Burke Mountain 2-5-2011

[deadheadskier]

Date(s) Skied: Saturday, February 5th, 2011

Resort or Ski Area: Burke Mountain

Conditions: Bluebird day until mid afternoon, packed pow

Trip Report:

Great Day at Burke today. I had only skied there once prior and it was in the rain on the tail end of a three day weekend where I had killed myself skiing bumps the previous 2 days. Today I was fresh and the mountain skied great.

Arrived at mid-Burke a hair after 9:30 and after a short wait was off to the top. Many folks are hoping for a HSQ to the summit. It's a fairly long ride, but not too long considering the length of runs you get from it. As a Ragged regular, the Spear triple at the home hill is far more painful.

Anyways, some photos:

View to Mansfield from the Summit:

Lake Willoughby Gap

Sasquatch glade - I think. Going off of memory on the sequence of what I skied

Dixieland Glade

View over towards Washington from East Bowl. The slog back to the front wasn't as bad as I remembered from last time, though I definitely wouldn't want to be on a snowboard riding over there.

Caveman

Jungle or Birches, I think the latter. Still pockets of fresh here and there from the storm two days prior

Series of hucks (I didn't sack up, but some folks did) at the start of of Throbulator. I noticed a number of drops at Burke in or just to the side of the marked tree runs. If you're into that sort of thing, Burke is a good place for it.

 

[deadheadskier]

Overall a highly satisfying day at Burke. Wish I had gotten one of the 3 for $99 deals they had in the fall as this will be my only trip this season. Most likely will for next season as as a weekend skier, there is no better big mountain to be at on a Saturday. I did wait 7-8 minutes at the Quad at one point, so they were definitely paying out on their no liftline longer than 5 minute guarantee.

I did take one slight off map adventure, which had me a bit nervous. At the top of Willoughby there's a trail with red slashes on the trees to the left. It's posted as ski area boundary. Either a hiking or MTB trail I assume. It was well skied though, so I went for it. It kept going and going and going and going. I was looking for a place to drop back in, but did not see any tracks and there was quite a bit of saplings and pucker through there.

Finally I said, I better make my own trail and start working my way back towards the mountain before I end up in Lyndonville. Skiing was okay, but again, tons of saplings and what not. I was relieved to find another trail going back to Willoughby that passed by the bottom of Birches glade. I had not skied Birches prior to this, so I was unaware of this cat track back.

All I have to say is GET TO WORK fromtheNEK, masskier, psflyer and some of the other Burke regulars there. With a minimal amount of clipper work that whole ridge out there will open up just like the notch does from Stowe. Given the low volume of skiers at Burke, ya'll could be skiing fresh for a week after a storm with all that's available out that way.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I did take one slight off map adventure, which had me a bit nervous. At the top of Willoughby there's a trail with red slashes on the trees to the left. It's posted as ski area boundary. Either a hiking or MTB trail I assume. It was well skied though, so I went for it. It kept going and going and going and going. I was looking for a place to drop back in, but did not see any tracks and there was quite a bit of saplings and pucker through there.

Finally I said, I better make my own trail and start working my way back towards the mountain before I end up in Lyndonville. Skiing was okay, but again, tons of saplings and what not. I was relieved to find another trail going back to Willoughby that passed by the bottom of Birches glade. I had not skied Birches prior to this, so I was unaware of this cat track back.

Ahh the West Peak. The marked trail is the hiking trail to the summit. It can be quite a thrash through the firs at the top. Definitely a lot of potential over there. There were actually a couple of 16 year olds that got lost over there this weekend. I think they got on the wrong side of the saddle between Burke and Kirby Mtns.
The road back is the CCC road that cuts across the mtn all the way to the toll road.

I was looking at the mountain from my house all day as it sat there under the bluebird sky and wishing I was up there. To bad you didn't meet up with Riverc0il. He could have shown you some good spots as well. I glad you had fun, looks like you got a good sampling of the glades.

 

[powbmps]

That snow in Birches looks great. Always is a little sketchy skiing unfamiliar areas solo.

Hoping to get up that way in March to check it out.

 

[Masskier]

Great photos, What did you use to take them?

 

[deadheadskier]

I have a Pentax Optio W10 that's about 4 years old. Generally my photos suck, but that's the operator, not the equipment. The camera does okay. Only complaints are a dreadfully slow shutter speed and the zoom isn't all that great. It is 100% waterproof though, which is why I bought it. Don't have to worry about ruining it while skiing.

 

[psyflyer]

Overall a highly satisfying day at Burke. Wish I had gotten one of the 3 for $99 deals they had in the fall as this will be my only trip this season. Most likely will for next season as as a weekend skier, there is no better big mountain to be at on a Saturday. I did wait 7-8 minutes at the Quad at one point, so they were definitely paying out on their no liftline longer than 5 minute guarantee.

I did take one slight off map adventure, which had me a bit nervous. At the top of Willoughby there's a trail with red slashes on the trees to the left. It's posted as ski area boundary. Either a hiking or MTB trail I assume. It was well skied though, so I went for it. It kept going and going and going and going. I was looking for a place to drop back in, but did not see any tracks and there was quite a bit of saplings and pucker through there.

Finally I said, I better make my own trail and start working my way back towards the mountain before I end up in Lyndonville. Skiing was okay, but again, tons of saplings and what not. I was relieved to find another trail going back to Willoughby that passed by the bottom of Birches glade. I had not skied Birches prior to this, so I was unaware of this cat track back.

