Yesterday I made the trek to the NEK to get my skis, my Burke pass, and to do some recon at the mountain. I was expecting the place to be quiet...considering that this summer they announced that not much was going to be happening. I was wrong. Lots going on.
After a stop at East Burke Sports and an attempt to catch up with the_original_trailboss, I drove up to the Sherburne Base Lodge to see what was going on. Lots of vehicles in the parking lot and as I climbed up the stairs, I heard lots of commotion. At the base area:
*Crews were painting the base terminal of the HSQ. I hope that they make it to the J-Bar, which is showing its age.
*It appears that they are residing/extending (?) the base lodge towards to the slopes. At the very least they are replacing the windows on the mountain side of the lodge. Lots of folks working on this. The lodge really looks sharp.
*Dashney Mile Bridge is getting a facelift. New handrails and some other work going on.
I bought my pass and spoke with the employee, someone I went to HS with I believe. She said things were going well, but it was her first day back on the job. Pass will be in the mail soon. I did see Charlie Hardiman in the Lodge.
From here, I drove up the Condo Road to MidBurke. Four NEW single family homes going up on the road (Alpine Road) but no work yet on the Bear Path condos. Same open pads.
I drove up to High Meadows...nice condos up there.
The MidBurke access road is just as rough as before. :blink: Very rough, so drive with care. There was some action at midmountain...much more than anticipated. The Machine Shop had almost a full lot of trucks and MidBurke still looked good.
*The remains of the BMA Race Shed/Storage Building which burned in 2000 or so has been demoed, regraded, and cleaned up. They had a large dumpster there and had filled it up. This area looked much better than it has....this was a real eyesore.
*As discussed in here by the_original_trailboss, Lower Warren's Way got a significant facelift. Specifically, the knoll picture below is no more:
(The lower knoll just to the right of the first tower...the one that has snowfence around it)
Photo source: SkiLifts.org (specifically AZer and SkiLifts.org member Jonni)
The trail looks MUCH wider now. They completely regraded the lower section and have revamped the snowmaking line on that far right side of the trail...new hydrants. This work is similar to that done at the Middlebury Snowbowl....attempts to widen and grade race trails after that horrible accident last year at the Williams Winter Carnival (I think). I had reservations about this work, but after seeing it the far skier's left side has a sweet lip now and looks like it is going to be a fun run.
*Just below this work, the mountain construction crew were doing some massive excavation....it appears that they were replacing snowmaking lines from the Pond Pump Station to the Lower Warren's Way/Quad area. Those pipes are very deep, so this work was pretty large. They had a couple excavators, some welding equipment, and other tools. I stayed out of their way.
*The Willoughby Quad has a new paint job. Some of us were hoping that it was going to be replaced, and were :roll: when the news came that it was repainted. I must say that it looks really good with new paint. They repainted the base terminal as well as the towers. Looked really sharp. The lift was really showing its age in the last seasons and this work, significant in price I will say, really improved the appearance of the ski area. They also added a new diesel tank to the lift (for backup if needed). They did not repaint the Poma.
*HKD Towers: some new ones were in the parking lot by the First Aid Building. Not sure where they are going. Hoping for Willoughby, but they are probably bound for Dippers or Warren's. I will say that I was :blink: when I saw how many HKD's are on Dashney...why not spread them out? I also was :blink: when I saw that they even put some HKD's just above and to the rider's right of the HSQ summit terminal. That little trail was not open at all last year and has 2 or 3 HKD's. I'd move those to Lower Bear Den or Willoughby and not waste them on that little connector.
I did hike up the Quad Liftline to the Fire Road and then across The Gap (sweet run) and Lower Willoughby (sweeter). There is lots of survey tape to skier's left of Willoughby...the State Property Line was marked as well as blue tape making a line running paralell to the ski trail....but sure if that means trail widening or maybe something to do with Snowmaking. I walked the Fire Road to Jungle and then all the way to The Birches...which is a long ways up the road. Impressive glades. I have not been in there for some time. Lots of nice terrain out there. I concluded by cutting back down across Warrens and then across Doug's, McHargs, and the Dippers. Three patrollers were armed with brushcutters and were going at it on Lower Doug's.
