# Burke 2/20/2012



## from_the_NEK (Feb 21, 2012)

Met up with Wa-Loaf for some runs yesterday. Beautiful Day.







Fairly sparse "crowd". I think we waited for the lift for three minutes once or twice. After 11:30 the lift was ski on.






There was still some fresh snow in the trees if you knew where to look. According to Wa-Loaf, it was considerably better the two previous days.

I gave Wa-Loaf a mountain wide tour. There is still a lot of stuff out there that we didn't get to in in the 3 hours we skied together.

Wa-Loaf picking a line through the trees:





Finding a little pow:





Come here you big cuddley tree:





Near the top of the Wet Slot:





Somewhere in the woods of East Bowl ;-)





Wa-Loaf was tearing it up considering he had a sore foot. Hopefully he can get his boot fixed to reduce the pressure.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 21, 2012)

Very nice.  Glad that Wa-loaf made it to Burke!


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## Cornhead (Feb 21, 2012)

Sweet, looks like a gorgeous day, I love Burke. Nice to see there are some woods to be skied this year. Has the place lost any charm with the new lift? I made my first visit there last April, day after April Fools Day, eighteen inches, it was insane, for April. Thanks for the TR.


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## Cheese (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks for the virtual tour!

It looks like they were gifted with the same 2-5" that I found at Bretton Woods on Saturday.  Crust layer was still right below that though.  Is Burke skiing the same or did they miss a rain storm?


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## reefer (Feb 21, 2012)

Very nice!


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 21, 2012)

Cheese said:


> Thanks for the virtual tour!
> 
> It looks like they were gifted with the same 2-5" that I found at Bretton Woods on Saturday.  Crust layer was still right below that though.  Is Burke skiing the same or did they miss a rain storm?



The "Same" as what? Bretton Woods? Didn't really find much crust under the 3 inches that fell Friday.


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## Cheese (Feb 21, 2012)

from_the_NEK said:


> The "Same" as what? Bretton Woods? Didn't really find much crust under the 3 inches that fell Friday.



Yes, crust or a bullet proof base.  Resorts further south received melt/refreeze and multiple rain events in January which did a real number on the fresh snow that fell earlier.  Since then the 1-2" dustings haven't been able to stick so it skis like dust on crust.  Based on your findings, I'd say it's a non-issue from Burke north.


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 21, 2012)

Cheese said:


> Yes, crust or a bullet proof base.  Resorts further south received melt/refreeze and multiple rain events in January which did a real number on the fresh snow that fell earlier.  Since then the 1-2" dustings haven't been able to stick so it skis like dust on crust.  Based on your findings, I'd say it's a non-issue from Burke north.



Well that hard base layer is what we were skiing on most of the day since two days of holiday weekend traffic had skied off the "major" lines in the glades. Burke did get those rain storms but it stayed below 35 degrees while the rain fell.


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## gmcunni (Feb 21, 2012)

i never thought much about Burke since i typically day trip but i see it is pretty close to 91. might have to give it a try some time soon.


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## riverc0il (Feb 21, 2012)

gmcunni said:


> i never thought much about Burke since i typically day trip but i see it is pretty close to 91. might have to give it a try some time soon.


If you are coming up I-91, it is basically the same distance or closer than anything from Sugarbush north.


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## gmcunni (Feb 21, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> If you are coming up I-91, it is basically the same distance or closer than anything from Sugarbush north.



that's what i loosely figured. i call Bush/MRG the edge of my day trip range, reserved for special days. ~4 hours door to door with no stopping/traffic/cops.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 21, 2012)

I used to live in Medford, MA and could get from there to Burke in about 3 hours.  For Hartford, once you get north of Springfield it is pretty easy.  IIRC the time is pretty close there to 3 hours.


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## BackLoafRiver (Feb 21, 2012)

Looks gorgeous!  Had similar conditions at Bolton.  The woods look far superior in the NEK.


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## wa-loaf (Feb 21, 2012)

Just got home. Only thing I won't miss are the beds in the damn condo. I'll post a little more later. Gotta get the kids fed and in bed.


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## wa-loaf (Feb 21, 2012)

From_the_NEK covered the good stuff. I did a little exploring on Saturday and Sunday in the on map glades. Conditions were very good considering the present circumstances. The rest of the trip was spent skiing with the kids both of which made great progress. Nothing like 4 days in a row of skiing to make some advances!

Some tracks I followed into the woods off of East Bowl:





Dixieland 





The kids





Canadians





Some of NEKs secret stash





More Dixieland





Throbulator





And finally my 5 year old skiing the Enchanted Forest:


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## BenedictGomez (Feb 21, 2012)

Heading up to Burke for my first time next month, those pictures sure make the dixieland woods seem pretty awesome.


