A few weeks ago I received some blog comments and questions about Hidden Chute. Hidden is a short, double fall line chute on the North side of Little Lenawee Peak. The snow in there can be fantastic, but with its Southeast exposure it gets crusty quickly. Many years ago we opened the area briefly. Operationally, it was very difficult to manage. We ended up doing some big cliff rescues. The area is either cliffs or scree and we had numerous issues with skiers triggering rockfall and wreaking havoc on other skiers down below. In the end, we decided the challenges made it too difficult to keep open. While it is a very cool place, we focused more of our energy getting North Pole, Willy's Wide and all the other great hiking open sooner. The Ski Patrol wanders in there a fair bit doing avalanche work to reduce the chance of slides coming down on The Traverse. I don't think I have been in there since my Ski Patrol days.
Hidden Chute (left) and Little Hidden Chute (right)
