Black Mountain Resort on Monday, January 19, 2026

		Black Mountain Resort Monday, January 19, 2026
		Submitted on January 20, 2026 by skiit (383)
	Session	Full Day
	Ticket Type	Indy Pass
	Lift Lines	1 to 2 minutes
	Trail Conditions	45% open; Packed Powder, Packed Powder
	Glades	Rarely for me these days. And they looked real thin. Most were roped off.
	Moguls	None
	Terrain Park(s)	None
	Run of the Day	Down Under - Maple Slalom
	Food and Beverage	Had a $10 burger - meh and shared some fries - good. Is the salad bar new? $17 hot, $10 cold plate. Looked good.
	Comments	Now, had I read alpinevillagepres great report first I probably would have gone to the other Black...but read on. 30 of 68 trails (Snocountry's #), 5 of 5 lifts, 27°F, mostly cloudy with some sun around noon, snow showers early & late, no wind. 3" new. 5" in 24 hrs, 11" last 7 days. Only FG I encountered was after noon on Upper Maple Slalom. Well I'm stilled confused on the trail count. Apparently it is somewhere between 68 and 31. Example today's 1/20 report says "30 trails open... with almost 100% of lift serviced terrain open." Somewhere on their site it says they have 45 trails. I assume that's not counting glades? IDK I give up. The conditions were great and held up all day. They had sections open or working on areas that have I have not seen open on my paltry 1 or 2 trips/year in the last few seasons. And despite the # of cars in the lot the trails and lifts were uncrowded and the lodge manageable. Arrived probably around 8:50 AM and was able to move up to the 5th row. Parking is different than last year. New entrance and sign located before you used to enter. Then they reverse the traffic flow when you leave. The main lot filled up but there was room in the 2nd lot late in the day. In the lower base lodge IIRC they removed a corner room in the back and expanded into all one. There was no ticket line and they dropped last year's Entebenni practice of taking your picture when there is one already on the Indy Pass. But we still had to go thru 4 screens of waivers with one paragraph each, which I couldn't even read because I had contacts in. I still had last seasons RFID card & redemption went quickly this year. We had no problem finding a table in the lodge at any time. There was no line at the triple all day. But 1st run two people unloading at the top fell, the lift didn't stop which resulted in someone on our chair falling and they banged themselves up. Maybe that's what the waiver said. It doesn't help that there is no downhill getting off that chair. I watched a number of people getting whacked by that chair. Because you stand up and can't go as fast as the chair which whips around the wheel and hits you. Just before 3 PM I was headed up and it slowed to a crawl and stayed at that speed the rest of the day. I watched after I had disembarked because I thought maybe they were running it off as it stopped at the next chair. But this and the next chair were only taking a chair ride. After a couple minutes of hand signs back & forth the liftie figured out they wanted to return to the base. Well they had to get out and walk over to the reloading zone. And then they weren't standing in the right spot or facing the same way. Then ditto with the next chair. I felt bad for the others on the lift. The line at the double was under 6 groups all day. The J-bar line was about the same. The liftie that day was handing you the bar. We discussed the conditions where he said they were almost 100% open. I was thinking, You are?? Over to skiers way right there was some thin untracked which was fun. Then I found a snow snake. So they have an impromptu sign there to watch your head. I forget the exact wording, I think it mentions the wheels. Well earlier in the day a ski buddy remarked how many people didn't have helmets on and I replied I'm not sure why I do since I didn't use one for decades. Then on the J upon a restart mid-hill, Whack! The wire rope hits me right on top the head hard. Did the same to my wife. I was thinking I might have to go into concussion protocol. Although she seemed to be more affected by it. Now I'm glad I had a helmet on. Pretty dangerous if you ask me. Maybe that's what the waiver said. What else did I notice new. They renamed the Lostbos Cabin to the Alpine Cabin. They built a lower deck, supply multiple beach chairs for the lawn and expanded the cabin with an overhang for the loud speakers and wood pile. They removed most of that dangerous stairs that use to lead up to the deck. Now it is just 3 risers between the new & old deck. They were working on the post & beam Sugar Shack still putting in beams. They made nice ruts in one of the trails with the trips in their utility UTV. Maybe that's what the waiver said. They had 4 guns blasting making a big whale below Maple Glade. They were or had made snow in some unusual to me locations. They had made snow up under the Double near the summit in the cliffy area. None of it skiable yet. Didn't like it would be a fun job to groom that out if that is the intention. Down at the bottom of the double they were blowing snow down onto the cliff below Roller Coaster. Most was going into the woods. Then above that on Roller Coaster under the lift they had a couple guns and previous whales stockpiled. Noe of that skiable yet. Now if they are going to open that cliff section they should have cut the numerous branches bent over and trapped in the snow on skiers left. Maybe that's what the waiver said.
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	Report Rating	4