This post is long past due but a recent article on WildSnow.com rekindled the thought. With the recent growth of turn earning both at ski areas and in the backcountry, how have ski areas on the east coast responded? Where are they missing opportunities and where are they getting it right?
Jay Peak has marketed Big Jay as a backcountry destination (though recently somewhat limited by fall out from the Big Jay cut). Stowe arguably has the most well known sidecountry offering by hiking the Chin. Whiteface has the Slides which are gained for very minimal effort. And Sugarbush offers up Slidebrook. Though with no hiking required and bus service back to the base, I hesitate to add Sugarbush into this illustrious list.
Cannon temporarily became the poster child for lift accessible sidecountry last season when they opened Mittersill for lift accessible “backcountry” following the land swap. However, a new double chairlift is already being installed and Cannon is replacing a unique offering in the east with yet another trail pod (even if that trail pod will offer natural snow only… for now).
Hot on the heals of upstart Saddleback’s massive in bounds glade expansion, Sugarloaf takes up the torch this season with their Burnt Mountain expansion which will require at least a traverse and the option of ascending Burnt Mountain’s summit one step at a time. This is a great development and it looks like Sugarloaf is doing things right.
But what area will be next to take up the sidecountry torch? The demand for such offerings is certainly there as more skiers and riders purchase turn earning gear and demand more glades, powder longevity, and varied terrain.
Land permitting and property ownership are likely the two biggest reasons that we will not continue to see more of these types of developments at existing ski areas. But why not new earned turn only ski areas? My personal dream ski area would be a private land owner opening up their backyard mountain to backcountry skiing. The operator would thin out a massive amount of glades and untracked powder could easily be found long after a storm due to low traffic. A groomed skin track on a massive powder day, think of how great that would be! Ski as much powder in one day as your legs would allow. I think there is an untapped market in the east for such an offering. The overhead would be incredibly low excepting insurance.
Will ski areas follow up the glade expansion of the past decade with more slackcountry and earned turn offerings into the next decade? Or are areas already extended to their maximum boundaries and only able to offer more terrain by thinning woods between trails or opening up local cuts? Is liability too much of a concern with opening that much terrain for access (it is not stopping Sugarloaf)? Who are good candidates for sidecountry expansion in the east such as Sugarloaf’s Burnt Mountain expansion?
8 thoughts on “Sidecountry Developments (or Lack Thereof)”
With the sale on WV I am hoping that they take the exact approach that you have stated above. They have the opportunity to expand left and right of the current ski area boundaries and I am hopeful that they will make this accessible side country instead of cutting more trails/ That is one of the major turn offs of WV is that they have nothing challenging in that regard. My rents have a place in the valley and I pack up every time I ski to head to Cannon, just because they have more to offer with regards to side country and glades. I think the market with regards to side country is ready to explode and I think that ski areas are going to realize that and take advantage. I don’t think that will change my approach to going to a ski area, I’ll still go for the powder days to get as many runs as possible, but will probably still by-pass them to head out in the bc on my own. I don’t see myself paying for an experience I can get outside of a ski area. Plus the crowds and people that will likely be on those runs will ruin it for me. That is one of the beauties of getting in the bc is that you don’t have to deal with all of that…..
I am not very familiar with Waterville Valley but I am sure they would need to have permits from the WMNF to expand regardless of trails or glades. Having glade options from the summit would certainly make Waterville more enticing to expert skiers. As you noted, right now there is nothing Waterville can offer for challenging terrain. That said, their target market is families so adding groomers with any expansion may be in their best interest rather than competing with Wildcat and to a lesser extent Loon.
Only place that I have ever found crowds in the Backcountry (not slide/slack country) is Tuckerman Ravine. Any other place I have ever earned turns it is usually fairly quiet if not generally solitary. I do not think any true backcountry experience that is 100% earned need ever be concerned with crowds. Turn earning may be growing but it will never grown that much. At least I’d like to think that people are mostly too lazy but I could be wrong. The Slack/Side country on the other hand is getting a bit crowded and I would love to see areas continue to open stuff up.
The “earned turn only” idea at a resort exists, in a small way, at a telemark haven on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia:
http://www.skituonela.com/about.html
OK, it is a tiny XC resort tucked away in a remote part of eastern Canada but it is there nevertheless!
Their “telemark hill” features 400 vertical feet of glades with “black diamond” chutes only accessible by hiking. They do offer a rope tow but if you’ve ever been on a rope tow, I think you will agree that hiking would be a better option. It appears from the trail map that you do have to ski on trails to get to the rope tow. Haven’t been there myself but I applaud them for trying!
Yea, now that is what I am talking about! Seems more tour NNN oriented than downhill but I dig the idea. I also like the idea of combining XC with Tele/AT and snow shoe. The terrain would have to warrant paying for access but with a groomed skin track, it would be heaven on a powder day. Next time I am in Nova Scotia (LOLOLOL), I will check it out and report back! 🙂
I don’t see human nature changing. The more work (or money I suppose) it is to get the vert, the more solitary the experience will be. The key IMO is to LOVE the uphill. Steve I don’t really know you but I’m betting you did the exercise. Most of the days I’ve spent in the Adk backcountry follow a similar pattern … uphill all morning long. A break, sometimes with a fire, for a late lunch. Layers added, food, soup, consumed …. then downhill either the way we came in, or to complete a loop. Sometimes we unravel the entire morning’s work in twenty minutes. If you’re diggin’ the up, it’s all good.
I was a hiker before I was a turn earner so the up is indeed a pleasure. Not sure I would say that I “love” the uphill. To me, its all about the down but I do enjoy the up. But no down, no up.
The more up required and the longer up required, the fewer people will put in the effort. That said, more and more people are putting in the effort. Backcountry gear is going through the roof in sales, more and more people are earning turns. Even for slackcountry, since I started skiing Mittersill, (as an example), the traffic hiking up the saddle has increased enormously. I am part of that explosion but it is exploding even more now than when I started earning six years ago or so.
I think it is going to keep on exploding and Brackett Basin at Sugarloaf is a testament to that explosion.
I believe the latest ski technology, fat and rockered skis to be exact, will lead to the development of more sidecountry terrain. More people are skiing more aggressively and prefer non groomed terrain than ever before.
Thanks for the comment, Jamie. I think the latest ski technology is a result of the already established market rather than leading the way into something new. The sidecountry and glading developments have already started at many places in the northeast. I am not so sure the technology will push that further, I think the tech is just a response to demand.