Brundage 22-23

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Sunday January 1.  Day 23.

Lots of new snow over the previous couple of days.  Saturday was so crowded that all the parking lots filled up and people had to be turned away.  On Sunday there is no new snow and the place is only modestly crowded.  Groomed runs are soft but good turns are made until it gets cut up.  Engen was too bumpy.   I have caught a cold now so I'm out for a few days.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday-Wednesday January 10-11, Day 25.

I'm guessing that I had the flu and it is almost all better now except for some leftover brain fog and ooginess.  More new snow has fallen little by little.  Tuesday was softish with some sun.   Wednesday was socked in so I stayed low on Bear and made turns there.

I switched my boots over from FinTecs to standard Intecs that I got from YYZ.  While the plastic-shell Intec heels are not as tough as FinTecs, I think I like them better.  I like the big plastic alignment tabs rather than the steel pins and I won't miss the dreaded heel slip of doom.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday-Friday January 12-13, Day 27.

Thursday was socked in and cloudy with 2" of new that fell from open.   Base temps were above freezing and we were lucky that it didn't rain.  Poor viz kept me on the Bear runs but the groom was good but a little soft.

Friday had high clouds with a tiny bit of sun.  Temps are still warm.  I did all my runs on Engen which was perfectly groomed and I did my best to tear that thing up.  Out at 11.

[Keenan]

I hope you get to ride Tamarack while you're there.  They have some mighty fine grooming and low crowds.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

I'll get to Tamarack eventually.  I know a guy that can get me in but I have to go on his schedule.

Monday-Tuesday January 16-17.  Day 29. 

The weekend was super cloudy and and super crowded so I stayed at home.  MLK Monday had much better weather with 1-2" of new.   The runs were too soft in general but some good turns were made here and there.  Surprisingly, the place wasn't crowded at all during the early morning.  By the late afternoon base temps were well above freezing.

Tuesday was cooler and I waited until 10 AM to have more potential sunlight.  There was no new overnight but the grooming was disappointingly ridgey and the snow remained soft.  Alpine and 45th were the best for me.  Clouds went in and out.  Most of my morning had flat light.

I'm now on Day 29.  Last season was so bad that I only got 29 days total.  This season has been much better (so far).

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday January 18.  Day 30.   Cold in the morning and the upper mountain is in clouds.  I waited until 11 AM to go up so it would be warmer, but the clouds were still there.   I just did laps on Bear with my short board.  The groom was fairly tight and nice.  Thursday morning has good weather with 4" of new and all the pow people are up there now.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday-Saturday January 20-21.  Day 32.

I went up late on Friday from 10 AM and rode around with a couple of skiers.  Overcast skies.  Engen was groomed ok but not great.  Good turns made on Main Street and Alpine.

I've been here long enough now to declare that the most worthwhile carving runs are Engen, Main Street, Alpine and 45th.  This is a small resort.

On Saturday morning the weather is excellent with only a few broken clouds.  I went up as early as possible and parked in the main lot so I could go up the Bluebird lift at open.  I had 2nd chair and first tracks on Engen which was nicely packed, firm and smoothly groomed.  Sure enough, I was halfway down the run when the first people going up the Centennial lift appeared overhead.  The light wasn't direct, but at least it wasn't flat.

I looped Engen 8 times and tore that thing up.  Great fun.  Out at 11.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Monday-Tuesday January 23-24.  Day 34. 

Monday got 2" of new late in the night after grooming's evening shift.  Engen had lots of new on it and the morning groomed runs were super soft.  I did 3 runs, hated everything and went home.  New snow is the worst. 

Tuesday had 1" of new that fell early and was groomed in.  Skies were partly cloudy and the light was good.  I rode from 10AM and found good turns on Main Street and Engen.  The grooming wasn't perfect, but nothing to complain about given the soft conditions yesterday.  Alpine has been closed recently for race training.  Out at 12.

I haven't been to Tamarack yet but did a careful analysis of their trail map.  Tamarack is actually smaller in acreage than Brundage at 1100 vs 1500.  Similar to Brundage, there are really only 3 lifts of any consequence.  The main advantage to Tamarack is the higher overall vertical drop.  There might also be a groomed black run, but I'm not sure.

On the downside, I understand that the road to Tamarack takes longer to navigate and it is not possible to park next to a trail, so some walking to a lift is necessary.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday January 26.  Day 35.

