Burke Mountain: December 23-24, 27-29, 2005

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: December 23, 24th, 2005

Resort or Ski Area: Burke Mountain

Conditions: PP/P

Trip Report: I had been waiting quite a while to return to Burke and to once again have the privelege of skiing at my home mountain more than a couple times a season. For the first time in my life, I purchased a Burke Pass. Today I headed into the office to pick it up.

Rumor had it the lower lodge was nice and I was Biases aside, that is probably the nicest ski lodge I've been in. New steps, new carpet, new bathrooms, new lighting, new open area, new paint, and friendly staff. MUCH improved. The free check for ski bags was awesome! :beer: The folks were really nice.

The HSQ at the base was FAST as well...and a comfy ride. :beer: Dashney Mile was in great shape at the bottom thanks to the new HKD towers.

Two runs on the lower mountain took the same amount of time as one ride up the old double...it's a whole new place to ski.

I headed up to the summit and did some quick runs down Willoughby, Bear Den, Lower Foxes, and Warrens. A run on the POMA as well. The MidBurke lodge has been cleaned up as well.

Some more runs before taking a lunch break--great to see many local kids on the hill as well.

One thing I hope is for more snow--the natural trails need some and snowmaking was :blink: not running...probably too warm.

GREAT experience thus far--same old Burke with new flair. More tomorrow. :wink:

 

[riverc0il]

Rumor had it the lower lodge was nice and I was :shock:

indeed. i was amazed when i was there earlier this week! reports from this past weekend on FTO reported some natural snow trails were skiable. hopefully this weekend's storm will freshen things up, but it looks like it is going coastal.

cheers to turns at burke!
:beer:

 

[awf170]

Was it raining today at burke? At jay peak it sprinkled the whole day and it was 28 degrees. My rain day ratio this year so far is 50% :lol:

 

[thetrailboss]

No rain at Burke today...clouds at the summit. Snowing now pretty good clip.
Riv--they did have a lot open, but yeah, they need some more cover IMHO. I've been kinda spoiled by the base depths at Sunapee :roll: But I'm going tomorrow with rock skis in tow...will be venturing out to the old favorites on the east side. I've got the next THREE weeks to hit Burke whenever I want...gotta love winter break! :beer:

Love the new quad...can ski THE WHOLE mountain now! :beer: I was feeling kinda lazy this afternoon, so did three real quick easy runs down Dashney...what would have originally taken something like 45-60 mins to do now only takes 20!

 

[riverc0il]

i received an email from burke saying they will be 90% open for the holiday week. simply unheard of this early in the season. the early snow fall and increased snow making sure helped!

 

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: December 24, 2005

Resort or Ski Area: Burke

Conditions: P/PP

Trip Report: Day two update. All snow here in the Kingdom...about 3" here and on the mountain. As I drove up there, I could see that the summit was pretty well socked in still. I pulled in at 8:30 and got a nice spot at MidBurke...in fact if any one came up today they would have had almost anywhere in the lot to park and no lines at all Kinda spooky.

I hit Willoughby first...powder on top of grooming was sweet, but the visibility was not so sweet :x I got that 'floating on air' feeling a couple times of times on the way down...you know, when it is all white and you think that the trail is in front of you? :lol:

With the fog socked in, I hit the POMA for some yo-yos and had it all to myself for about 3-4 runs. Powder for breakfast! :beer: I was tracking through my own snow for the better part of an hour while folks were trying to ski the summit.

From here, I hit the summit to do a run down Toll Road to Big Dipper. After helping some folks out, I headed down Dipper, which was edge-to-edge and nice.

I managed to get in some lower mountain runs as well thanks to the new HSQ. Base is a bit better down there, but man, I hope they blow some more snow...seeing the lower mountain runs with some twigs sticking up in places is kinda

A couple more summit runs before hitting Dipper Doodle and hitting a rock with my nice boards :x Only minor edge damage...nothing that I can't fix thank God!

After lunch, I took out the rock boards and hit McHarg's Cut Off (soft, wet snow) and Lower Fox's (same) before charging once more to the summit and hitting Carriage Road/Powderhorn/Dipper Doodle, which were soft bumps and thin cover spots. Almost deep enough for them to groom.

I closed with a couple runs down below including one run in the Lower Woods, which were nice, but the snow was a bit too heavy for me.

I'm taking tomorrow off....but nice day! :beer:

 

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: Dec 27, 2005

Resort or Ski Area: Burke

Conditions: MG/FG

Trip Report: Day three of Trailboss's ski escape at Burke. I did not go up on Monday because of the r^&* and I heard that it was very slushy.

