Zand's '10 Burke TRs

[Zand]

Instead of cluttering the TR forum with daily Burke topics, I figured I'd just keep this one topic and update it whenever I go.

Date(s) Skied: Tuesday 1/19/10

Resort or Ski Area: Burke, VT

Conditions: PP

Trip Report:

No class for me on Tuesdays till 12:30 which means a solid morning of skiing. Got up there right at opening to a light snow and temps in the upper 20s to low 30s. Other than the BMA racers, just a few random people scattered about.

Started off on a fresh Dippers which was groomed with an inch of new snow on top. Glorious cruising. Moved over to Sasquatch and Cave Man after which were decent. Still quite a few snowsnakes and stumps that can get you but not bad. Snow quality is excellent up there... one more dump and the depth will be excellent too.

After a run through Birches which were better coverage-wise than the east side glades, I hit the park at the bottom a few times. Decent park for that kind of a mountain. Headed back to the upper mountain and hit Fox's Folly which was pretty nice. A few nasty spots, but a fun liftline. Dougs Drop was next which also had nice natural snow and a few bumps.

Finished up with a ride up the Poma as the racers were on break. First time on a Poma bigger than Bunny Buster... doesn't have the launch at the start which is half the fun of Killington's, but still a quick way up compared to the quad. Cruised down Warrens and headed back to school. Nice quick morning session to get back on the snow for the first time in 11 days.

My one class for tomorrow got cancelled so I'm heading up to Jay for the day. First time there... can't wait. Back to Burke Friday afternoon, Sugarbush Saturday, and Burke again Sunday. Looking like a warmup with a possible rainstorm early next week so enjoy what's out there right now. The rest of this week looks like some sun and occasional snow showers and comfortable temps for January... gonna be a good one.

 

[Masskier]

Thanks for the report

 

[thetrailboss]

I'll be at SB on Saturday if you are interested in meeting up....

 

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Friday 1/22/10

Resort or Ski Area: Burke, VT

Conditions: PP, Thin Cover on Nats, Bluebird, 30

Trip Report:

Beautiful afternoon at Burke. Got out of class at 1:10 to a brilliant sky and warm temps and headed over. Parked right in front of midBurke and headed off.

First run was top-to-bottom down East Bowl. I love the main part of the run and would ski it a ton more, but damn is that runout a PITA... almost as bad as FIS at Sugarbush. Was groomed overnight... coverage is pretty good and theres a lot of drops and stuff to jump.

Next up was Shoot over to Birches. Took a big core shot in Birches... really nasty but should be able to fix it with some P-tex tonight and they'll be ready to go for tomorrow. Other than that nice stump, it was pretty good... coverage is thin so rock skis are still recommended but not too bad.

Spent most of the rest of the afternoon just exploring some woods between trails and checking things out. found some nice lines here and here with better snow than the on-map stuff. Also took a run through Cave Man, Sasquatch, and Jungle which were all pretty thin after skiing off map for a little while. Finished up on Ledges to eventually Warren's and skied right back to the car.

Heading to Sugarbush tomorrow and Burke Sunday... I'll play next week by ear depending on how bad the rain situation is on Monday.

Trailboss... I'll be at Ellen around 9 or so... probably gonna stay there for the morning and then Slide Brook my way over to North Lynx and Castlerock for a few runs in the afternoon.

 

[Edd]

Zand, what would you estimate the crowds to be tomorrow (Saturday) at Burke? I'm considering heading up.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Zand, what would you estimate the crowds to be tomorrow (Saturday) at Burke? I'm considering heading up.

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: That's a funny question.

 

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Saturday 1/23/10

Conditions: Same as yesterday

Trip Report:

Way overslept to go to the Bush today (woke up at 11:30 lol) so that's on hold till tomorrow. Went to Burke instead and skied 1-4:30. Hit pretty much the same stuff as yesterday... natural stuff is a little more beat up as the place was packed today (aka a 2-3 minute wait for the quad) but overall stuff good. Nice of them to stay open till 4:30... it was practically dark when I took my last run.

Off to the Bush in about 6 hours... gonna rip it up because after Monday it looks like its back to the groomers for a little while.

