Burnt Mountain Cat skiing

[Not Sure]

http://sugarloaf.com/the-mountain/burnt-mountain-cat-skiing-x2827

 

[cdskier]

Those prices seem quite reasonable.

 

[ss20]

Those prices seem quite reasonable.

$30 for a cat ride to terrain already accessible via lifts and hiking...meh. There's 15 slots and if they can get 10 people on each ride that's 150 people. 150 hardcore skiers. They can probably hit that number weekends mid-winter but on a Tuesday in late March it sounds like a waste of diesel.

I'd be more interested in an all-day pass in the $100-$150 range. Maybe a $180 lift ticket/cat pass with a cat-only pass available for $120.

 

[Smellytele]

Hopefully it is only for a few years and they use the money to put in a t-bar

 

[Jully]

$30 for a cat ride to terrain already accessible via lifts and hiking...meh. There's 15 slots and if they can get 10 people on each ride that's 150 people. 150 hardcore skiers. They can probably hit that number weekends mid-winter but on a Tuesday in late March it sounds like a waste of diesel.

I'd be more interested in an all-day pass in the $100-$150 range. Maybe a $180 lift ticket/cat pass with a cat-only pass available for $120.

I've heard weekends and holidays only this year.

Have you ever hiked to the summit of Burnt? Its not the most accessible skiing. Its a little like the Cirque Sled at Winter Park.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I would maybe do it once for $30 on a powder day. Anything even slightly more expense or an expensive all day pass / ticket combo = too rich for my blood.

My vote would have a surface lift.

 

[Jully]

I would maybe do it once for $30 on a powder day. Anything even slightly more expense or an expensive all day pass / ticket combo = too rich for my blood.

My vote would have a surface lift.

If they do a surface lift, it wouldn't shock me if they placed a surcharge on tickets accessing the t-bar.

I'm not sure if I'd ever pay for a cat ride. Maybe on a powder day, but my guess is reservations might be hard to come by on those days!

 

[Hawk]

You would be surprised how fast these things fill up. People who normally do not like to hike will flock to that. At Sugarbush they offer the Lincoln Peak Cat adventure. It is $75 for 4 runs at 7am before the lifts run and your last run is down Slidebrook which is comparable to the Burnt Mountain run. It is 12 seats and that thing fills every day it runs.

I don't know, $ 4,500 a day of revenue is money in the coffers and good marketing to boot for SL.

 

[machski]

I'll give it a try just because it is kind of unique in the East. Sounds too like it will be going up the far side and not to the actual summit. That is a long trudge to lap with the lifts/hiking currently.

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[Not Sure]

I'll give it a try just because it is kind of unique in the East. Sounds too like it will be going up the far side and not to the actual summit. That is a long trudge to lap with the lifts/hiking currently.

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Chic choc's has cat skiing , a bit pricey and a lot further drive but almost looks like western conditions.

 

[deadheadskier]

Hopefully it is only for a few years and they use the money to put in a t-bar

I mentioned in another ski forum my preference for a T-Bar out there, but only to get back to the base of King Pine. Make all the Upper Burnt stuff still hike/skin to terrain. The idea I have in mind is on the image below. T-Bar being the red line. The orange line is a well marked traverse bringing people skiing the outer reaches of Burnt back to the lift so they don't get stuck having to go down to the lower condos and slog across parking lots back to the base area.

Other than that, the one thing I'd like to see (and environmentalists would probably shoot me) is a better designed entrance consisting of a cat track about 8-10 feet wide heading out into Bracket. As it currently is developed, there's just a bunch of single tracks of various levels that get you out to the initial Can't Dog glades and the ones beyond it that I can't recall the names. It all gets bony in a hurry and you end up getting stuck behind people flailing while trying to ski out there. It's a total mess on a busy day. Set it up so that there's room for people to stop and contemplate their line while leaving room for people to ski on past them. (Blue Line)

These ideas combined is what I think would make Bracket truly shine as the best side country ski resort experience in the East.

 

[Smellytele]

I agree that something needs to be done about the entrance. too many rocks, roots, people crashed and no place to stop when they do. Very sketchy.

 

[Hawk]

These ideas combined is what I think would make Bracket truly shine as the best side country ski resort experience in the East.

View attachment 22729

Deadhead, I think those are all good ideas but it is going to hard to beat the Slidebrook area of Sugarbush or what Stove has on multiple areas as the best experience in the east. We will see.

