Friends of Brundage,

When the New Year draws near, I always reflect on the highs and lows from the past 12 months. This year, it’s tough not to get stuck in the moment and focus on the challenges and triumphs of the past 4-6 weeks.

If you’ve visited Brundage this holiday season, you know things look and feel a little different. We wish that was a result of the new entrance layout, new Centennial Express high-speed quad and construction zone in the base area, but unfortunately, it looks and feels different on the slopes this year, too.

The low snowpack that’s plagued many resorts is keeping us from opening 100% of our terrain and full grooming operations. Still, I am very thankful. The Brundage Team has gone to extraordinary lengths this year to make the most of every inch of snow that’s fallen and to take advantage of every opportunity to make snow when possible.

Brundage Mountain prides itself on being a “family friendly” resort, and that quality is one of our strongest guiding principles. That makes it especially heartbreaking when we can’t offer what we consider to be the “full Brundage powder experience” during the winter holidays when we know families have the most time to enjoy each other’s company and make memories on the slopes.

While we’re disappointed that we don’t see guests enjoying knee-deep powder this holiday season, I am grateful for the efforts that are allowing our lifts to spin and our team to greet guests as they spend time together in this beautiful place.

That was not the case the last time Brundage saw an early-season snow drought of this magnitude. During the 2011-12 season, Brundage Mountain’s opening day didn’t materialize until December 30. That season Brundage had 58 base area inches through December, this year we’ve received 45 inches in the base for the same time frame. Back then, all the team could do was wait until enough snow had stacked up for the mountain to open.

This year, our team has put heart and soul into making the most of the conditions we have, in order to open the most terrain we can. Our Mountain Ops team has the base area snow guns blazing whenever temperatures are low enough. This allowed us to open our Easy Street learning area and terrain park starting in early December. Continued snowmaking has allowed us to provide a great snow surface for those newest to the sport and to buff up depths in the base area around the lodge and at the bottom of the Bear Chair.

Our Mountain Ops team and Ski Patrol have been working tirelessly to assess terrain with every new inch of snow to see if we can open additional runs and rotate grooming to preserve the snowpack. Not to mention the hundreds of sticks of bamboo and miles of rope lines installed to help guide our guests to the best runs of the day. Lift operators are painstakingly maintaining the lift ramps and loading zones to keep those areas covered with snow, and doing it with smiles on their faces. Our guest services and marketing teams are working hard to communicate with guests about this unique situation and give timely and transparent updates about the experience on the mountain.

This makes me proud, not just because our entire team is working together with an incredibly positive attitude, but because it’s important to our entire community that Brundage Mountain is open. Even when terrain and lift service is limited, we are able to support our team with paying work and support local hospitality partners who rely on Brundage being open to drive winter occupancies, and support local retail partners, restaurants, and the hard-working local folks they employ.

We are also able to offer our guests a choice. Our snow report team has been diligent and transparent about our conditions and operations so season passholders, 4-Pak purchasers and prospective ticketed guests can make informed decisions about whether to visit now or choose to wait for more snow. Our team has seized every opportunity and used every tool at our disposal to provide holiday skiing and riding to our guests, and we want our guests to know we are working to give them more and better tools to use in the future.

A lesson we learned the hard way in 2011, the snow will eventually come. That year, after a devasting December, January brought a season-changing 80” of fresh snow, building a solid Brundage base and bringing back our powder day stoke as we enjoyed a full-length season and made lots of great turns and memories.

As we head toward the New Year this time around, I want to invite you all to join us for our Light Up the Night Party on Sunday, December 31. Team Brundage will be celebrating teamwork, determination, and shining a light on our hopes for the rest of the season.  You may catch us doing some snow dances, too, and we invite you to join in, share a smile, and raise a toast to 2024. We want to send good vibes to mother nature — and to the guests, employees and community members who keep a place in their hearts for Brundage Mountain.

Best Wishes for 2024,

Ken Rider – Brundage Mountain General Manager