Date(s) Skied: Jan. 27, 2007
Resort or Ski Area: Burke Mountain
Conditions: PP/MG
Weather: Cold at the base (0- -5 F) and in the teens from MidBurke up. Light snow and partly cloudy skies.
2006-2007 Trip #: 28
Trip Report: A cold one, but a great one. I had planned on going to Burke for at least some of this weekend. Plans changed when the cold weather came in and then my car would not start....an AAA Call and an hour or so later I was on the road. Got there at 11am and found a great spot to park at MidBurke. Clear skies, no wind, and a decent crowd.
Met a frosty original_trailboss and the Dawn Patrol who were just coming in...they reported good conditions. "Ms. Original_Trailboss" was very impressed with her Rossi Demo and TOT was very happy with his spin on his friend's Salomon Scramblers. We chatted for a few minutes before I got down to some serious skiing.
First run was down Carriage Road to Dipper. It was great to get back on Carriage Road. As has been custom, snowmaking was done on skier's right of the knoll with natural, ungroomed on the left. The mountain had received a fair amount of natural since my last visit. Carriage Road was a bit skied out, but not bad. Dippers were in great shape.
I cut over to the Poma and rode up to hit Upper Warren's. I noticed that nek_girl was hard at work with the Speed Trap Race. If there was ONE run of the day, it was Upper Warren's, which had just opened recently. Man, it was nice. Fresh cord everywhere and nice, soft base. It was bliss...nobody on it either. The groomers did a stellar job. Edge to edge. I made some hero turns on it before dive bombing Lower Fox's....errr...Upper-Lower Fox's, which had also just opened. THANK YOU for blowing snow on this section between Towers 6 and 10. It was awesome as well...
I did four or five laps on the Poma...hitting the headwall before cutting to Lower Bear Den or Fox's. Afterwards, I rode the Poma and skied the catwalk over to Bear Den Ledges which had just opened thanks to snowmaking (THANK YOU again!!! :beer: ). Turns out ski patrol followed me and the four of us stood peering down the entrance of the headwall.
"Anyone done it today?" I asked.
"Nope," said one.
"Nadda," said the other.
"Ah, yeah. It was snowmaking whales. Doable." Said the third before he began to gently head down.
I watched them descend over the middle and over the whales before I took my usual line and found some edgeable, soft SM snow. Some white ice was here and there, but better than nothing. The guys were nice enough to wait on Lower Bear Den to make sure that I made it OK. I would hit this line again in the afternoon.
After this, I did the Dippers from top to bottom...Upper Dipper was as amazing as Warren's.
A quick spin down to the Lower Mountain found more good snow and lots of COLD air. Temperature inversion. Binney Lane was FINALLY covered and skied nice.
At the top, I did Willoughby (skied off) and then Dippers to MidBurke for lunch.
Following lunch, I did Upper Fox's, which was great thanks to the snowmaking (another HATS OFF to the Snowmaking crew....
) and cut over to Ledges. Then I did another quick spin down Carriage Road and Dippers before throwing on the rock skis and venturing into the natural snow world....
Word had it that Wilderness was good. So I scouted it out. Great. It was thin in places, but the snow was soft and any obstacles were visible and easily avoided. Lower Powderhorn and Dipper Doodle were...well....lacking in the snow departments. I hit Wilderness twice more before catching the 3:59 Poma and closing down Warren's Way. I enjoyed the sunset from the top of the "Burke Glacier" better known as Upper Warren's Way...Burke skiers and riders know what I mean :wink:
After cleaning up, I headed to the Pass Holder Party and checked out the proposed plans for the mountain....read more about it HERE and enjoyed some great appetizers from the mountain. A nice, but smaller party than last year. I hung out with TOT and the Dawn Patrol who had claimed their own table. We chatted about the likely demise of the Bear Den Lounge and the great stuff inside it....and I was asked by everyone when I would be back....February 17th at this point...and TOT will get an E-mail beforehand.