 

[WWF-VT]

I agree that something needs to be done about the entrance. too many rocks, roots, people crashed and no place to stop when they do. Very sketchy.

Isn't it supposed to be a challenge to ski "side country" terrain ?

 

[Smellytele]

Isn't it supposed to be a challenge to ski "side country" terrain ?

The issue is that the section is flat . It is like skiing on a stone wall. it fucks up your skis and doesn't really stop people from going in there. it really doesn't matter what your "skill level" is, it will fuck up your skis and could hurt you.

 

[Jully]

The issue is that the section is flat . It is like skiing on a stone wall. it fucks up your skis and doesn't really stop people from going in there. it really doesn't matter what your "skill level" is, it will fuck up your skis and could hurt you.

Not sure what section you're talking about, but I know a lot of people complain about "rocks" near the top of Bracket and they are actually stumps. Still annoying and bad for your skis, but not AS bad for your skis as rocks would be.

 

[Jully]

I mentioned in another ski forum my preference for a T-Bar out there, but only to get back to the base of King Pine. Make all the Upper Burnt stuff still hike/skin to terrain. The idea I have in mind is on the image below. T-Bar being the red line. The orange line is a well marked traverse bringing people skiing the outer reaches of Burnt back to the lift so they don't get stuck having to go down to the lower condos and slog across parking lots back to the base area.

Other than that, the one thing I'd like to see (and environmentalists would probably shoot me) is a better designed entrance consisting of a cat track about 8-10 feet wide heading out into Bracket. As it currently is developed, there's just a bunch of single tracks of various levels that get you out to the initial Can't Dog glades and the ones beyond it that I can't recall the names. It all gets bony in a hurry and you end up getting stuck behind people flailing while trying to ski out there. It's a total mess on a busy day. Set it up so that there's room for people to stop and contemplate their line while leaving room for people to ski on past them. (Blue Line)

These ideas combined is what I think would make Bracket truly shine as the best side country ski resort experience in the East.

I like your ideas DHS. I also think these additions and the cats are not mutually exclusive. I like keeping the summit of Burnt as a hike to only. That is also why I'm not incredibly upset by the cats in the first place as they are terminating a decent ways below the summit.

The area is so massive, the map hardly does it justice. The cats and even a T-bar would add so little to the overall remote feel of the place. I think it'll be many years before we see additions beyond the cats though. They will want to run those by themselves to see just how popular they are/can become.

 

[Smellytele]

Not sure what section you're talking about, but I know a lot of people complain about "rocks" near the top of Bracket and they are actually stumps. Still annoying and bad for your skis, but not AS bad for your skis as rocks would be.

There is rocks and roots and stumps

 

[deadheadskier]

Isn't it supposed to be a challenge to ski "side country" terrain ?

I was only referring to the traverse out. As it is currently constructed, it cannot handle the volume of skiers that head out there on a busy day. Even during a great winter like last one, it gets skied down to rocks and stumps and ends up being littered with people either falling or stopping to pick their line. All I'm talking about is making the beginning few hundred yards of the traverse wide enough so that people can stop and still allow room for folks to pass who wish to traverse out further.

 

[machski]

I mentioned in another ski forum my preference for a T-Bar out there, but only to get back to the base of King Pine. Make all the Upper Burnt stuff still hike/skin to terrain. The idea I have in mind is on the image below. T-Bar being the red line. The orange line is a well marked traverse bringing people skiing the outer reaches of Burnt back to the lift so they don't get stuck having to go down to the lower condos and slog across parking lots back to the base area.

Other than that, the one thing I'd like to see (and environmentalists would probably shoot me) is a better designed entrance consisting of a cat track about 8-10 feet wide heading out into Bracket. As it currently is developed, there's just a bunch of single tracks of various levels that get you out to the initial Can't Dog glades and the ones beyond it that I can't recall the names. It all gets bony in a hurry and you end up getting stuck behind people flailing while trying to ski out there. It's a total mess on a busy day. Set it up so that there's room for people to stop and contemplate their line while leaving room for people to ski on past them. (Blue Line)

These ideas combined is what I think would make Bracket truly shine as the best side country ski resort experience in the East.

View attachment 22729

My only concern with DHS' T-Bar idea is that you would have to block off the lift line. That could interfere with Bracket to very base runs if someone wanted to. Arguably very flat but the position of a T-Bar or any surface lift is critical. Have to make sure it won't F-up any lines. That's the nice thing about the cats, no restrictions on skiing across the cat road.

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