Burke 1/20/11

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Thursday 1/20/11

Resort or Ski Area: Burke, VT

Conditions: Pristine PP on groomers, Powder and Crud in ungroomed... Snow showers, 10s

Trip Report:

Another outstanding afternoon at Burke... nice weather and great snow. Hit Warrens Woods, Dougs Woods, Jungle (now open!), East Bowl, and Dipper. Snow in the woods was nice... still a knee deep spot or two if you look... otherwise it's starting to pack down into a nice base. Still a few hazards hanging around, but we're another storm or two away from perfection. Nice to have Jungle open... I didn't check officially, but I think the steep part of Fox's is the only trail not open. The groomers were perfect... a couple inches fell on top of the courduroy throughout the day, really setting up nicely. Really can't say enough good things about the conditions right now, and with more snow coming followed by temps below 0 during the day and pushing -30 at night, it's here to stay.

 

[Edd]

Damn! I wanna go Sunday but the forecasted temps are daunting. The skiing is almost certain to be good, though. I used to not give this a second thought.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Nice. I'm surprised Fox's isn't open and Jungle is. I wonder if they will open it this weekend after a couple more inches fall tonight and tomorrow.
Oh to have a college schedule again
Edd, Just lap East Bowl a few times if you start getting cold :idea:

 

[Zand]

Fox's was poached by quite a few people... they're probably just waiting for a few more inches to put a lot of the rocks deep enough to not hit. Jungle had quite a few rocks popping up so I don't know why they opened that and not Fox's though.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Fox's is such a visible trail from the lift, that as soon as it is officially open, a lot of people that think they can ski it, instead scrape down it and hit all the rocks, make a mess of the trail and are a potential liability when they either get hurt or damage their equipment and complain to the mtn that the trail shouldn't have been open. Most of the people that are poaching it probably know the good lines that avoid the rocks and most importantly aren't side slipping down it. It does drive me nuts when some of the poachers side slip down the more difficult parts . If you poach please have the courtesy to learn to ski or ride to the level of the terrain you are going to poach BEFORE you poach it.

Jungle is much less obvious to the masses and it is an expert glade that the majority of intermediate skier don't go out of their way to ski. As you said, there are a lot of rocks in Jungle (and they are sharp). However, Patrol undestands that the vast majority of the skis are skilled enough to ski it properly and that when they venture in there, they understand there is a risk of damage to equipment.

 

[thetrailboss]

Agree with the sentiments regarding poaching Fox's before it is ready.

A few years back Burke used to pull a gun or two from Warren's and coat the rocks on Fox's to make it skiable with less cover. Maybe that is a good idea.....

Did they blow snow on Ledges this year? Little Dipper?

 

[WJenness]

Did they blow snow on Ledges this year? Little Dipper?

Ledges they did indeed...

I don't know about Little Dipper.

-w

 

[from_the_NEK]

Ledges they did indeed...

I don't know about Little Dipper.

-w

They did a great job blowing a fairly even coating of snow on Ledges. Hopefully this starts to build up some nice bump lines. In previous years teh huge snow making whales did not allow good lines to develop.

No man made on Little Dipper (this is where the Half Pipe used to be). I do wish they would make snow on this trail and set up a seeded bump run. The trail has a decent pitch on top and slowly flattens as it intersects into Open Slope. A nice bump run would get far more use and would require less maintenance than the half pipe did. I would also make for a good place to learn to bump ski as there isn't much intermediate bump skiing on the mtn. IMHO multiple line bump skiing trails is something Burke is sorely lacking.

Bump trails at Burke with more than one possible line listed in order of quality:
1. Lower Dougs
2/3. Dougs Drop, Wilderness (ranking depends on wind loading/stripping)
4. East Bowl (Early season only, BEFORE they groom it, which may be this weekend now that there is enough snow to do so :roll: )
5. Ledges (when snowmaking setup is right)
6. Lew's Leap (only good for 3-4 bumps before have to choose a new line)
7. Fox's Folly (consistent bump lines are hard to come by here due to too many side slippers :???: )

The Gap also has potential but sees very little traffic and lines take forever to form. this trail also has serious snow making power as it used to be the main terrain park. A seeded bump field here could potentially see more skier traffic as it is visible from the summit quad.

