At the heart of every mountain is a slumbering queen for whom worker skiers labor on slopes gathering food, poles, and goggles. Serve your snowy highness with today's Groupon: for $39, you get a lift ticket valid for one day of skiing at Sunday River in Newry, Maine (a $79 value). This deal expires on December 23, 2010, so if you’re going to buy it, be sure you can use it right away.

At Sunday River, winter-sport enthusiasts perambulate powdered peaks in the northeast's second-biggest ski resort. A three-hour drive from Boston, Sunday River lures in Bostonians and far-crying New Englanders every winter with its remote beauty, sprawling Maine vistas, uncrowded slopes, and variety of lodging options. Impress highbrow hawk art-critics by carving land art murals into 671 acres of manicured trails, steep slopes, and scenic glades. The 3-mile resort boasts 132 trails, 16 lifts (including New England's only Chondola), and eight mountains. Locke Mountain is tattooed with tried-and-true trails whose earliest runs were cut in the 1950s. White Cap dares danger-wranglers with challenging runs, steeps, and glades and has more pitch variation than a Neil Young B-side. Sunday River's password-protected peaks attract aspiring adventurers and serenity-seekers alike.

Reviews

Sunday River has been featured in the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Yelpers give it an average of four stars.

• It is a sprawling mountain getaway with few crowds. It is the unhurried, somewhat untried giant waiting to be fully discovered 50 years after it opened. – Bill Pennington, the New York Times
• Sunday River is a great mountain. Large for the east and usually better snow than many of the other mountains. I highly recommend it for skiing. – Ryan S., Yelp