Burke 2/20/2012

[from_the_NEK]

Met up with Wa-Loaf for some runs yesterday. Beautiful Day.

Fairly sparse "crowd". I think we waited for the lift for three minutes once or twice. After 11:30 the lift was ski on.

There was still some fresh snow in the trees if you knew where to look. According to Wa-Loaf, it was considerably better the two previous days.

I gave Wa-Loaf a mountain wide tour. There is still a lot of stuff out there that we didn't get to in in the 3 hours we skied together.

Wa-Loaf picking a line through the trees:

Finding a little pow:

Come here you big cuddley tree:

Near the top of the Wet Slot:

Somewhere in the woods of East Bowl ;-)

Wa-Loaf was tearing it up considering he had a sore foot. Hopefully he can get his boot fixed to reduce the pressure.

 

[thetrailboss]

Very nice. Glad that Wa-loaf made it to Burke!

 

[Cornhead]

Sweet, looks like a gorgeous day, I love Burke. Nice to see there are some woods to be skied this year. Has the place lost any charm with the new lift? I made my first visit there last April, day after April Fools Day, eighteen inches, it was insane, for April. Thanks for the TR.

 

[Cheese]

Thanks for the virtual tour!

It looks like they were gifted with the same 2-5" that I found at Bretton Woods on Saturday. Crust layer was still right below that though. Is Burke skiing the same or did they miss a rain storm?

 

[reefer]

Very nice!

 

[from_the_NEK]

Thanks for the virtual tour!

It looks like they were gifted with the same 2-5" that I found at Bretton Woods on Saturday. Crust layer was still right below that though. Is Burke skiing the same or did they miss a rain storm?

The "Same" as what? Bretton Woods? Didn't really find much crust under the 3 inches that fell Friday.

 

[Cheese]

The "Same" as what? Bretton Woods? Didn't really find much crust under the 3 inches that fell Friday.

Yes, crust or a bullet proof base. Resorts further south received melt/refreeze and multiple rain events in January which did a real number on the fresh snow that fell earlier. Since then the 1-2" dustings haven't been able to stick so it skis like dust on crust. Based on your findings, I'd say it's a non-issue from Burke north.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Yes, crust or a bullet proof base. Resorts further south received melt/refreeze and multiple rain events in January which did a real number on the fresh snow that fell earlier. Since then the 1-2" dustings haven't been able to stick so it skis like dust on crust. Based on your findings, I'd say it's a non-issue from Burke north.

Well that hard base layer is what we were skiing on most of the day since two days of holiday weekend traffic had skied off the "major" lines in the glades. Burke did get those rain storms but it stayed below 35 degrees while the rain fell.

 

[gmcunni]

i never thought much about Burke since i typically day trip but i see it is pretty close to 91. might have to give it a try some time soon.

 

[riverc0il]

i never thought much about Burke since i typically day trip but i see it is pretty close to 91. might have to give it a try some time soon.

If you are coming up I-91, it is basically the same distance or closer than anything from Sugarbush north.

 

[gmcunni]

If you are coming up I-91, it is basically the same distance or closer than anything from Sugarbush north.

that's what i loosely figured. i call Bush/MRG the edge of my day trip range, reserved for special days. ~4 hours door to door with no stopping/traffic/cops.

 

[thetrailboss]

I used to live in Medford, MA and could get from there to Burke in about 3 hours. For Hartford, once you get north of Springfield it is pretty easy. IIRC the time is pretty close there to 3 hours.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

Looks gorgeous! Had similar conditions at Bolton. The woods look far superior in the NEK.

 

[wa-loaf]

Just got home. Only thing I won't miss are the beds in the damn condo. I'll post a little more later. Gotta get the kids fed and in bed.

 

[wa-loaf]

From_the_NEK covered the good stuff. I did a little exploring on Saturday and Sunday in the on map glades. Conditions were very good considering the present circumstances. The rest of the trip was spent skiing with the kids both of which made great progress. Nothing like 4 days in a row of skiing to make some advances!

Some tracks I followed into the woods off of East Bowl:

Dixieland

The kids

Canadians

Some of NEKs secret stash

More Dixieland

Throbulator

And finally my 5 year old skiing the Enchanted Forest:

 

[BenedictGomez]

Heading up to Burke for my first time next month, those pictures sure make the dixieland woods seem pretty awesome.

 

[Cheese]

The rest of the trip was spent skiing with the kids both of which made great progress. Nothing like 4 days in a row of skiing to make some advances!

Great pictures and good for you for keeping smiles on your kids faces.

I instructed for an all day kids camp Christmas week and February week for over 10 years. It's very true what you said about multiple days of skiing in a row. Parents were always amazed at the improvements children made over 3-7 days.

 

[xwhaler]

Nice, looks like a great gem. Will be at Burke the 2nd wknd of March for our 1st ever trip there.
Really looking forward to exploring.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I like the pic of the kids and the video of your son. He was ripping through those trees and started looking for the tighter lines as he went!

 

[riverc0il]

Sounds like a lot of folks are trying Burke out for their first time this season, nice!

NEK... have you seen a substantial increase in first timers and do you think it is due to the Quad? And this is a bad snow year to boot...