Mountain of Madness

In the episode, Mr. Burns forces his employees of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to go for a team-building hike in the mountains.

They realize it may take days to be rescued and pass the time by playing games and building snowmen dressed in their clothes.

After a vicious struggle, Burns accidentally ignites the propane tank, launching the building from the snow and propelling it toward the workers, who are preparing a rescue operation.

When the fuel is spent, the cabin comes to a halt just feet from hitting the ranger station, and Burns and Homer emerge cold and disheveled.

According to Josh Weinstein, "a Swartzwelder script is like a finely tooled crazy German machine and if you have the wrong engineers try to fix it, it blows up.

[5] The episode features several pairings of established characters who had previously interacted little, such as Waylon Smithers with Bart and Lisa.

The impression of Muir was done by Dan Castellaneta, who originally based the voice on an impersonator he met at Yosemite National Park.

It was the fourth-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, World's Scariest Police Chases, and King of the Hill.

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "an inventive episode, with several memorable moments".

[8] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson called the episode "a good show" and praised it for the "snowy setting [that] allows the other characters to expand as well".