Borderline does not count as it is only one bump wide.

 

[soulseller]

I can't wait to get up to Burke this year, thinking next weekend might be a good opportunity for me.

 

[thetrailboss]

No man made on Little Dipper (this is where the Half Pipe used to be). I do wish they would make snow on this trail and set up a seeded bump run. The trail has a decent pitch on top and slowly flattens as it intersects into Open Slope. A nice bump run would get far more use and would require less maintenance than the half pipe did. I would also make for a good place to learn to bump ski as there isn't much intermediate bump skiing on the mtn. IMHO multiple line bump skiing trails is something Burke is sorely lacking.

I say get those five fan guns over there and get cracking.

 

[psyflyer]

Fox's was poached by quite a few people... they're probably just waiting for a few more inches to put a lot of the rocks deep enough to not hit. Jungle had quite a few rocks popping up so I don't know why they opened that and not Fox's though.

I was one of the poachers, and started poaching on tuesday into wednesday and finally today. It rode great, little slick in some parts but good enough. We also did most glades and they all are in fantastic shape. Today we rode Birches, Jungle and Firburger, all super. Still tons of pwoder to go by and the week-end crowd will enjoy it. We are going to hibernate for the next few days hoping for the next dump, all in all this past week has been primo.

 

[riverc0il]

No man made on Little Dipper (this is where the Half Pipe used to be). I do wish they would make snow on this trail and set up a seeded bump run. The trail has a decent pitch on top and slowly flattens as it intersects into Open Slope.

Shush. Little Dipper is the best pow stash on the entire mountain. Last thing it needs is snow making and bump lines! :lol: I like the idea of the Gap better since it is no longer being used for a park. Too bad they can't do it in a place visible from the lift. Bumps are best with an audience!

 

[thetrailboss]

Shush. Little Dipper is the best pow stash on the entire mountain. Last thing it needs is snow making and bump lines! :lol: I like the idea of the Gap better since it is no longer being used for a park. Too bad they can't do it in a place visible from the lift. Bumps are best with an audience!

Actually Gap can be fun before it gets snowmaking and grooming. They leave it ungroomed and the pow can be nice. I agree that letting that bump up would be a nice option considering that you can get to it from the quad or Poma. Hell, maybe BMA can start a freestyle program there :wink:

 

[abc]

Edd, Just lap East Bowl a few times if you start getting cold :idea:

Man! I wish somebody told me that!!! :roll:

I didn't realize I rode the lift up just to go nordic skiing on my alpine gear for what seems like 2 miles!!!

The bumps would have been fun but it's quite scratchy still...

 

[thetrailboss]

Man! I wish somebody told me that!!! :roll:

I didn't realize I rode the lift up just to go nordic skiing on my alpine gear for what seems like 2 miles!!!

The bumps would have been fun but it's quite scratchy still...

FWIW they groomed East Bowl last night.

 

[from_the_NEK]

FWIW they groomed East Bowl last night.

Nuts.
I figured it was bound to happen soon.

 

[WJenness]

Nuts.
I figured it was bound to happen soon.

Glad I got to experience it before it was groomed.

-w

 

[Edd]

I've only been there once and East Bowl wasn't groomed that day. I loved it. Can't believe I'm such a pussy that I can't motivate to brave the cold tomorrow.

 

[tarponhead]

Can't find total accumulation to-date on their website. Am I missing it?

 

[thetrailboss]

Can't find total accumulation to-date on their website. Am I missing it?

Look at the "Snow Report" box on the right and click on the link to get a PDF of the daily report:

http://www.skiburke.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/1-24-2011_SNOWREPORT.pdf

It's a little tricky to find....