Sunday River Jordan 8: A Big Red Boom on Maine’s Most Popular Mountain

The Jordan 8 is both Maine’s first eight-place chairlift and first enclosed bubble lift.

Background

For the 2022-23 season, Sunday River performed a major upgrade for one of its workhorse lifts. The popular Maine resort replaced its outgoing Jordan high-speed quad, which dated back to 1994, with the Jordan 8, a state-of-the-art bubble eight-pack lift in a very similar alignment.

This high-class lift brings a number of new benefits to Sunday River’s Jordan terrain zone, but some guests may lament that this upgrade took precedence over other much-needed improvements elsewhere on the mountain—although this will be addressed in part for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

The Sunday River trail map, with the Jordan 8 lift highlighted in red.

The Experience

Guests who have skied or snowboarded at Sunday River before will find the Jordan 8 to be a substantial enhancement for the resort’s westernmost terrain pod. The new bubble lift brings a level of comfort almost unheard of on the East Coast, with the bright red bubbles providing isolation from the elements—and the stitched, heated seats being as plush as they get in the industry.

And while the previous Jordan lift was already a high-speed detachable, the new Jordan 8 runs even faster, chipping an additional 15% off the already-brisk ride time. The new lift’s ride is notably complacent too, with high-class mechanical components dampening noise and vibrations over towers.

The Jordan 8’s stitched, heated seats are among the most comfortable we’ve tried.

But despite all the bells and whistles of the new lift, those who visited Sunday River this year may have balked at the decision to upgrade Jordan over some critical lifts in more central areas. The outgoing Jordan lift was generally dependable and already provided high-speed service to its terrain pod, while on the other hand, popular lifts such as Barker, White Cap, and Aurora either faced reliability issues (in the case of the former) or painfully long ride times (in the case of the latter two). It’s always felt like certain Sunday River mountain areas have been neglected for investment over others, and this past year, that feeling was especially prevalent.

However, it is worth noting that Sunday River has announced plans to replace the Barker lift with a bubble six-pack for the upcoming 2023-24 season. As a result, this misdeed will be addressed in large part (although there are still no plans to replace Aurora and White Cap any time soon).

And while there’s a lot to like about the new Jordan 8 lift, the new setup has brought a handful of drawbacks as well. First off, Sunday River hasn’t really figured out how to efficiently manage loading an eight-place lift yet; during this past year’s strategy of shuffling 16 people (two sets of eight-pack riders) through RFID gates at a time, staff struggled to maintain queues—and consequently, did not consistently load chairs to capacity. On weekends and holidays this past winter, the Jordan 8 drew a lot of crowds versus the aforementioned, older lifts elsewhere, so guests really felt the pain of the less-than-ideal queue management.

Crowd management issues compounded the lines at Jordan 8 this past season.

It’s also worth noting that Sunday River had to do a lot of land alteration to fit the massive Jordan 8 along its lift line, resulting in some changes to the terrain the chair serves. The double-black Caramba trail now features a wider profile, but the changes have made the entryway slightly less technical than it used to be—and have also left more exposed rock that takes longer to fill in than in previous seasons. Some may appreciate the less intricate nature of the altered trail, while others may miss the more reliable coverage and steep, narrow drop-in that made for one of the toughest trail entries at the resort.

In addition, the starting points for the beginner-level Kansas and Lollapalooza runs were moved slightly; however, we’d argue these moves have been less controversial, if even noticeable to most guests.

Sunday River’s double-black Caramba trail received widening but also became more rocky as a result of Jordan 8 installation work.

While we weren’t sold on the priority of Jordan 8 versus other potential Sunday River projects, it’s hard not to appreciate the benefits from this state-of-the-art machine. The new lift sets the bar high for what an East Coast destination can provide, and the heated bubble ride offers reprieve from the cold without forcing guests to take their equipment off, as they would on a gondola. The Jordan 8 could use some relief from the crowds, but the upcoming Barker project (and, with any luck, better queue management) will hopefully address that factor somewhat.

Considering a ski or snowboard trip to Sunday River this year? Check out our full East Coast ski resort rankings, as well as our comprehensive Sunday River review. You can also check out our Sunday River assessment in video form below.