Eastern territory - coming this winter

[soulseller]

Anyone else get this email? I still haven't been up there since Brackett has been opened, I am getting excited...

If you consulted the Sugarloaf trail map last winter, you more than likely found yourself drooling over the prospect of the vaguely and enticingly named “Eastern Territory.”

While it wasn’t ready for skier traffic last winter, our glade crew is busy right now cutting brush and extending the Golden Road to this as-yet untracked area to take you further into the Burnt Mountain wilderness than ever before come wintertime.
As its name implies, the Eastern Territory encompasses a pretty massive area on the eastern side of Brackett Brook (Brackett Basin’s namesake). Much of it has been mechanically logged over the past two winters, making it a mix of gladed areas and skidder roads on moderate to low angle terrain. The area itself is huge, meaning fresh tracks will last for days. Add to that the fact that it’s located over a mile away from Sugarloaf-proper, and the Eastern Territory may never get skied out. Also as the name suggests, the Eastern Territory is wild and untamed; Sugarloafers who make the journey out there are in for an adventure.

To access the Eastern Territory, you’ll enter Brackett Basin at the gate, traverse out to the Golden Road, and then follow it until you encounter the current Burnt Mt hiking trail, which will take you directly into the heart of the new territory. At the bottom, the terrain will funnel you out to Snowbrook, and the base of the Snubber lift. Along the way, you’ll be treated to views of the mountain that few Sugarloafers have seen before, like this one:

The glade crew will be working over the coming months to knock down brush and improve terrain in the Eastern Territory, extending and widening the Golden Road, and improving the entrance and and initial traverse into Brackett Basin.
We’ll be headed up with them at various times to check out the progress, so be sure to follow along for updates.

http://sugarloaf2020.tumblr.com/post/30940073471/eastern-territory-coming-this-winter

http://sugarloaf2020.tumblr.com/post/30940073471/eastern-territory-coming-this-winter

 

[snowmonster]

IF we have a summit there this year, I hope the Eastern Territory is open. I want a tour.=)

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice!

 

[bzrperfspec77]

I came on here this morning expecting there to be 10 pages discussing this! The pictures are cool looking too within the email.

 

[bigbog]

We'll see....

 

[Nick]

Yes sir; saw that yesterday on their FB page.

PS: More information on said Summit should be coming in the next few to many weeks

 

[skiahman]

Yeah, I got this email this morning too and it put me into a full blown ski fever attack.
And then I got an email from EVO and found a pr of Rossi S80's for $250.
Day is totally shot. All except the pitched tent at the breakfast table and a new set of boards!

 

[soulseller]

I just bought a pair of S3's a couple weeks ago, i'm ready to skip fall and get this party started.

 

[deadheadskier]

truthfully?

I'm not all that excited about it. Judging by the last pic in the OPs post, it looks to be a couple mile traverse to get that part of the Burnt Mountain terrain. Then it looks to dump you out in the condos at or below Whiffletree. Personally, I haven't found the terrain below King Pine to be worth it. Too flat. Maybe there are some great shots over there and given the work to get there, perhaps they hold fresh tracks for days. That I'm sure will be great, but will require a ton of traversing for limited vertical unless you also include some ascending up towards the top of Burnt.

 

[Nick]

Isn't there a traverse right at the ridge? Now I'm drawing a blank .....I remember we were scoping it out last year during the summit.

Was there ever an intent to install a lift there as well? I don't recall it being on the 2020 plan but I might just be losing it.

PS, I'm not too lazy to google, just too lazy to google right now

 

[AdironRider]

Isn't there a traverse right at the ridge? Now I'm drawing a blank .....I remember we were scoping it out last year during the summit.

Was there ever an intent to install a lift there as well? I don't recall it being on the 2020 plan but I might just be losing it.

PS, I'm not too lazy to google, just too lazy to google right now

Its never a good sign when even their marketing hype describes the terrain as "gentle" or "mellow".

Translated to the real world they practically mean "uphill" or "your ass will be walking"

 

[Gilligan]

truthfully?

I'm not all that excited about it. Judging by the last pic in the OPs post, it looks to be a couple mile traverse to get that part of the Burnt Mountain terrain. Then it looks to dump you out in the condos at or below Whiffletree. Personally, I haven't found the terrain below King Pine to be worth it. Too flat. Maybe there are some great shots over there and given the work to get there, perhaps they hold fresh tracks for days. That I'm sure will be great, but will require a ton of traversing for limited vertical unless you also include some ascending up towards the top of Burnt.

The marketing hype says, "At the bottom, the terrain will funnel you out to Snowbrook, and the base of the Snubber lift." Snowbrook are the very nice condos at the extreme lower left of the Sugarloaf trail map and the Snubber lift is about a 15 minute ride up to the base of the Whiffletree quad. From there you still need to ride Wiffletree and then King Pine to get back to the top of Brackett Basin. Yeah, some work and time required!

 

[deadheadskier]

The marketing hype says, "At the bottom, the terrain will funnel you out to Snowbrook, and the base of the Snubber lift." Snowbrook are the very nice condos at the extreme lower left of the Sugarloaf trail map and the Snubber lift is about a 15 minute ride up to the base of the Whiffletree quad. From there you still need to ride Wiffletree and then King Pine to get back to the top of Brackett Basin. Yeah, some work and time required!

That's what I figured. That terrain would have to be REALLY freaking good for me to put in the amount of effort needed to ski it. I just don't see it being as such.

My opinion might not be popular, but if I were SL, I'd run a traverse out from the base of King Pine to a surface lift going to the top of Burnt and only offer tree skiing on Burnt. I think that would be a better investment than spending any time glading the terrain below King Pine. That is of course, unless they're making a ton of money in lumber sales through glading that low angle terrain below King Pine.

 

[Nick]

Might be good for preserving powder on a good snow day

More effort = less tracks

 

[wa-loaf]

It's just a step on the way to moving up to Burnt. Kind of just a middle ground here that has to be done ...

 

[jimmywilson69]

It's just a step on the way to moving up to Burnt. Kind of just a middle ground here that has to be done ...

So is the ultimate intention to have some sort of surface lift or chair lift to access all of this terrain? Looking at it on Google Earth, I tend to agree with DHS. It seems awful far to traverse to and lapping it seems like a serious time investment.

 

[St. Bear]

When the expansion was announced a couple years ago, I remember something about a snow cat operation to bring people to the summit of Burnt. I don't know if that's still an option or not.

 

[cannonist]

I think it would make a ton of sense to do what they are doing at bretton woods this summer over there on burnt.

​

 

[riverc0il]

DHS hits the nail on the head. Good luck skiing that lower angle stuff on a powder day. But as DHS suggested, that stuff is much easier to glade out for lumber sales. I'll check back in at the Loaf once they start moving up Burnt, preferably requiring a longer and longer hike for the better and better lines.