This past break, a friend and I made our typical weekend trek to Sugarloaf. It was a gorgeous bluebird day, and with the significant amounts of fresh snow the mountain had received, we knew we were in for a day full of great runs, or so I thought.

For our first run of the day, my friend — who I’ll admit is a much better skier than I am — suggested that we try Brackett Basin: the hardest trail on the entire mountain.

For those who are not familiar with Sugarloaf, or skiing in general, Brackett Basin is a double black diamond trail, which on the scale of difficulty, is the hardest type of trail. However, Brackett Basin is in the trees, so not only are you faced with extremely steep conditions, but you are also tasked with weaving through trees, navigating over bumps, and in my case, trying to avoid the few cliffs. That’s right — actual cliffs.

You might say I was a little daunted about this being my first run of the day. But my friend was encouraging, and convinced me that I was a good enough skier, and it was just a head game — which wasn’t helped by the numerous signs at the head of the trail saying things like “DANGER” and “Experts Only”.

As we entered, I carefully tried to maneuver down the first bump-ridden slope you take to enter the trail. I wiped out three times. Because it was Saturday, there were a lot of people on the mountain, which meant there were a lot of people to watch me fall, ask if I was okay, try to help me up, etc. This did not help my cause at all.

At this point, I suggested that I hike out and ski down on the “treeless” double black trail, and my friend meet me at the bottom. She insisted that I would get comfortable, and we decided to take a soda break and then get back at it.

The soda break did not help, and I all but tumbled down the entire trail. At one point, I actually fell so hard that my skis popped off, and slid down a significant part of the slope, and I had to chase after them. Needless to say, after that run, we did not return to Brackett.

Later in the day, when we were taking the lift up to a less treacherous trail, we were asked by one of the mountain ski instructors to take a few of his students up on the lift with us because the were too small and couldn’t get on by themselves. So after scooping the little guys up on to the lift, we started chatting with the two seven-year-olds about their favorite trails and what they had skied that day.

As it turns out, they two had gone to Brackett Basin with their instructor not long after my friend and I had. And apparently, the two seven-year-olds had a great time and “didn’t fall once.” Lucky them.

So, if you’re going to Sugarloaf in the near future, I do not recommend Brackett Basin unless you are an extremely experienced skier, because if you are not ready, it can prove to be extremely dangerous. However, for those experienced skiers, the trail can prove to be challenging, fast-paced and fun — even if you are seven.