 

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Wednesday 1/27/10

Conditions: About what you'd expect after an inch of rain and 55 degree day... about 30 and partly cloudy

Trip Report:

Got up there around 2:15. Parked right in front of Mid-Burke lodge with about 4 other cars there. Pretty much just the main groomers open right now. Hit Willoughby, Dippers, and Deer Run. They had a groomed ice base with an inch from today's snowshowers on top. It wasn't too bad actually... a little slick once in a while but the new inch helped make them decent. Last run of the day I finished up on Open Slope just to see how bad the ungroomed was... and it was bad. Natural trails still have cover... just frozen solid. One good storm should get them back in business. And damn does that place need an HSQ to the top. Not really noticeable when skiing glades all day, but a 14 minute ride gets old when it's just groomers.

Probably gonna stay off the hill till after the deep freeze coming Friday and Saturday. Not worth going up in -20 windchills to ski groomers. Supposed to warm back up Sunday so hopefully then I'll get a day in.

 

[Zand]

Went up for about an hour today. They've gotten 2-3" over the past couple days, but still need a lot more to cover the frozen corals that are the natural trails. They opened Sasquatch recently so I tired it just to see how things were and it wasn't pretty. The new snow makes it possible to be skied, but it still sucks and any amount of traffic will ski off the little snow that's on it. Powderhorn was groomed recently and was icy underneath the new snow.

Otherwise, Willoughby was good with the new snow and I also took a couple runs through the park which has some new (and some of them interesting) features. No snow (other than these periodical 1" squalls) in sight which sucks because they need it.

Back in MA this weekend, so perhaps a Wachusett report. If not, I'll be back at Burke next Monday still dealing with this groomers only situation. I think MA has had more snow than we have so far this year .

 

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Wednesday 2/10/10

Conditions: PP, crud, 30s, partly sunny

Trip Report:

These little 2-3" squalls are finally starting to add up after almost 3 weeks of waiting. Some stuff is starting to reopen with surprisingly good conditions including Fox's Folly, Sasquatch, Y-Knot, and some off map woods are skiable now too. Groomers were in great shape with the natural on top. Decent crowd for a Wednesday... some 4-5 chair waits lol. All we need is one decent dump... even 6" would do to get the place rocking again. Unfortunately, the forecast is dry as ever.

 

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Friday 2/12/10

Conditions: PP, crud, upper 20s, mostly sunny

Trip Report:

Another fun afternoon at Burke... a little cooler today but the sun was bright and the conditions were nice. Pretty much the same as Wednesday as there's been no change in the weather since then. Hit the same stuff... Fox's Folly, Sasquatch, Powderhorn, and some unmarked woods were still nice. Found some boot deep untracked on the Gap and Little Dipper.

I'll be back out in the morning till the crowds come in.

 

[Zand]

Went up for a few runs yesterday. No new snow this week despite the 6-9" forecast on Sunday that was supposed to come Tuesday (ended up being a bluebird day). they're really starting to hurt now that the Presidents crowd beat it up. Some of the groomers are even getting thin in spots. Fox's is much more exposed now. The less-traveled stuff (aka off map) is still good. Average snowfall at Burke is 250"... so far they've had 76". As much as I'd love to see a miracle 180" in the next month and a half, this winter looks like a dud for the most part. No accumulations over 3" here since January 3rd. The ground here at LSC is over half-bare as well. Right now it's a humid 38 degrees.

On break next week so Wachusett trips are back in order for a bit (including 24 hour night next Friday) as well as a trip to much-snowier southern VT. If a random squall hits tonight and gives us some powder I'll get up to Burke once more tomorrow but otherwise I'll be back there around the 1st of March. Can't believe this year's almost over already.

 

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Friday 2/19/10

Conditions: SNOW! 3" or so (after the last month and a half even that feels like a lot)... 20s

Trip Report:

Woke up this morning to fresh snow on the ground and zipped off to the mountain. Never been this excited over 3" of snow, but its the biggest accumulation since January 3rd. Anyways, skied lots of woods including Sasquatch, Cave Man, and off map stuff. Still lots of stuff to hit underneath, but so nice to have freshies. Also enjoyed Fox's like usual as well as some deeper drifts on Willoughby. Had to get out at 11 to go to class and now I'm back in MA.

Anyways, definitely the best day at Burke for me since the first few back in mid January. For this week, I'll be at Wachusett Tuesday and Friday. Playing Wednesday by ear with the storm coming up, but I'll likely be headed for southern VT (really want to get to Killington, but whoever looks to be in the jackpot will be the one).

 

[Zand]

3/1/10: POWDER!

