It’s always an exciting time of year, watching the snowline rise on the mountain and anticipating the pull of gravity on your favorite single track trail. This year, Mother Nature is forcing us to be a little more patient than normal. She’s left a significant snowpack on our upper mountain and that is delaying the opening of our most popular mountain bike trails.

What Are You Waiting For?

Here is a shot of the summit from 6.18.2017. As you can see, it’s not just a few patches of snow here and there. We have 2-3 foot snowbanks covering a majority of the upper mountain trails.

This year, we also have snowbanks remaining in shady areas at lower elevations. This week’s forecast includes some warm temperatures, so when Mother Nature does a little more melting, our trail crews will be able to get out there and help her along.

Right now, there’s simply too much snow for our shovels to make a difference. Based on past experience and some educated(?) guesswork, we’re targeting Thursday, June 29 as the earliest date we are likely to have Elk Trail open.

Hidden Valley tends to take even longer because its north-facing slopes hold the snow longer. We will keep you posted with updates as we get closer to that June 29 target.

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What Do We Do Now?

Here’s the good news: In the past couple years, our trail crews have modified and built out our lower mountain trails. That means riders can access a 4.6 mile loop right from the base area. Black Bear and Black Bear loop are open and in great shape right now. This trail is more of a cross-country route, but for riders in-the-know, it’s also a long-time favorite.

For less-seasoned bikers, we also have a brand new beginner loop in our base area. One mile of this trail is ready to ride and perfect for building single-track skills in a low-speed environment. You can see both these trails on the map below, or, the friendly folks in our Bike Shop would be happy to help you explore these gems during our Grand Opening Event on Thursday and through the weekend.

We also have tons of other fun activities available in our base area. Our 9-hole disc golf course is all set and ready to play. We’ve added extra climbing holds to our kids play structure, and we’ll have a wide variety of ‘lawn games’ available all weekend long.

Smoky’s Bar & Grill will be open Noon – 5 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Smoky’s is open Sundays from 10:30 am – 2:00 pm for Sunday Brunch, then offers a delicious Happy Hour menu from 2:00 – 5:00 pm. Learn more.

Finally, while we wait for the snow to melt, our Scenic Chairlift rides include the added bonus of a “Snow in June” photo op from the top of the mountain. We hope you’ll come explore all the beauty Brundage Mountain offers in the summer. Watch this space for updates on our lift-served bike trails! – April