Wednesday was snowing lightly during the day so I didn't go.  In the end there was only 1" of new that was all groomed in.  Thursday morning is warmish and cloudy.  I got on snow around 10 with the top of the hill socked in.  I did 3 runs down 45th which has enough visual cues to navigate.  After that there was a sunbreak that allowed for a great run down Engen and a couple on Main Street.  Grooming and surface quality are hero today.

At the bottom of the Bluebird chair I finally ran into another hardbooter, this one riding a Madd.  He is a local and might be the only other carver.  We made a bunch of runs but were plenty tired out.  I left at 1.  Great day with few people on the hill.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday February 1.  Day 36.

Since the last report there were 2 days that were too snowy to ride, followed by 3 bluebird days that were waay too cold to ride.   Finally today I can go out again and I got on snow around 10:30.   Not many people are around and the groom is on its 4th day with cold temps and no new.  Everything is hero perfect and flat as a bowling alley.  Nice sun filtered through high clouds.  Good turns on a number of runs but I did 2 down Engen with a visiting L3 ski instructor who is the first guy I've seen here that is a legitimate ski carver.  He turns hard and all the way across the hill.   Fun.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday-Friday February 2-3.  Day 38

Thursday was a great good weather day with more cold groom.  Main Street and Alpine are good but they tend to have the corduroy scraped off fairly early in the day because far more people use those runs.  Engen is holding up much better.  Base temps are warming up into the high 30s late in the day but the lower mountain snow isn't suffering much for it yet.

Friday has thick high clouds and is windy.  I did all runs on Engen which is getting firmer and faster.  The light was a little flat but not too bad.  After a while the cloud deck got dramatically lower and it became difficult to read the run.  A couple inches of new might come tonight.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday February 7.  Day 39.

Sunday into Monday morning brought 12" of new.  Tuesday has no new but the mountain is soft.  Engen isn't groomed.  I made my first run down 45th which was annoyingly stripey.  Up the Bluebird chair and down Sidewinder which was STRIPEY AF.  I headed for the green Bear run which was nicely groomed and did all my other runs there.  The groom is softish and won't hold a very hard full turn so I do quick short turns while trying to keep a good balance.    More new snow is forecast for tonight.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday-Friday February 8-10.  Day 42.

Wednesday had 2" of new and for some reason there is little grooming.  Engen isn't groomed again and neither is Main Street.  Alpine and Sidewinder are fully fenced off for upcoming U14 racing.  I went up with my short board and only rode Bear and Griz.

Thursday had regular grooming again.  Main Street was chopped up quickly.  Engen was on its first day of groom after being neglected.  It was a little bumpy but doable.

Friday is the first day of actual U14 racing and many parents are on the hill.  Bluebird.  I did all my runs on Engen which was pretty good.  After a while the top layer started to come apart a bit.  On one run I was schooled by a very talented skier that layed down some very admirable tracks.  Maybe some racing kid's dad or something.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

TAMARACK IDAHO FREE DAY.   Tamarack is giving a free day to anybody with a pass to another Idaho resort.

Just in case you were wondering, they are not including Targhee.

Edited February 10, 2023 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Sunday February 12.  Day 43.

Saturday was bluebird and base temps hit 44 in the late afternoon.  I went up Sunday morning at open to get the best of the groom before it gets busy.  First tracks down PM groomed Engen which is pretty firmy and shows some cat track tears.  It must have been pretty soft when it was groomed. 

AM groomed Main Street had a better surface so I did 4 runs there before it got crowded.  Racing is still going on so lots of race parents are on the hill along with kids that are warming up.  A ski patrol guy was standing out on Main Street pointing a hair dryer at straightliners, trying to slow them down.

I went back to Engen which was now in full sun and slightly softer.  A few more good runs there, then out at 11 because it became too hot to ride.  Now the summit temps are above freezing and the whole hill is cooking.  

[monodude]

Hi Art. I'm riding Brundage on Tuesday. I'll be on my Mono. 

Dark blue onesie dusty orange helmet. Tamarack tomorrow 

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Hi Don,  I'll be up there in the old yellow jacket.  I sent my phone number in PM.

Monday February 13.  Day 44.

Sunday afternoon base temps reached 49 but it is much cooler today.  I was worried that there might be icy thaw-freeze but the snow condition is reasonably good.  Racing on Alpine continues but today is the last day.  Engen was pretty firm but the grooming was narrow by a pass or two and it wasn't very smooth.  Main Street was better so I did most of my runs there.  By 11 it clouded up and the light turned bad.  In the mid afternoon it started snowing.  Tomorrow will have a refresh, but it might be soft depending on how much new snow falls.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday February 14.  Day 45.