Finally, after months of waiting for it, my first good powder day of the season. Didn't come without difficulties though... I forgot my hat and goggles at Wachusett last week so I was using an old hat that barely still fits me and no goggles which sucked in the wind. Anyways, 10" in the past 3 days... some drifts were over knee deep, some spots windblown but nothing bad. Hit all the woods plus Fox's and Doug's. Fun time out there. I'll be back out for first tracks tomorrow.

 

[Zand]

3/3/10...

Went up for a few runs today... temps have been above freezing the last couple days making for slightly less of a base with manky snow where its ungroomed, frozen granular where its skier packed, and absolute butter on the groomers. Fox's is getting thin already as are most of the glades. Colder temps are coming in for the end of the week and the weekend so they should be fine for another week at least. The groomers were awesome today... great butter everywhere, a cruising delight. I skied awful today and called it a day early when I bounced off a tree in the Jungle. I'm ok... bruise on my arm but nothing bad.

 

[Zand]

3/9/10

Beautiful morning out there. Brilliant sunshine and temps in the 30s. Cruised for the first hour with runs on Dippers, Willoughby, and some of the lower mountain stuff as thing were still waiting to be softened. Beautiful cruising... untouched corduroy for that first hour. After that I hit Fox's a couple times which was nice and soft... some bare spots starting to form but it'll be beautiful until the deluge this weekend. Jungle was nice at the top, but got extremely firm down low (seems a little backwards). A firm Sasquatch was next down to a beautiful Dixiland... wonderful soft snow on the east facing slopes. Nice cover on it too.

Back inside for class the rest of today, but will be out about noon-closing tomorrow. Forecast is for upper 40s and sun... can't wait. This weekend is looking shitty, but if the rain stays away I'll be at Sugarbush and/or Stowe.

 

[Zand]

3/10

Another beautiful afternoon... mid 40s and not a cloud in the sky. Nice soft snow everywhere. Hit Dougs and Fox's to start. Dougs was bumped up on the steep and otherwise was variable. Fox's is getting thin but still really good. Also hit just about every glade on the mountain (I think Cave Man is the only one I skipped)... still in pretty good shape. Obviously rock ski conditions but otherwise still fun to ski. Groomers were soft.

My morning class for tomorrow got cancelled so I'll be up there about 9-11:30. This weekend isn't looking so bad now so it's looking like Burke Friday (either morning or afternoon... idk yet), Sugarbush Saturday and Stowe Sunday.

 

[polski]

I appreciate these reports. Woods were soft too? If so, was that a late-day thing or did they never firm up much overnight? Trying to make a destination decision for Saturday ...

 

[Zand]

3/12

Lost a lot of snow over the past couple days. Temps were in the 40s today with mostly cloudy skies and quite humid. Softest snow of the week... almost too soft to move in some places. Lots of race training in anticipation for this weekend's NorAm event as well.

The heavily traveled natural stuff like Dixiland, Jungle, and Fox's are all getting very thin with tons of bare spots and rocks. Doubtful they'll survive the weekend if any rain falls. Dougs had some great bumps on the top pitch. Off-map woods still have good cover due to less wear; they should be alright through next week.

Heading to Sugarbush tomorrow and Stowe Sunday. Back to Burke Monday... hopefully it's not as brown as I'm thinking it will be.

 

[Zand]

3/15... mid 50s, mostly cloudy (yet it's snowing at home... figures...)

All the Glades that aren't in the East Bowl are closed (the East Bowl ones probably are too... just never ventured over there). The natural trails had snow that seems to have rotten underneath as any turn would get you swallowed up like you were trying to turn on water or something. It's too bad because Doug's has some great bumps, but I felt like I was going to lose a leg in that stuff. Fox's has just about had it. The off-map woods are still fine, just full of that same "quicksand snow" as the natural trails.

Bear Den was a nice run. Some good bumps and a good base to hold you up so you could actually make the turns. The bumps on skiers left of Willoughby are widely spaced but pretty soft. Hopefully now that the natural trails are closing up people will ski those two in better. The groomers above the 500 vertical foot line were awful. They groomed way too early and they stayed frozen all day. Anything that wasn't groomed was nice and soft.

Back up Wednesday and Friday, Sugarbush Saturday (looks like a long-awaited good day there for once). Forecast all week is warm and partly cloudy (pushing 60 tomorrow and over the weekend).