Burke 2/25/2012

[from_the_NEK]

The window from 7:00 to 9:00 was the prime time of the day . By 9:30 the hungry hoards had pretty much left at least one track down everything in (and out) of sight. A friend and I started skinning at 7:00 up the top of Fox's Folly and skied down to the lift opening at 8:00 (they opened up an hour early). I measured 13" at the top of Fox's Steep section.
Powder fever was in full force and I haven't seen the mountain that crowded that early, well... ever.

Apparently, they actually opened the lift up at 7:00 for patrol and BMA which kinda sucked as I skinning up and then realized it wasn't just patrollers skiing down past me (luckily they weren't skiing where I planned to ski :smile: ). Anyway, Saturday was easily the best day at Burke this year. Wish I could have gotten over to the spine yesterday as it sounds like the up-slope snow blower was in rare form .

The new lift line skis rather well now that it is mostly filled in. I did a couple laps on it.

I had to quit around after 1:15 as my legs were spent.

 

[wa-loaf]

Like

 

[soulseller]

We rode our first chair at 8:45 and it was all done on the main drags. Perhaps if we had taken our first run down the paths less traveled we might have found something.

The only fresh lines I ended up finding were bushwhacking in various spots between East Bowl and Powerline.

 

[thetrailboss]

Very nice. Seems weird seeing the Willoughby Quad sitting silent.

 

[from_the_NEK]

We rode our first chair at 8:45 and it was all done on the main drags. Perhaps if we had taken our first run down the paths less traveled we might have found something.

The only fresh lines I ended up finding were bushwhacking in various spots between East Bowl and Powerline.

The combo of the 7:00 lift opening for Patrol (and BMA), and the official 8:00 opening (with a lift line full of powder starved crazies) resulted in things getting tracks put through them quickly. I had already hit my "secret" stash by 8:30 (and got followed down the second half of it :roll.

 

[Zand]

Damn you... I can't get out till Wednesday. Latest SREF has us getting a foot Wednesday but I'm calling shenanigans on that one.

 

[BenedictGomez]

^ If that storm shifts north, places north like Jay and Stowe (and maybe even Burke) could get another foot for sure. Right now it's the southern areas like the Catskills and places like Magic that look to be in the bullseye.

 

[Masskier]

awesome pictures

 

[WoodCore]

Nice shots!! Early bird gets the worm!!

 

[Cheese]

Thanks for sharing those great shots! Did your friend ski out of this turn or dump it?

 

[from_the_NEK]

He was a little back seat but he stayed on his feet.

 

[Cheese]

He was a little back seat but he stayed on his feet.

Well done as that's some pretty serious lean for a powder day. :beer:

 

[from_the_NEK]

He hasn't skied much powder since he just got back into sking at the end of last year. His legs were toast by 11:00 since he was struggling to stay out of the back seat a lot. He did really well considering.

 

[The Sneak]

Caveman Glade Sat 2/25/12

Soulseller (filming, snowboarding) and I (skiing)

 

[billski]

All I gotta say is that on Sunday it was clear you guys beat the Q@#$ out of the place.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Caveman Glade Sat 2/25/12

Soulseller (filming, snowboarding) and I (skiing)

Nice, hope you guys had fun. Sorry, I didn't run into you. I was wearing my blue coat on Saturday.

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

NEK, great pics!! I was up there myself for the day Saturday, and while I didn't get any lines as fresh as yours, it was still the best day of my season easily. (No pics from me as I was skiing cameraless that day unfortunately.)

I had a bunch of luck that day. I rolled up to mid-Burke at 8:00, saw cars parked down the road, thought "oh shit". Drove into the lot expecting to turn around like the toolbag I felt like, but instead was greeted by a vacated spot directly below the lodge. That gift continued giving as it was impossibly convenient to swap my brand-new Mantras for my beater Wateas after the first run.

It was sooo nice to ski glades and soft snow, even if it was cut up powder piles instead of fresh lines. Dixie, Caveman, both quads' liftlines, Jungle, Birches, all those not-so-tough but fun-anyway runs between eastbowl and the liftlines... soo much fun.

Powerline was... engaging. and definetely a bit boney. I'd only ever skied it in its entirety one day early last March, when it was very heavily filled in and I could charge it pretty directly. Well, saturday I learned how filled-in it was last winter when I almost crashed at the first dicey section! (really really glad I was on beater skis too!)

I love the new chair! I was ambivalent, reading about it this fall, but Saturday's wind felt unexpectedly cold to me and I did not miss the long ride time of the Willoughby. That and the lower loadpoint is great coming from Eastbowl side. That and the new liftline trail is pretty sweet. That and the Willoughby liftline trail has a nice atmosphere about it with the old chair closed.

Note to Burke facilities: ya might wanna consider putting some view-obscurement on the windows in the men's room. Or not. It is kind of funny to watch chairs go by while standing at the urinal.

Maybe I just choose good days to go to Burke, but I like this mountain more each time I go there, even though I can't seem to find much non-mapped stuff (would be stoked to follow anyone in whose willing to show though!