Resort or Ski Area: Burke Mountain
Conditions: PP/MG
Weather: Cold at the base (0- -5 F) and in the teens from MidBurke up. Light snow and partly cloudy skies.
2006-2007 Trip #: 28
Trip Report: A cold one, but a great one. I had planned on going to Burke for at least some of this weekend. Plans changed when the cold weather came in and then my car would not start....an AAA Call and an hour or so later I was on the road. Got there at 11am and found a great spot to park at MidBurke. Clear skies, no wind, and a decent crowd.
Met a frosty original_trailboss and the Dawn Patrol who were just coming in...they reported good conditions. "Ms. Original_Trailboss" was very impressed with her Rossi Demo and TOT was very happy with his spin on his friend's Salomon Scramblers. We chatted for a few minutes before I got down to some serious skiing.
First run was down Carriage Road to Dipper. It was great to get back on Carriage Road. As has been custom, snowmaking was done on skier's right of the knoll with natural, ungroomed on the left. The mountain had received a fair amount of natural since my last visit. Carriage Road was a bit skied out, but not bad. Dippers were in great shape.
I cut over to the Poma and rode up to hit Upper Warren's. I noticed that nek_girl was hard at work with the Speed Trap Race. If there was ONE run of the day, it was Upper Warren's, which had just opened recently. Man, it was nice. Fresh cord everywhere and nice, soft base. It was bliss...nobody on it either. The groomers did a stellar job. Edge to edge. I made some hero turns on it before dive bombing Lower Fox's....errr...Upper-Lower Fox's, which had also just opened. THANK YOU for blowing snow on this section between Towers 6 and 10. It was awesome as well...
I did four or five laps on the Poma...hitting the headwall before cutting to Lower Bear Den or Fox's. Afterwards, I rode the Poma and skied the catwalk over to Bear Den Ledges which had just opened thanks to snowmaking (THANK YOU again!!! :beer: ). Turns out ski patrol followed me and the four of us stood peering down the entrance of the headwall.
"Anyone done it today?" I asked.
"Nope," said one.
"Nadda," said the other.
"Ah, yeah. It was snowmaking whales. Doable." Said the third before he began to gently head down.
I watched them descend over the middle and over the whales before I took my usual line and found some edgeable, soft SM snow. Some white ice was here and there, but better than nothing. The guys were nice enough to wait on Lower Bear Den to make sure that I made it OK. I would hit this line again in the afternoon.
After this, I did the Dippers from top to bottom...Upper Dipper was as amazing as Warren's.
A quick spin down to the Lower Mountain found more good snow and lots of COLD air. Temperature inversion. Binney Lane was FINALLY covered and skied nice.
At the top, I did Willoughby (skied off) and then Dippers to MidBurke for lunch.
Following lunch, I did Upper Fox's, which was great thanks to the snowmaking (another HATS OFF to the Snowmaking crew....
) and cut over to Ledges. Then I did another quick spin down Carriage Road and Dippers before throwing on the rock skis and venturing into the natural snow world....Word had it that Wilderness was good. So I scouted it out. Great. It was thin in places, but the snow was soft and any obstacles were visible and easily avoided. Lower Powderhorn and Dipper Doodle were...well....lacking in the snow departments. I hit Wilderness twice more before catching the 3:59 Poma and closing down Warren's Way. I enjoyed the sunset from the top of the "Burke Glacier" better known as Upper Warren's Way...Burke skiers and riders know what I mean :wink:
After cleaning up, I headed to the Pass Holder Party and checked out the proposed plans for the mountain....read more about it HERE and enjoyed some great appetizers from the mountain. A nice, but smaller party than last year. I hung out with TOT and the Dawn Patrol who had claimed their own table. We chatted about the likely demise of the Bear Den Lounge and the great stuff inside it....and I was asked by everyone when I would be back....February 17th at this point...and TOT will get an E-mail beforehand.
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