Burke: 1/2/08 (Just Another Powder Day!)

[thetrailboss]

Date: January 2, 2008

Resort: Burke Mountain

Conditions: Over boat deep powder, and it was gunsmoke! (Sorry, I did not bring my tape measure...and the mountain reports 7-10" or so).

Weather: Snow showers, clearing skies and dropping mercury. Falling into the single digits.

2007-2008 Trip Report #: 21 5TH POWDER DAY of 2007-2008!!!!

Wow. An amazing day. I had a dentist's appointment, so I was not able to get here for first chair, but I was pretty damn close...getting at the mountain at 9:15.

Monsters were the ski of choice in the morning. Did a spin down Powderhorn loving the snow on the side of the trail. I bailed and headed over to Mountain Marsh, where I found deep untracked snow. I hit Little Dipper and was hooting and hollering...simply amazing stuff. Deeper and lighter than Monday...

Next run was down a deep, drifted Ledges after hitting Upper Fox's and jumping into the Meadows. Wow. Those drifts stop you dead if you catch them wrong. That trail is AMAZING. I cut over to Lower Warren's and scored first tracks under the Poma line...oh yeah, it was amazing. The snow was blowing up my legs....simply amazing.

I hit East Bowl next and took my line on the side of the trail, going between chowder and untracked pow. I hit Big Mama as well as the other rocks....just great. At the bottom, the sign came out and I saw my shadow...it was like you see in the movies...a graceful ski dance with "smoke" blowing out behind you. Wow. I will never forget that scene!

After a break, I went back out and hit Upper Bear Den to Willoughby. Nice. Then it was a spin down Carriage Road and Doug's Drop. Upper was almost as drifted as Ledges...and Lower Doug's was VERY deep and enjoyable. Some places had not been touched since Sunday. Wow!

With my legs moving nicely, I hit Camper's Carry to the Meadows and down Ledge's again. Ski Patrol yielded to me...I told him to put up the "Deep Snow" signs :lol: Took my line down right side...deep chowder and drifts. Nice. Jumped onto Lower Bear Den and flew over to McHarg's Cutoff for more good pow.

I did a Wilderness/Powderhorn/Lew's Leap Spin, eating up the chowder and powder as I went. I hit Lew's Leap and scored major freshies...some nice lines in there and all to myself.

One more run down East Bowl found me skiing the other side and taking some nice hits...though it was a bit more tracked out.

After lunch, I headed out for some more runs...time to go wild. I hit the woods and stuff on and off the map. In no particular order, I skied "Chainsaw Dance" and picked a different line (nice in there), Birches, which were AMAZING and nice and deep and soft, "Radar Love," which I have been staring at my entire life wanting to ski and I was hitting it today to find KNEE DEEP pow and great lines...oh yeah...amazing...I skied it twice (it requires a bit of a hike) and picked my way down quite a ways, Dixiland, which was amazing and in great shape, Dipper Woods which skied amazingly well, even the sketchy exit, and Little Dipper to Boarderline, the latter being very tasty and deep. I scouted out "Poma Ride" and concluded that I will hit it for the first time in my life later this week...another line I have always wanted to ski. Shoot and Middle Fox's was deep and delicious. Middle had some rocks here and there which you could hit if not careful. Once it sets up, those obstacles will be clear....

By now it was 3pm and it was getting cold and my legs were done for today...back tomorrow...Balsam's tour is postponed until it is warmer. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 0 F!!!!!

Snow guns are going on Upper Warren's, Gap, and now on Dashney and Lower Willoughby.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Much of the same conditions as what I found at Burke yesterday afternoon (I finally got there at 2:00). The mountain is skiing extremely well right now. I don't think I hit a patch of ice the entire time. Of course it was snowing like crazy and I was in the trees the majority of the time. Hopefully the forcast warmup doesn't hurt too bad. Now that I have a few hours to relax and get out and ski I am ready to hit it.

 

[bigbog]

....

So tb,
What was your tool(ski) of choice and how'd it do!..? ...any distinct pros/cons...?

 

[billski]

why does it feel like i'm either on synthesized hallucinogenics or dreaming or both here in the northeast? These TR's seem more like a west report. I fear that suddenly, soon, someone will wack me on the side of head and it will all end...

 

[riverc0il]

why does it feel like i'm either on synthesized hallucinogenics or dreaming or both here in the northeast? These TR's seem more like a west report. I fear that suddenly, soon, someone will wack me on the side of head and it will all end...

Nothing we have not experienced before. Such as last year. It just wasn't prolonged last year, it was sporadic. Same as the year before. Happens every year, the people who take advantage of opportunity when it knocks and go to the areas with good snow score massive powder days. It is definitely possible to score two dozen powder days or more already every season. Speaking of the season, this season is not half over yet with a thaw coming up so let's not quite start comparing to the west so soon....

