8 December 2016 — New terrain coming on from ocean to ocean, border to border, looking like the first really big weekend of the season in a lot of places…openings also coming on fast and furious, what I like to call the second round of openers, and it’s some of my favorite “smaller” hills. These include places like Anthony Lakes up the in Pacific NW, set to spin with a bunch of fresh snow. Also Terry Peak SD, after a soft opening this past weekend they’ll be spinning for real on Saturday. Venerable old Bromley in Vermont will crank up full time tomorrow; they’ve also been doing a weekend thing until now. In Colorado, Skico will fire up operations at Buttermilk/Tie Hack this weekend; nearby Sunlight also planning to get things moving although I’m not sure how much terrain they’ll have. Down in Leadville my personal favorite Ski Cooper opens tomorrow, whenever I do a throwback Thursday I gotta talk about Coop. They do a thing with their grooming program — rotating slopes, plenty of in-between days for each run — so that the snow stays soft and wonderful rather than becoming compacted and frozeroy. To be sure they have less skier traffic than other hills, but honestly that’s one of the best things about the small, throwback “hidden gem” type areas…if you really want to experience hidden gems, get yourself lost in Wisconsin. A couple that come to mind are Camp 10 in Rhinelander and Christie Mountain in Bruce. One of the key differences between these and a lot of midwest hills is they give you a real “trail” type experience, more similar to what you’d find in New England, albeit shorter. Photo above from Christie shows the action is as real as it gets…so remember “throwback” when you make your plans for this season; a lot of times smaller and uncrowded is a lot better than big, expensive, and crowded…also remember to request your free Ski Bum stickers while they last, just email your address to sticker@skibum.net.