riverc0il
New member
I like my crow served cold. Preferably served over a foot of powder. That said, I made the wrong decision going to Burke today. We will have to wait until reports roll in and compare them to my report from Burke. The decision to ski Burke was purely based on drive time coming home and being safe on the roads.
I believed the hype that weather forecasters drumming up. Somewhere I heard rates could reach 2-3" per hour and what not. Sounded like this puppy was going to cook throughout the entire day with a sloppy mess of mix right as the ski areas were closing. After a horrendous 3.5 hour drive home from Jay a few weeks back, I decided slightly less powder and not as many tree options was worth less time on the road. Turns out my morning drive to Burke was far worse than my drive home on somewhat cleared off and occasionally bare pavement. Though entering the notch south bound I experienced the worst winds I have ever drove through knocking my car several feet sideways on a few blasts. :shock:
Things were slow to get started as the snow machine was just starting to crank when I arrived. My muscles were wicked sore from yesterday's open to close powder burn. The wind was howling pretty bad and it was damn cold. All this occurring as I sat on the lift after bucking up $25 and I am thinking "I should have gone to Jay." First run down the Dippers, the snow had been picked clean off or had yet to settle. Next run I dropped into a glade that had been bumped up. I care not for bumps in glades when I am looking to charge a foot of fresh. I went back to the lodge to warm up (forgot to take my liners out and dry them the night before, so I had damp cold feet) and lick my wounds. Today was not going to be my day.
Things started getting better after an hour break. I readjusted and downgraded my expectations just as the powder machine was really kicking in. This was a think, dense, wind loaded powder. Hard to tell how much snow there is because you couldn't really sink into it but rather surfed it on top unless you cut a hard turn or sunk into a drift. I hit everything from blown off groomer tracks to a jaw dropping thigh deep face shot filled chute. It was a variable day. 8)
Snow stopped shortly after noon time much to my dismay as I had been pacing myself for the best skiing later in the afternoon which was not the case. Just after noon time, I was killing boot to knee deep on the trails. Did not ski many glades today as it was just so much fun ripping up open trails and taking untracked on trails visible from the lift after noon time. Edges held powder all the way until the closing bell for sure in some areas.
Willoughby was just butter. Not so much refreshed by more snow, by in the afternoon, the wind kept filling in the tracks. Birches skied wonderfully for my pick on the trees. Too bad I took the two quarter sized core shot the ripped off the base material from my skis :roll: That goes along with the other digger I took today and two recent one's from Jay Peak. The shop guys got a real kick out of that piece of work. "WOW!" was the exact words their top tech said as he inspected the damage to give me their highest price quote for a repair job. "Where were you skiing today?" I don't think folks that normally ski Waterville Valley get out much (dropped them off at Ski Fantastics since they are the closest shop and it is an over night job). Any ways, take it slow and be careful in Birches and The Jungle. This is very rare for me to say, but I think Burke opened those trails prematurely due to rocks not yet covered with sufficient base (but despite the two quarter sized core shot, I am still glad they did!).
So, not quite refills during the afternoon, but still quite good. About a foot total though drifts were simply ridiculous. And chutes and glades that filled in offered some incredibly sick lines. No wind hold today, not sure what Jay had for wind, but Burke is always a good bet on windy days. I generally switched runs off the Poma and Chairlift one each. The place was completely empty even for Burke standards on a good weekend. I am pooped. Increasing stamina is a top priority, I can not afford slow starts due to muscle fatigue.
I believed the hype that weather forecasters drumming up. Somewhere I heard rates could reach 2-3" per hour and what not. Sounded like this puppy was going to cook throughout the entire day with a sloppy mess of mix right as the ski areas were closing. After a horrendous 3.5 hour drive home from Jay a few weeks back, I decided slightly less powder and not as many tree options was worth less time on the road. Turns out my morning drive to Burke was far worse than my drive home on somewhat cleared off and occasionally bare pavement. Though entering the notch south bound I experienced the worst winds I have ever drove through knocking my car several feet sideways on a few blasts. :shock:
Things were slow to get started as the snow machine was just starting to crank when I arrived. My muscles were wicked sore from yesterday's open to close powder burn. The wind was howling pretty bad and it was damn cold. All this occurring as I sat on the lift after bucking up $25 and I am thinking "I should have gone to Jay." First run down the Dippers, the snow had been picked clean off or had yet to settle. Next run I dropped into a glade that had been bumped up. I care not for bumps in glades when I am looking to charge a foot of fresh. I went back to the lodge to warm up (forgot to take my liners out and dry them the night before, so I had damp cold feet) and lick my wounds. Today was not going to be my day.
Things started getting better after an hour break. I readjusted and downgraded my expectations just as the powder machine was really kicking in. This was a think, dense, wind loaded powder. Hard to tell how much snow there is because you couldn't really sink into it but rather surfed it on top unless you cut a hard turn or sunk into a drift. I hit everything from blown off groomer tracks to a jaw dropping thigh deep face shot filled chute. It was a variable day. 8)
Snow stopped shortly after noon time much to my dismay as I had been pacing myself for the best skiing later in the afternoon which was not the case. Just after noon time, I was killing boot to knee deep on the trails. Did not ski many glades today as it was just so much fun ripping up open trails and taking untracked on trails visible from the lift after noon time. Edges held powder all the way until the closing bell for sure in some areas.
Willoughby was just butter. Not so much refreshed by more snow, by in the afternoon, the wind kept filling in the tracks. Birches skied wonderfully for my pick on the trees. Too bad I took the two quarter sized core shot the ripped off the base material from my skis :roll: That goes along with the other digger I took today and two recent one's from Jay Peak. The shop guys got a real kick out of that piece of work. "WOW!" was the exact words their top tech said as he inspected the damage to give me their highest price quote for a repair job. "Where were you skiing today?" I don't think folks that normally ski Waterville Valley get out much (dropped them off at Ski Fantastics since they are the closest shop and it is an over night job). Any ways, take it slow and be careful in Birches and The Jungle. This is very rare for me to say, but I think Burke opened those trails prematurely due to rocks not yet covered with sufficient base (but despite the two quarter sized core shot, I am still glad they did!).
So, not quite refills during the afternoon, but still quite good. About a foot total though drifts were simply ridiculous. And chutes and glades that filled in offered some incredibly sick lines. No wind hold today, not sure what Jay had for wind, but Burke is always a good bet on windy days. I generally switched runs off the Poma and Chairlift one each. The place was completely empty even for Burke standards on a good weekend. I am pooped. Increasing stamina is a top priority, I can not afford slow starts due to muscle fatigue.
