Riding up the Superquad, I noticed that Spillway and Timberline were not spinning. After a quick rip down Lower Winter’s Way to Lower Misery Whip, I found out that King Pine was not spinning. And after a long run out on Cross Haul, I found out that Whiffletree was also not spinning. Looping up and over to the top of King Pine, I found that the new trails off the Brackett Basin ridge were closed.

Today was all about flexibility and patience. Quality snow and good turns could be found, especially after I got past my initial disappointment. With the singles line for the Superquad back to Double Runner, I decided it would be a Double to T-bar day.

Excellent wind loaded snow was found on skier’s left of many trails. The MO for the day was traversing looker’s left from the T-bar and skiing skier’s left on the trails. Spillway, Winter’s Way, Misery Whip, and Ripsaw all offered nice turns, scraped in some places and creamy in others. I found Bubblecuffer to be especially nice. But the run of the day was saved for last as we took Haul Back on Greg’s suggestion which yielded epic wind blown pow.

I was fortunate to meet up with some of the AlpineZone crew after lunch. Skiing solo was okay. But on such a day as this, the company changed the day from somewhat blah to incredibly fun. Skiing with a crew made my day and made the afternoon something special. Last chair came all to quickly and my legs gave out just as the lifts came to a stop.

Burnt Mountain

Burnt Mountain as viewed from King Pine is simply massive. The vast potential for the biggest sidecountry area west of the Mississippi is self evident. But that is going to take time. A long time. The mostly conifer forest is going to require substantial effort and investment to clear away decent skiing lines. A complete build out to Phase 3 will definitely take until at least 2020. In the meantime, I am not holding my breath for Phase 2 to be completed any time soon.

The amount and location of glading performed so far suggests more cutting was done for logging purposes than skiing purposes. Sugarloaf’s Phase I mostly involved clearing out flat and low angle terrain below the King Pine chair. Brackett Basin’s lower terrain includes four named glades, three out of four put you below lift access requiring a ski out via logging road and riding the Snubber back to the base area. None of these low angle glades of Bracket Basin are worth the effort. On a powder day, you’ll be in for a long and painful slog.

The wimpy Phase I of Burnt Mountain pales in comparison to Saddleback’s excellent and massive Casablanca. Phase I only opened three new glades off the upper traverse. Sadly, I was not able to sample these new glades as they were closed. I will need to take another trip to the Loaf to explore these new offerings. However, I won’t be returning (at least with the intent to more fully explore the new terrain) until the Loaf cuts and opens substantially more terrain off the traversing ridge. Until then, Brackett Basin will remain more marketing than substance. An opening salvo mostly devoted to logging out the catch basin for the eventual expansion in earnest towards Burnt Mountain.