Burke 12/9/12

[Zand]

Not too good on the upper mountain (partially expected)... would've been nice to have some of that snow they've been making at the base for the snowmobiles blown on Willoughby instead, but if the snowmobiles make them more money so be it. Willoughby was good for the first few hundred feet but when the steeps started it got pretty slick with various spots down to the dirt. Never tried Lower Willoughby below the Bear Den cutoff so can't vouch for that. As for Bear Den/lower Warrens, they were even more slick than Willoughby than the other spots. The blog on Burke's site says they want to get going on the Dippers but with the rain on the way tomorrow I have a feeling they're gonna need to reblow what's open first quite a bit.

Lower mountain looked quite busy with the snowmobile stuff going on but there couldn't have been more than 50 people on the upper mountain.

Hopefully now that they can actually focus on skiing (and with help from mother nature), things will get better. I believe they're open weekdays now so I might head up tomorrow (likely not if it's raining).

 

[thetrailboss]

Sounds like they pushed out the snow they made too soon if it was slick. Too bad that the Upper Willoughby is getting bare and that does seem odd since the pics I've seen show some pretty big piles. The snowmobile tour brings their own fan guns IIRC but they do use the water and that cuts the mountains capacity. But as you said it is now over.

 

[Zand]

That's the problem... Burke can purchase as many new guns as they want but it doesn't help their water supply problem. I've never seen them be able to make snow on more than 2 full runs at once (maybe someone can confirm or deny that for me). I have a picture I can whip up in a second of Warrens which is about the same coverage as Willoughby.

Sorry I suck at uploading pics lol. You can see the brown popping up on skiers left. It's not a huge widespread problem (although we'll see what happens tomorrow) but they really need to cover that stuff up before moving on to new trails.

 

[rueler]

I hope the R.#@ doesn't cause too many problems today. It looks like once it rolls out, it's going to get cold quick. That won't be great for surface conditions, but it'll keep what snowpack they have locked up. I skied opening weekend at Burke, but we skipped last weekend due to the variable week of weather that we had leading up to Saturday and Sunday. After reading your report, kinda glad we stayed home.

 

[thetrailboss]

Zand--

You would have loved Burke pre-1996 or so. Here's why. You know the Pond below the Willoughby Quad? That was their only water for snowmaking. Period. They'd drain that pretty quickly and then have to stop to let it refill from the springs.

They now have a dam and a pump station at the Passumpsic River just north of East Burke that allows them to refill the pond when needed and to keep it full.

Honestly it looks like they just lost some of their cover from warm ground or fog on the very edges of the trail where I'd expect it to be thinner as it is and that with the snowmobile rodeo they could not get to that as fast to cover it up.

As to the iciness, it could also be that with Stenger calling the shots they blew snow with more water in it so that it would last longer. They do this at Sugarbush and other places--wetter snow for areas where they intend to ski into spring and it gets pretty slick instead of blowing a drier snow that will melt quicker. And this also might be why they have less water. Pure speculation though.

 

[from_the_NEK]

As to the iciness, it could also be that with Stenger calling the shots they blew snow with more water in it so that it would last longer. They do this at Sugarbush and other places--wetter snow for areas where they intend to ski into spring and it gets pretty slick instead of blowing a drier snow that will melt quicker. And this also might be why they have less water. Pure speculation though.

My guess is the ice is a result of the overall weather. The recent weather has only had short windows of cold dry weather (when dry snow can be made). Marginally cold weather usually results in wetter machine made snow. In past years, Burke likely would have only been blowing on Lower Warrens with these marginal temps. Icy race slope = ok

 

[Masskier]

Zand--

You would have loved Burke pre-1996 or so. Here's why. You know the Pond below the Willoughby Quad? That was their only water for snowmaking. Period. They'd drain that pretty quickly and then have to stop to let it refill from the springs.

They now have a dam and a pump station at the Passumpsic River just north of East Burke that allows them to refill the pond when needed and to keep it full.

Honestly it looks like they just lost some of their cover from warm ground or fog on the very edges of the trail where I'd expect it to be thinner as it is and that with the snowmobile rodeo they could not get to that as fast to cover it up.

As to the iciness, it could also be that with Stenger calling the shots they blew snow with more water in it so that it would last longer. They do this at Sugarbush and other places--wetter snow for areas where they intend to ski into spring and it gets pretty slick instead of blowing a drier snow that will melt quicker. And this also might be why they have less water. Pure speculation though.

Yes, Today, they pretty much have an unlimited water supply

 

[Zand]

Maybe they have a small air supply then? I know they do a lot better than 10 years ago but obviously still on the lower end of snowmaking systems.

And yes, Warren's brown spots were closer to the sides of the trail but Willoughby had them in the middle in some spots. Small ones but noticeable. I don't have any gripes with the ability of their snowmaking system as I know it's never been great and I don't expect it to look like Killington but it just kinda sucks seeing them blow the snot out of the J-Bar area (and yes I know a lot of that can be spread around the base) when Willoughby is just barely hanging on.

 

[riverc0il]

Sounds like they pushed out the snow they made too soon if it was slick.

I can't imagine the slickness was due to anything but the weather. In the most recent Burke Blog from the GM, it seems like folks were raving about conditions on opening weekend so I don't think it has anything to do with pushing out the snow too soon. Above freezing Sat and cold came in Sun. I didn't even bother skiing this weekend because I saw the writing on the wall heading into the weekend. Textbook case of the snow locking up due to a big weather swing between warm and cold.