Black’s trail map has had trouble keeping up with the amount of new glades appearing year after year. So too have the crowds, which is just fine by Jeff. “We’ve been able to make new offerings to outpace the interest,” he says, adding that if he sees a pair of tracks, he’ll probably head to a dif-ferent trail and a fresh canvas. This isn’t to say that the woods are empty. Word of Black’s glading experiment has spread throughout the Northeast, and Carter believes the Beavers have been major players in revitalizing his non-profit ski area. “Our name is getting out there,” says Carter. “The glade network has absolutely helped that, helped the growth of our mountain. It’s brought more skiers here, no question.” The small ski hill has earned kudos from co-ops like Mad River Glen and has been added to the Indy Pass. It’s also caught the attention of the Granite Backcountry Alliance (GBA), a non-profit promoting and growing backcountry trail networks in New Hampshire and Eastern New England. “Glades are overlooked as this thing that’s a given [at the ski resort],” says Andrew Drummond, a GBA board member and the owner of White Mountain Ski Company, a ski shop in Jackson, NH. “You don’t realize the work that goes into creating and maintaining them. That’s the coolest part about these glades—you know there’s caretakers that are going to get in there at some point.” In 2019, GBA partnered with the Beavers to unlock a new zone of backcountry terrain between Black and nearby White Cap Mountain, adding a series of 600 to 1,400-foot human-powered ski lines. Beavers volunteers built the up-track from the parking lot, an effort spearheaded by McKay, and helped install a backcountry gate accessing the 8-mile point-to-point tour. 050 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 17, Issue 4: Page 50
