Snowmass, CO – Work has begun to add 230 acres of new ski and snowboard terrain for the 2012-13 winter season at Snowmass by thinning trees to create new expert-rated glades.

By thinning live trees and removing dead ones, trail crews will link several meadows east of the Longshot run on Burnt Mountain that are popular with backcountry skiers. Because it will be gated, and because the Gene Taylor’s Traverse return trail to the Two Creeks chairlift couldn’t be widened, the new terrain will carry a black-diamond designation even though it’s of an intermediate pitch, similar to that of Longshot.

The Golden Cliffs area between Longshot and the new terrain, the site of a fatal avalanche last winter, will remain permanently closed.