 

[billski]

Nothing we have not experienced before. Such as last year. It just wasn't prolonged last year, it was sporadic. Same as the year before. Happens every year, the people who take advantage of opportunity when it knocks and go to the areas with good snow score massive powder days. It is definitely possible to score two dozen powder days or more already every season. Speaking of the season, this season is not half over yet with a thaw coming up so let's not quite start comparing to the west so soon....

Steve, while I appreciate your efforts to keep us honest and accurate, I do also appreciate the opportunity to dream, hope, wish and hallucinate. Unlike yourself, most of us can ill afford to get many days in a row in, largely due to our distance from the best snow. It's pretty doubtful most of us will be able to score any more than two or three powder days in an average year. For those of us living in the flatlands, last year, there were many midweek opportunities for powder, but as you suggest in describing them as sporadic, they were quickly followed by rain in many areas of lesser altitudes. This made the "window of opportunity" pretty narrow. Lord help us if we had mandatory obligations.

The fact that consistent, daily powder is found today in areas of southern New England, affords many, many more of us the opportunities to ski that you, ( due to your locale) had ready access to. Since this is a year that most of us have ready access to all these snows, it's a rarity that I take pleasure in.

Please give the overwhelming majority of us the chance to take a little delight in powder that is nearly in our backyards.

Back to skiing and Trip Reports....

 

[Greg]

Steve, while I appreciate your efforts to keep us honest and accurate, I do also appreciate the opportunity to dream, hope, wish and hallucinate. Unlike yourself, most of us can ill afford to get many days in a row in, largely due to our distance from the best snow. It's pretty doubtful most of us will be able to score any more than two or three powder days in an average year. For those of us living in the flatlands, last year, there were many midweek opportunities for powder, but as you suggest in describing them as sporadic, they were quickly followed by rain in many areas of lesser altitudes. This made the "window of opportunity" pretty narrow. Lord help us if we had mandatory obligations.

The fact that consistent, daily powder is found today in areas of southern New England, affords many, many more of us the opportunities to ski that you, ( due to your locale) had ready access to. Since this is a year that most of us have ready access to all these snows, it's a rarity that I take pleasure in.

Please give the overwhelming majority of us the chance to take a little delight in powder that is nearly in our backyards.

(Enter riverc0il to comment how he managed to score many powder days back when he lived in the Boston area...)

 

[billski]

(Enter riverc0il to comment how he managed to score many powder days back when he lived in the Boston area...)

Greg, That's not my point. My point is the continguous number of powder days within a shorter commute.

 

[Greg]

Greg, That's not my point. My point is the continguous number of powder days within a shorter commute.

I'm not disagreeing with you. Just making a prediction.

 

[thetrailboss]

So tb,
What was your tool(ski) of choice and how'd it do!..? ...any distinct pros/cons...?

Used both the Head Monsters and the Prime X skis. The Monsters skied very well...perfect ski for powering through pow and crud.

The Prime X's were for my woods runs and for off the map stuff. Short at 110 cm and can sink because of little surface space, but great for quick turns in the woods when you need to make them.

 

[riverc0il]

The fact that consistent, daily powder is found today in areas of southern New England, affords many, many more of us the opportunities to ski that you, ( due to your locale) had ready access to. Since this is a year that most of us have ready access to all these snows, it's a rarity that I take pleasure in.

Locale has nothing to do with powder. I proved that this year by moving further south. Now my weekend commute to Jay is two hours, the same weekend commute I did when I lived in MA and primarily skied Cannon. And I did the mid-week powder vacation day thing when I lived in MA and scored opportunistic powder days as a "flatlands" resident. I can understand family commitments or financial limitations reducing your powder days. But often it is as simple as taking a vacation day and driving a few hours to a mountain. I may live 10 minutes from a major ski area, but I am still driving an average of eight hours every week for skiing.

 

[riverc0il]

Greg, That's not my point. My point is the continguous number of powder days within a shorter commute.

Bill, your comment that sparked my response was suggesting these reports make things look like "western trip report." I don't really see the difference between continuous powder days and sporadic when the total number of powder days are consistent from season to season. One season they happen several weekends in a row... another season they are sporadic. The sporadic one's are in many ways superior because they often fly under the radar and ski areas may often lack crowds and competition making for better snow longer in the day. Six of one, half dozen of the other. Continuous great conditions are great and I love the current stretch.. but you are no more limited than I am to taking a day off and grabbing mid-week powder at a good mountain. 2.5 hours to MRG on New Year's Day for a powder day, over 3.5 on the drive home due to weather, for a day trip. Used to do three hour drives for a single powder day... it is not about location. Location does make it a lot easier, true. I do miss my one hour drive to Jay and 1.5 hour to MRG. But I still ski the same amount regardless and I still take days off for powder. By the way... check my trip reports this season.... you will see only two mid-week powder days this season and one was a holiday. That is because in my business, I can ill afford to take mid-week vacation days in December and January. So I do what I do with generally a limitation of not being able to ski mid-week two months out of the season. I missed a lot of good mid-week days this past month... regardless of location.... because I just could not get away from my job due to industry time issues of the busy time of the business.