Burke 1/30/12

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Monday 1/30/12

Resort or Ski Area: Burke, VT

Conditions: PP and some crud on groomers, 4" on crust on natural stuff

Trip Report:

Just a quick hitter today as I was stuck doing school stuff till just after 2. Hit upper Powerline first which was a fun ski... 4" new up top and still some untracked snow to be found. Merge with Wilderness was a rink, but was glad to see Dixiland open, so I hit that. Tons of fun... definitely not for people who like having good cover, but some fresh lines still available for the adventurous. My legs wanted to give out on the East Bowl runout... they were still sore from Jay yesterday and didn't enjoy opening up with a powdery glade today lol.

Hit Willoughby next to see if Jungle or Birches were open, which they weren't. So headed down Bear Den and hit Lower Fox's which was all natural and untouched in most spots. Skating back up to the quad sucked, I guess that side of the mountain is officially going to be a pain in the ass now that you can't just jump on Willoughby.

Took a cruise on Dipper next which was nice in most spots with a slick spot thrown in here and there. Next up was upper Liftline to Doug's Woods to Marshland, definitely a great top-to-bottom natural combo. Some fun things to jump on Liftline. The woods were thin and a bit slick with the crust underneath, but not too bad.

Finished up with upper Liftline again and then over to some woods off Dipper which were in decent shape.

Hoping to get back up there Friday. More freezing rain this Wednesday will probably make the natural stuff unskiable again, but at least its making the base nice and packed.

 

[psyflyer]

Woods were nice today, little fast bcs of that icy crust under the powder but all in all edgeable and fun. Good turn out to for a monday, hopefully the coming rain doesnt mess things up to much....

 

[thetrailboss]

I bet that the new HSQ allowed for you to get some good skiing in during that two hours. A nice improvement!

 

[from_the_NEK]

Hit Willoughby next to see if Jungle or Birches were open, which they weren't. So headed down Bear Den and hit Lower Fox's which was all natural and untouched in most spots. Skating back up to the quad sucked, I guess that side of the mountain is officially going to be a pain in the ass now that you can't just jump on Willoughby.

I think it is going to make that side of the mountain better. Powder runs on Lower Fox's and Gap are going to stay around for a week because no one will notice the snow there. Just have to make sure you keep up some speed coming down the last bit and the traverse back to the lift is very managable. It is all downhill to the new lift but not quite enough so a couple of pushes are required.

 

[Edd]

Bear with me because I've only skied Burke once but I thought it was a pain to skate to the old summit quad if I took the East Bowl or other trails on skiers right of the mountain. Does the new HSQ make this easier or harder?

 

[Zand]

Bear with me because I've only skied Burke once but I thought it was a pain to skate to the old summit quad if I took the East Bowl or other trails on skiers right of the mountain. Does the new HSQ make this easier or harder?

East Bowl is gonna be a pain no matter what... if I take that I always go down Dipper Doodle when I get to it. Nice pitch to straight line and then cross the base with that speed. Easy to get to the new quad doing that... never really had to skate to the old quad unless the snow was real slow doing that either.

 

[billski]

The east bowl runout is by far the most difficult run on the mountain. They need a rope tow or a shuttle!

I like natural trails after an icing. They're not pounded down by the groomers. you can always find edgeable and stuff to move around.

Hey, there's a Billski gnome up there. Good luck for Burke!

I met a guy at Burke that only skis when it rains. Keeps the crowds down he says. :roll:

 

[thetrailboss]

Re: East Bowl. The top part is more difficult in my mind because you have to climb up the traverse. Once you get to the power line you can skate to the start of the pitch. As to the bottom, once you get to know it you learn that when you get to the final pitch you get as much speed as you can, cross the bridge and tuck. If the snow is fine, I can get enough speed to skate through the rest of it pretty easily. I doubt we will ever see a carpet or rope tow out there. But the trail is worth the skating in my opinion.

 

[Zand]

Re: East Bowl. The top part is more difficult in my mind because you have to climb up the traverse. Once you get to the power line you can skate to the start of the pitch. As to the bottom, once you get to know it you learn that when you get to the final pitch you get as much speed as you can, cross the bridge and tuck. If the snow is fine, I can get enough speed to skate through the rest of it pretty easily. I doubt we will ever see a carpet or rope tow out there. But the trail is worth the skating in my opinion.

The new lift GREATLY helps the top part of East Bowl. Instead of climbing up that first part from Willoughby, you can drop down into it with speed from the top of the new lift. Only have to climb the very top of the hill by the powerline now instead of the whole thing.

 

[billski]

Powerline was "interesting" three weeks ago.

 

[thetrailboss]

The new lift GREATLY helps the top part of East Bowl. Instead of climbing up that first part from Willoughby, you can drop down into it with speed from the top of the new lift. Only have to climb the very top of the hill by the powerline now instead of the whole thing.

That's good to know. As you can see I am a bit farther from Burke than last season.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Powerline was "interesting" three weeks ago.

Did you duck the rope and do the lowest part of Lower Powerline? I did a couple weekends ago and it was super hairy.

 

[wa-loaf]

Did you duck the rope and do the lowest part of Lower Powerline? I did a couple weekends ago and it was super hairy.

You going to be around Feb 18-21? I could use a locals tour ...

 

[thetrailboss]

You going to be around Feb 18-21? I could use a locals tour ...

From the NEK is definitely the man for the job. Just be ready for some tree skiing.

 

[Zand]

From the NEK is definitely the man for the job. Just be ready for some tree skiing.

I might be up for a tour too... after 2 years of skiing the Jungle and Dixiland over and over I'm ready to see some of the "good stuff"

 

[from_the_NEK]

I need to get out more and this might just be the excuse to do so. Hopefully we get some more snow by then or the glades are not going to be much fun (i.e closed).

 

[thetrailboss]

I might be up for a tour too... after 2 years of skiing the Jungle and Dixiland over and over I'm ready to see some of the "good stuff"

Man you have missed out a lot! Feel free to PM me, although it's been a while. Lots of good stuff off the map.