|
|
|
|
| |
Brundage MountainSubmit a report
03/06/09 3/2/09¡XFirst trip to Brundage Mountain outside of McCall, Idaho. Area was much bigger than I had suspected with 1,500 acres lift served and a vertical drop of 1,800¡¦. The guided back country terrain (cat served) is 19,000 acres. Longest run is Temptation at a little over 2 miles in length. Had a little bit of poling/skating at the beginning and the end, but well worth it as most people did not want to put up with the extra work, so we literally had a private run to ourselves everyday we were there, except for Friday. Monday had no new snow, but the groomers were very, very nice, smooth and even with no bumps or troughs or cookies to ski. Probably some of the best grooming at any mountain I have been to in my thirty years of skiing.ƒº I wish all mountains groomed this well. Even though no new snow, we did find a few little stashes in the trees and got a couple of first turns in uncut pow. It started to warm as the day progressed and we were skiing spring snow, that wet stuff that makes the skis stick, by noon. Tired out the legs so we called it by oneish.ƒº ƒº Kerry&TomK
3/3/09¡XWent to Tamarack today as this was to be their last week of operation. It is a resort that was built as a real estate development project. With the economy tanking, it was going tits-up and they were getting ready to close down the whole area. The buildings under construction were completely wrapped in Tyveck to keep out the elements. People who had bought into the resort lost everything. It was literally a case of last person gone, please turn out the lights. Very sad.ƒ¼ Tamarack had 1,100 acres of lift served terrain with a vertical drop of 2,800¡¦. Back country terrain of over 5,000 acres. A weather front had moved in over night, so it was snowing heavily when we got there at 8:30. Close to a foot had fallen overnight and it just kept coming. The lower half of the hill had thick, gloppy solid liquid (I can¡¦t really call it snow as it just turned into thick slush piles when you skied through it). First tracks were ok, but second tracks were impossible as the snow refused to move once it had been ¡§carved¡¨ into place.ƒ´ The upper mountain lift ride was into the teeth of the wind and the snow was blowing so hard it literally sanded any exposed skin raw. My poor face was red and chapped by the end. Luckily, Tom has his beard so he didn¡¦t suffer like I did. The snow was thicker at the top and stayed cold, so there was tons of fresh pow to ski, knee deep in some places. Vis really sucked, what with snow falling, wind blowing, fog, and flakes sticking to the goggles. Definitely skiing by the Braille method. The solution is to ski close to the trees so you have a little bit of visual reference as to what is up and what is down. I made the mistake of putting on my regular skis and not the fats, so I had a heck of a time in the thick stuff. Back down to the truck and changed into fats, but by then it was too late. My legs were tired and I never really did relax into the turns, so did not enjoy the hill as much as I should have. I went in after six runs, but Tom stayed on the hill and skied another six or seven runs with his fats before calling it.ƒ¼ Kerry&TomK
3/4/09¡XBrundage today. Overcast with light snow falling and wind blow. The new snow from the day before had laid down a really good soft base, that was absolutely excellent on the groomers. The green circle groomers were fresh groom and nicely carveable. The blue square groomers had been groomed the night before, so they had a really nice 3-4 inches of fresh on top. Primo! Black diamonds and off piste were covered in a nice layer of soft new, so it was loads of fun to get hundreds of fresh pow turns all over the mountain. No crowds, so the runs were almost private. Temptation was constantly being wind blown, so every first track vanished, and it was as though you were skiing fresh pow every run!ƒºƒº Took a run into the north ¡§back-country¡¨ to the North Boundary Trail and had to pass through Hidden Valley to get there. I have nicknamed it Forbidden Valley as it was one of the gnarliest bits of mountain I have been on¡Xa mini version of the Trash Can in Alpental¡¦s back-country. Definitely a sphincter clenching run with lots of ice and rocks and waist high dips and stumps!ƒ´ We lasted until about twoish then headed back for some hot cocoa.ƒºƒºƒº Kerry&TomK
3/5/09¡XBrundage again. New snow laid down overnight so another day of fresh pow everywhere. A little overcast, but no flat light so it was easy to let the skis go and get some speed runs in. Pretty much same report as above, but with 6-8 inches of new. I found my groove that day, and every run was excellent and every turn was spot on. The off piste was light and fluffy and very carveable. I, Kerry, put this day in my top 5 of all time! I will hold this day in memory for when there is no snow on the ground and I am jonesing for a most excellent ski run!ƒºƒºƒºƒºƒº Kerry&TomK
3/6/09¡XBluebird day at Brundage. More new snow, 6-8 inches, laid down overnight. Being a Friday, it was busy. We made fourth chair that day and there must have been 200 people in the lift line by the time they started things rolling. I know 200 doesn¡¦t seem like a lot, but when there were only 50 people on the hill the other days, it really was crowded! We got off the top and made our way towards Temptation but stopped short and took a run called Alpine. It was 6-8 inches of new powder smoothness with nary a turn to mar its perfection. Tom and I and about 10 other people were all lined up at the top. We all looked at each other, then one guy started down and we all took off in a Piranha Powder frenzy! Snow was rooster tailing up into the air and it glittered like millions of diamonds as it floated back down. When we got to the bottom we stopped and looked back uphill. Completely trashed! That is how a hill gets chewed up really fast. The crowds did make quick work of the new pow, so we spent more time in the trees looking for freshies. Temptation was more crowded than the other days, so not as much untouched pow at that side of the hill, though we still managed to find fresh, untracked pow every run we took. Called it by 2PM and ended our first trip to Brundage on a high note. We will definitely be back!ƒºƒºƒºƒº Kerry&TomK
Back to Report List | |