They ironed out the usually meat and potato runs and were blowing snow on Carriage Road and Upper Dipper. Early morning was the time to be there. Soft snow that was still a bit damp underneath and had been groomed after the temps had fallen. Nice, edgeable, and soft. But as the morning wore on, the wind turned and traffic came turning it to all ice :x I rode up the chair with DG, a BMA supporter who was a silent partner in the mountain for the past 5 years or so. I picked his brain as to the happenings at the mountain. He confirmed that a summit HSQ had been ordered but that the owners were waiting to determine what they were going to do before having it installed--i.e. if the base terminal should be further downslope from where the terminal is now. He also confirmed that development will be focused on MidBurke. No big terrain expansions or anything. More details later...quite a nice guy to talk with :beer:

I did runs down Willoughby, Toll Road/Dipper, as well as Lower Foxy's, Bear Den, and Warren's. Yo-yos on Poma after lunch was nice. UVM ski team was training as well :blink: Lower Mountain was PACKED which was good to see considering that the r%^& had come Monday. Lots of day ticket holders. HSQ was running slower due to wiring problem--POMA on the way to repair.

Was there from 9-1:30 and had a good time. Dashney Terrain Park is sick. FOUR terrain parks are open right now at Burke If you like them, check them out.

 

[nekgirl]

They opened up East Bowl mid morning and I was blown away at how awesome it was. Fresh fluffy powder, A few spots towards the end that were a bit windblown, but by far the best trail to ski on that day! Too bad you didn't get a chance to get there. Check out the photos on the website

 

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: Dec 28, 2005

Resort or Ski Area: Burke

Conditions: PP/FG

Trip Report: Day Four. Pulled in at 9am to find blue skies and sunshine. The first ride up the quad was a warm one...the temperature inversion is on its way :roll: Beautiful views from Owl's Head to Sugarbush and beyond That's the Burke I remember. The morning was spent doing the usual groomers--Willoughby, Dippers, etc, which were in good shape. Then I stepped into my rock skis and headed to the East Side for some skiing before the r%&*(s come :evil: Powderhorn was in decent shape considering the poor weather as of late :blink: Some good bumps but thin cover in spots...and lots of folks trying to ski it who should not have been there. I also hit Dipper Doodle which was nice. Lower Powderhorn was getting thin. Next run I did Upper Fox's to Toll Road and then down Marshland...one of the oddest trails I have ever skied because it kind of goes against the fall line and despite being in the middle of the trail map it is hard to get to and in the middle of nowhere. As a result, few ski it. Nice soft power on top of an icy base. I also decided to go down Borderline, which was thin with powder on top.

With rock skis on, I opted to hit East Bowl, and as nekgirl said above, it was in great shape Bumps with good cover. There is a memorial now at the site where a gentleman died last season while skiing the trail..kind of spooky, but as I stood and looked off into the Northern Whites, accompanied only by silence, I thought it was probably one of the most beautiful spots to ski and to have skied.

Before lunch, I hit Wilderness, which was in decent shape, and then took some crusiers on the lower mountain where WCAX was videotaping the mountain.

I had a nice long lunch before taking one more run on the rock skis and then calling it early to meet my Uncle, and lifelong Burke Skier, for a beer at the Bear Den Lodge. :beer: A good fourth day with some nice surprises and nice conversations with locals on the lifts and in the lodge. Glad to be home!

 

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: December 29, 2005

Resort or Ski Area: Burke

Conditions: WS

Trip Report: I arose a bit later this morning and decided that because it was not raining that I would take a few runs before hitting the road to see Ms. Trailboss and fam in the flatlands Glad I did.

I also had left my poles at the lodge...so needed to get them :roll:

After getting buckled into my shorty-skis, I hiked the hill to the POMA. My plan was to take advantage of the fast lift to do about six or seven good runs before heading to the bottom for a couple. It was foggy at the summit.

I was joined on the POMA by the Dartmouth Ski Team Impressive! I did yo-yos on Lower Bear Den, Lower Warren's, and Lower Fox's. All were edge-to edge and soft...so soft. I was able to rip some nice turns. It was worth the trip

The base needs some snow or snowmaking though...no lines at the HSQ for the two runs I did down there. Terrain Parks all look good.

A short trip, but a lot of fun. Snow is in the forecast for the mountain which will help immensely :beer:

I'll be back next week...