Pretty darn cold in the morning after 4" of new.  I met up with MonoDon and we rode around most of the resort.  Everything is soft today and hard carving isn't possible but it is a good base for the rest of the week.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday-Thursday February 15-16.  Day 47.

Wednesday was cold and still a little soft but Engen was pretty good.  

On Thursday I decided to visit Tamarack and take advantage of their free day offer.  From McCall it takes maybe an extra 10 minutes of driving to get there.  Even though I went late I was able to park in the closest lot and walk a short distance to snow.  But if it was just a little more crowded I would have had to park out in some more remote place.  Tamarack strikes me like a mini-Keystone, with an upper crust village that has expensive shops and restaurants. 

The quick summary is this:   Tamarack is not a good carving resort.  The terrain is a mountainside full of crevices, canyons, and twists and turns.  There are no long, straight, wide, constant pitch carving runs.  Whoever designed the runs had a boner for leaving trees in the middle of the trail. 

This is not to say that it is a poor resort.  For general skiing I can see how many people would like it.   But I only carve on a skwal and I like what I like.  I found only one trail, Tango, which was good for carving.  It is a black, but only because the initial pitch is a little steep.   The rest of it was a mish-mash of changing steepness with some undulations.  I was told that the Oo-La-La trail (also black) could be a good carving run but it wasn't groomed today.

There are small sections of a number of other runs that are nice and carvy.  If a person is on a short, quick board, many places could be fun once one is well-familiar with the trails.

My advice for carvers coming to this area is to go to Brundage.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Sunday February 19.  Day 48.

I strained my back last Thursday at Tamarack and also one hip has been giving me some pain.  I took Friday off, skipped Saturday because of crowds and went up at open Sunday to get some turns in before it got crowded.

The parking lot was filling up quickly when I got there.   The top of the mountain was socked in so I only rode Bear/Griz on my short board.  The snow is not bad but 1" of new has made it a little soft.  I only got 7 laps in when the place filled with families and kids so I bailed.  Lots of new snow is forecast for the next few days.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday February 22.  Day 49.

The weather forecast couldn't have been more wrong.  There was only a tiny bit of new snow Monday into Tuesday.  On Wednesday I went up late because it was pretty cold.  Engen was tight AF and I did all my runs there.  The light was bad with mostly solid clouds and light snowfall but otherwise the conditions were good. 

Even though the 3-day weekend is long over, there are a number of spring breakers from Southern states and the Bluebird lift is fairly busy.  I even ran into a couple of kids from Mt. Shasta on hardboots.  The older boy was riding a Donek Pilot and his little sister was on something I couldn't recognize.  Nice to see.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Saturday, February 25.  Day 50.

Some new snow fell which made Friday too soft to ride.  Saturday was bluebird and cold at open with good grooming.  Engen was groomed wider than I have ever seen before, especially the lower part.   The light at open is still a little flat, but by my 3rd run the sun had risen enough to enable a good read of the cord.  I did all runs on Engen until I got tired of the lift line and having to wait for a clear run.   Out at 10:45.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Sunday February 26.  Day 51.

No new snow overnight.  Mostly cloudy with flattish light and summit temps in the low 20s.   Engen groom is the best ever.  Wide, absolutely flat, firm and fast.   I did a bunch of runs down Engen when I ran into Madd Pete at the base then took some runs with him down Alpine.  Not at all crowded compared to yesterday.  Just before noon it started to snow and goggle icing ensued so we bailed.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Monday February 27.  Day 52.

2" of new during the day Sunday, followed by another 1" in the evening.  Monday morning is barely tolerable cold and a little cloudy with increasing winds.  I up at open with my shorter Coiler skwal and made my first run down Alpine.  This board doesn't like big, fast turns on steeper runs and my heelsides were full of awful chatter.  Something is wrong with my technique maybe.  I went down to Bear and did the rest of my runs there since I was out of the wind and this board is great for pumping turns on green runs.  Despite the new snow, the groom was buttery and firm enough to hold most turns. 

I did some research and I think that Brundage is likely to close on April 10.  Time is starting to draw short.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday March 1.  Day 53.

Tuesday was too snowy to ride.  Wednesday had a trace overnight but it is pretty windy and cold.  The grooming is good but the snow is a little soft and won't hold fast, tight turns.  I started on Engen but Main Street was better for making bigger, slower turns.  Occasional sun breaks made for a really nice morning.