re: #97 teleskiguy
Yup. The new trails in the Beavers area, to the west of Steep Gullies are definitely mellower. But access and egress to Steep Gullies is now stoopid easy for any gomer from Texas (no offense to the good Texan skiers and snowboarders out there, they do exist!) to say to his buddies “HEY WATCH ME DO THIS!” and get cliffed out or worse.
My late Da was a prophet. In the summer of ‘68, we went trout fishing on the Snake for a couple of days (staying overnight adjacent to A-Basin (cheap!)) and climbed that ridge and looked down into the bowl. Gorgeous view.
I’d skied the bowl several times, and later that year broke my right leg on the transition from the upper bowl into the trees when my ski snagged under a branch and my fucking Marker Rotomat binding didn’t release.
Point being, my old man said, “Eventually, they’ll pull lifts up here and over toward Lenawee. Dangerous as hell.”