Category: Burke

2010-2011 Season, Burke, February, Powder Day

Burke!

Tight Trees at Burke

Today defined the awesomeness that is Burke Mountain. Burke can easily be overlooked in the shadow of its more well known neighbors to the southeast and northwest. Despite knowing how great Burke skis, even I often overlook Burke and go searching else where for deeper pow. Its a major mistake to overlook Burke. It’s a special mountain and I owe it to myself to get back here more often.

Juxtaposed against yesterday at Cannon, today was a relaxing coast. Which isn’t to say my pulse was not elevated. But rather that the thrills at Burke require substantially less masochism. Due to extensive muscle fatigue and soreness, I went to Burke intending to keep the pulse down and the excitement level low. Paths into the trees are littered with such best intentions.

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2010-2011 Season, Burke, February

Back to Burke: Finally

Burke Base Area and Willoughby Gap

It has been far too long since my last day at Burke. Last season was truly atrocious for Burke, seasonal snowfall was well below normal. This season, Burke missed many of the early southern storms. But recent trends have favored Burke which is now 100% open for business both on piste and off.

My game was off from the get go. Perhaps it was the extreme cold. Or perhaps it was fatigue from working twelve hour days twelve days straight in nearly non-stop stressful conditions. A lack of conditioning due to not many days on snow this past month did not help either. Whatever the cause, my legs were not moving as they should have been.

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2008-2009 Season, Burke, March

Game On at Burke

After a month sidelined due to a stretched ligament, I returned to the season on a cold late March morning at Burke. The skiing was hardly worth the drive. But after more than four weeks of not skiing and missing some really good days, I had an itch to make some turns regardless of conditions.

And the conditions were truly unsatisfying. Snow was firm, scratchy, hard packed, and fast. Groomers were quickly scraped off due to limited number of routes available for decent. Burke was claiming about 90% of the mountain was “open” but conditions off the groomers left much to be desired. I opted to stick to the groomers.

My runs were limited to Willoughby, Bear Den, and Warren’s Way with a few various combinations. Willoughby skied the worst with several icy and scraped patches. A fine day for a fresh pair of edges. The damage to the newly widened Willoughby was horrific. A classic trail and one of New England’s finest cruising trails has been ruined. Alas, yet another wide boulevard.

2007-2008 Season, Burke, December, Powder Day

Boot Deep Untracked All Day at Burke

With a major snowstorm brewing overnight and concerns about road conditions and drive times, I made the decision to ski Burke today instead of Jay. I was mostly fearful of the dreaded change over to mixed precipitation scheduled for late afternoon when I would most likely be coming home. Having recently driven home in a snow storm from Jay that involved stressful white knuckle driving, I was content to avoid the possibility of a treacherous long drive home and wind holds by opting for Burke Mountain.

When I awoke, three inches of snow had already fallen at my home and it was puking. The drive to Burke would be more eventful and tougher driving than my drive home. Franconia Notch was particularly brutal especially being stuck behind two snow plows, who were doing a damn fine job by taking their time with things. The plows split at the Route 3 exit and I sped up to Burke as fast as conditions would allow with plenty of time for first chair.

Ultimately, Burke turned out to be the best choice, but not because of the weather conditions. The forecasted mixed precipitation never really occurred and a break in the storm coincided with the drive home. Burke was the better choice because Burke and Jay both received the same amount of snow fall at exactly one foot and Burke had very few skiers, low competition, untracked on the trails from open until close, and no wind holds. Whereas at Jay, some lifts were shut down at noon time which would have resulted in crowding at Stateside and untracked would have been a glades only experience only an hour or two after opening.

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2007-2008 Season, Burke, December, Powder Day, Video

Killer Powder Day at Burke

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Thankfully for powder hounds, Burke Mountain stuck to their scheduled first day of operation. Even though two feet of snow was added to Burke’s slopes this past week and skiers have been coming down with that rare illness known as powderitis, Burke held true to their first day. Massive powder reports from the more well known mountains and Burke’s perception as being off the beaten path and not a major mountain combined to make for an amazing powder day without much competition. Powder hounds killed it in Burke’s glades all day while most skiers were bumping elbows in long lines to fight over a few left over well hidden scraps at ski resorts along the spine of the Green Mountains.

Today was simply sensational. Boot deep untracked was found on every single run right through closing time with the first few runs featuring untracked snow almost top to bottom before the main trails and glades started getting chewed up. By noon time, the main routes and trails had a fairly choppy and bumpy packed snow but the glades and trees skied extremely well all day.

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