All I have to say is GET TO WORK fromtheNEK, masskier, psflyer and some of the other Burke regulars there. With a minimal amount of clipper work that whole ridge out there will open up just like the notch does from Stowe. Given the low volume of skiers at Burke, ya'll could be skiing fresh for a week after a storm with all that's available out that way.

Could not agree with you more regarding the westpeak. If you thought it was good then you should see the mountain now after the latest round of snow. Add about 2 feet to what you skied and the glades are freaking powderrific.

The trail you skied (red trail) is a hiking trail to the top. We rode it yesterday but its a bit narrow for my liking and can be full of obstacles, however its a great run for advance skiers/riders which leads back to the CCC road and then into willoughby. Glad you enjoyed it and great pictures. We got 4-5 inches overnight adding to the pleasure!

 

[riverc0il]

As noted by others, that was The Red Trail you were on. That is where I tweaked my back looking for a little something something I had assisted with when I lived up there. Sadly, things look different skiing downhill in the winter than hiking uphill in the fall. Or things just grew in faster than I thought they might have. :???: Any ways, as you noticed, the hiking trail isn't worth the effort.

I am so glad Burke is having a good year and is fully open! I was so pumped to be back there. Such an under rated mountain. Overall, I would actually rate Burke's glades as better than Jays. Burke just doesn't get the snow. But when they do, that mountain goes off HUGE.

 

[bassriver]

For members that ski Burke frequently, could you suggest trails to hit for a first timer - prefer to ski bumps and glades....not looking for anyone's stashes, just some general guidance so I can focus my efforts.

Thanks!

 

[riverc0il]

For members that ski Burke frequently, could you suggest trails to hit for a first timer - prefer to ski bumps and glades....not looking for anyone's stashes, just some general guidance so I can focus my efforts.

Thanks!

Goodness, ski the entire mountain! You can pretty much ski almost everything except some of the shorter trails in one day. Well, let's do the tour.

East Bowl - This is Burke's "must do" signature trail. It requires a traverse in and out. Most do a warm up run or two first but if its a cold day, you'll get warmed up quick getting out there!

Groomers - Willoughby is a classic, Bear Den is more narrow, the Dippers is your wide open Super G run, and Warren's Way is the race trail if its open.

Bumps - Fox's Folly is the lift line trail, Wilderness usually has the best bumps, and Doug's Drop has some pretty wild and irregular lines.

Trees - Birches and The Jungle are great Birch glades. You can take Wilderness and drop into Dixieland, Caveman, or Throbulator with varying lengths of traverse back at the end since these dump out onto the East Bowl run out. Of course, keep your eyes open as there are lots of unnamed glades to hit.

Other - Lew's Leap and Boarderline are interesting short trails that are off the radar and interesting. The problem with these trails is they are short so its often not worth planning an entire cycle around them.

The Poma is a good alternative to the Quad. The Poma is faster and services most of the mountain, though you might need to be creative in your traversing efforts. But you can easily access all of Doug's, Fox's, and Warren's (when there is no race training) as well as the shorter eastern trails from the Poma in their entirety. Enjoy!

 

[deadheadskier]

Goodness, ski the entire mountain! You can pretty much ski almost everything except some of the shorter trails in one day. Well, let's do the tour.

East Bowl - This is Burke's "must do" signature trail. It requires a traverse in and out. Most do a warm up run or two first but if its a cold day, you'll get warmed up quick getting out there!

Groomers - Willoughby is a classic, Bear Den is more narrow, the Dippers is your wide open Super G run, and Warren's Way is the race trail if its open.

Bumps - Fox's Folly is the lift line trail, Wilderness usually has the best bumps, and Doug's Drop has some pretty wild and irregular lines.

Trees - Birches and The Jungle are great Birch glades. You can take Wilderness and drop into Dixieland, Caveman, or Throbulator with varying lengths of traverse back at the end since these dump out onto the East Bowl run out. Of course, keep your eyes open as there are lots of unnamed glades to hit.

Other - Lew's Leap and Boarderline are interesting short trails that are off the radar and interesting. The problem with these trails is they are short so its often not worth planning an entire cycle around them.

The Poma is a good alternative to the Quad. The Poma is faster and services most of the mountain, though you might need to be creative in your traversing efforts. But you can easily access all of Doug's, Fox's, and Warren's (when there is no race training) as well as the shorter eastern trails from the Poma in their entirety. Enjoy!

that's pretty much exactly what I skied plus my red trail excursion. :lol:

Pretty easy to cover most of the mountain in a day. I'm sure there's a ton of off map I haven't seen though. Great mid-sized continous pitched mountain.

Here's my question. Outside of Dougs, where are the steeps? I find it interesting that you (riv) lament the lack of steeps at Pico, but don't have a similar comment regarding Burke. I think the pitch and length of trails of the two mountains is quite similar from their summit quads, with a slight edge to maximum steepnees to Pico and an overall edge to continous pitch to Burke. Burke is definitely MUCH broader though. Many different ways you can go from the summit.

 

[thetrailboss]

I agree with Riv's comments and can add more details if you PM me.

As to steeps, the longest ones are probably Doug's and Upper Warren's. There are short, steep pitches on Wilderness, Ledges, and Lew's Leap.

 

[riverc0il]

Burke does not really have any true "steeps". My comments on Pico referred to how short their steepest terrain is and then dumping out into run outs. Whereas Burke has no run outs at all excepting the East Bowl traverse. Burke is perhaps one of the most consistently pitched mountains in New England. It doesn't have the steepest terrain. But I never said I need steep terrain to have fun. Pico is overall very flat with a few small steep pitches whereas Pico is very consistently upper intermediately pitched. I'll take Burke over Pico every single day. I don't need the steepest but I don't like flats and run outs.