi were filling up more and more each time we took a run by. Evidently, après ski starts early in these parts, so we paid attention to our burning muscles and did like the Romans, skied in near the second floor ski room, checked our skis, changed into bathing suits and jumped in the pool. With a plastic container of our favorite beverage, it was all downhill from there.

The jacuzzi outside from the Grand Summit Hotel's Moonstruck Cafe is the apres ski place to be.

The Grand Summit is an enormous, yet incredibly hospitable, hotel that boasts a five-star restaurant, exercise room, heated pool, high-ceilinged lobby with roaring fire and direct access to the slopes.

There’s also a free shuttle bus to take you to the main ski lodge where we initially picked up lift tickets and rentals. (And don’t forget your helmet.)

The Grand Summit’s main restaurant, Camp, features lively folk music during dinners, and with its open seating concept, makes a surreally both loud yet intimate dining experience. The food is astonishingly delicious. I had a cobb salad one night and a cheeseburger the next. The cheeseburger was yummy, the cobb salad was insane.

The rooms are tastefully decorated and large. The bed was so comfortable I wanted to take it home with the soap and shampoo.

On a cold day it's great to arrive at the summit in Sunday River's 'Chondola.'

There are a ton of lodging options and ski packages  at Sunday River and likely a ton more skiing before this season is done.

The best way to get there from the Seacoast is to get on Interstate 95, to Gray-New Gloucester and take Route 26 North to Bethel, then Newry. It'll take about two and a half hours to get there. Trust me, it's worth it.

For more information go to www.sundayriver.com.

Below, a map of the mountain.