Clearing terrain: There’s a monster crawling around Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area this summer, and it’s eating brush. Bogus Basin crews are renting a track hoe with a brush cutter to clear out terrain for more off-run skiing and snowboarding.

It’s called a masticator, and it is equipped with a 4-foot diameter head with teeth that spin at 1,500 rpms and shred brush like butter.

The machine will move around the mountain and has cleared slopes off Chairs 2 and 4.

It did a swath from the bottom of Showcase up to Shafer Butte. Crews have done 7 to 8 acres so far in the first week, but hope to do 20 to 30 acres within the month.

“Pine Creek is an area we would like to spend time in,” said Alan Moore, Bogus Basin general manager. “We do think skiers will be quite surprised.” Brush has kept so much of the mountain unskiable, he said.