So lots of action....am ready for snow (there was some on the top and some heavy frost on the trees) and for the quads to get turning! :beer:
After a stop at East Burke Sports and an attempt to catch up with the_original_trailboss, I drove up to the Sherburne Base Lodge to see what was going on. Lots of vehicles in the parking lot and as I climbed up the stairs, I heard lots of commotion. At the base area:
*Crews were painting the base terminal of the HSQ. I hope that they make it to the J-Bar, which is showing its age.
*It appears that they are residing/extending (?) the base lodge towards to the slopes. At the very least they are replacing the windows on the mountain side of the lodge. Lots of folks working on this. The lodge really looks sharp.
*Dashney Mile Bridge is getting a facelift. New handrails and some other work going on.
I bought my pass and spoke with the employee, someone I went to HS with I believe. She said things were going well, but it was her first day back on the job. Pass will be in the mail soon. I did see Charlie Hardiman in the Lodge.
From here, I drove up the Condo Road to MidBurke. Four NEW single family homes going up on the road (Alpine Road) but no work yet on the Bear Path condos. Same open pads.
I drove up to High Meadows...nice condos up there.
The MidBurke access road is just as rough as before. :blink: Very rough, so drive with care. There was some action at midmountain...much more than anticipated. The Machine Shop had almost a full lot of trucks and MidBurke still looked good.
*The remains of the BMA Race Shed/Storage Building which burned in 2000 or so has been demoed, regraded, and cleaned up. They had a large dumpster there and had filled it up. This area looked much better than it has....this was a real eyesore.
*As discussed in here by the_original_trailboss, Lower Warren's Way got a significant facelift. Specifically, the knoll picture below is no more:
(The lower knoll just to the right of the first tower...the one that has snowfence around it)
Photo source: SkiLifts.org (specifically AZer and SkiLifts.org member Jonni)
The trail looks MUCH wider now. They completely regraded the lower section and have revamped the snowmaking line on that far right side of the trail...new hydrants. This work is similar to that done at the Middlebury Snowbowl....attempts to widen and grade race trails after that horrible accident last year at the Williams Winter Carnival (I think). I had reservations about this work, but after seeing it the far skier's left side has a sweet lip now and looks like it is going to be a fun run.
*Just below this work, the mountain construction crew were doing some massive excavation....it appears that they were replacing snowmaking lines from the Pond Pump Station to the Lower Warren's Way/Quad area. Those pipes are very deep, so this work was pretty large. They had a couple excavators, some welding equipment, and other tools. I stayed out of their way.
*The Willoughby Quad has a new paint job. Some of us were hoping that it was going to be replaced, and were :roll: when the news came that it was repainted. I must say that it looks really good with new paint. They repainted the base terminal as well as the towers. Looked really sharp. The lift was really showing its age in the last seasons and this work, significant in price I will say, really improved the appearance of the ski area. They also added a new diesel tank to the lift (for backup if needed). They did not repaint the Poma.
*HKD Towers: some new ones were in the parking lot by the First Aid Building. Not sure where they are going. Hoping for Willoughby, but they are probably bound for Dippers or Warren's. I will say that I was :blink: when I saw how many HKD's are on Dashney...why not spread them out? I also was :blink: when I saw that they even put some HKD's just above and to the rider's right of the HSQ summit terminal. That little trail was not open at all last year and has 2 or 3 HKD's. I'd move those to Lower Bear Den or Willoughby and not waste them on that little connector.
I did hike up the Quad Liftline to the Fire Road and then across The Gap (sweet run) and Lower Willoughby (sweeter). There is lots of survey tape to skier's left of Willoughby...the State Property Line was marked as well as blue tape making a line running paralell to the ski trail....but sure if that means trail widening or maybe something to do with Snowmaking. I walked the Fire Road to Jungle and then all the way to The Birches...which is a long ways up the road. Impressive glades. I have not been in there for some time. Lots of nice terrain out there. I concluded by cutting back down across Warrens and then across Doug's, McHargs, and the Dippers. Three patrollers were armed with brushcutters and were going at it on Lower Doug's.
So lots of action....am ready for snow (there was some on the top and some heavy frost on the trees) and for the quads to get turning! :beer:
i thought they just repaved it recently!?