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## Cheese (Feb 22, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> The rest of the trip was spent skiing with the kids both of which made great progress. Nothing like 4 days in a row of skiing to make some advances!



Great pictures and good for you for keeping smiles on your kids faces.

I instructed for an all day kids camp Christmas week and February week for over 10 years.  It's very true what you said about multiple days of skiing in a row.  Parents  were always amazed at the improvements children made over 3-7 days.


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## xwhaler (Feb 22, 2012)

Nice, looks like a great gem. Will be at Burke the 2nd wknd of March for our 1st ever trip there.
Really looking forward to exploring.


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 22, 2012)

I like the pic of the kids and the video of your son. He was ripping through those trees and started looking for the tighter lines as he went!


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## riverc0il (Feb 22, 2012)

Sounds like a lot of folks are trying Burke out for their first time this season, nice!

NEK... have you seen a substantial increase in first timers and do you think it is due to the Quad? And this is a bad snow year to boot...


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## thetrailboss (Feb 22, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> Sounds like a lot of folks are trying Burke out for their first time this season, nice!
> 
> NEK... have you seen a substantial increase in first timers and do you think it is due to the Quad? And this is a bad snow year to boot...



That is my question as well.


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## Masskier (Feb 22, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> Sounds like a lot of folks are trying Burke out for their first time this season, nice!
> 
> NEK... have you seen a substantial increase in first timers and do you think it is due to the Quad? And this is a bad snow year to boot...



I have noticed the same.

  I am always asking people where are they from and how often they ski Burke.  There is definitely a higher percentage of fist timers. And most of them didn't know that the quad was new.  I think 2 things.   1. Burke did a bill board ad campaign during Jan.  And 2.,  Some people are going further north than they usually do, to find better snow.


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## wa-loaf (Feb 22, 2012)

Burke probably wouldn't have been on the map for me if it wasn't for AlpineZone. I don't think I've ever seen or heard any advertising for them.


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 22, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> Sounds like a lot of folks are trying Burke out for their first time this season, nice!
> 
> NEK... have you seen a substantial increase in first timers and do you think it is due to the Quad? And this is a bad snow year to boot...



I'm not really sure, I've only been out three times this year 
One thing is for sure, I haven't heard any slow lift complaints  so if there are a lot of new people, I'm thinking the retention rate will be higher with the new lift.


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## legalskier (Feb 22, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> And finally my 5 year old skiing the Enchanted Forest:



I noticed he headed straight for those big moguls. Chip off the ol' block.
:beer:


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## rudderow (Feb 22, 2012)

Burke is under rated, I have been going there since the mid 80's, 7 days this season so far. They have  easy access from interstate,never a crowd. Sunday between 10:30am and 1:30pm were the longest line I have ever seen at Burke, but it was no more than 5 minutes (mid burke express), monday was very quiet for a holiday, didn't ski saturday (kids party) but I understand the crowd saturday was similar to sunday. 

I also think the rentention rate will be higher due to the new lift.


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## xlr8r (Feb 22, 2012)

I am also a first timer to Burke this year (see trip report).  The new quad definitely influenced me to get up there this year, but also the bad weather.  Typically I would be doing  a few day trips to sunapee ragged, and gunstock.  But this year I feel the need to get further up north into overnight trip range to make my VT and NH skiing worthwhile over Wachusett.  In fact depending on how this storm turns up Friday, I might repeat my previous trip and hit cannon on Saturday and Burke on Sunday this weekend.


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## The Sneak (Feb 22, 2012)

We are hoping to hit Burke on Saturday. Fingers crossed for fri-sat snow and no wind holds!


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## WJenness (Feb 23, 2012)

The Sneak said:


> We are hoping to hit Burke on Saturday. Fingers crossed for fri-sat snow and no wind holds!



Don't want to jinx you, but in my experience Burke is good when the wind is blowing... *knock on wood*

I had a day last year where I blew past a few of the ski-93 areas due to wind holds, and the trusty old quad was turning and ski-on all day.

-w


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## thetrailboss (Feb 23, 2012)

WJenness said:


> Don't want to jinx you, but in my experience Burke is good when the wind is blowing... *knock on wood*
> 
> I had a day last year where I blew past a few of the ski-93 areas due to wind holds, and the trusty old quad was turning and ski-on all day.
> 
> -w



+ 1.  In my lifetime living there and skiing there, going back to 1990, I can only recall one day when the quad was on wind hold.  The Poma is a great insurance policy.


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## MommaBear (Feb 23, 2012)

wa-loaf said:


> Burke probably wouldn't have been on the map for me if it wasn't for AlpineZone. I don't think I've ever seen or heard any advertising for them.



This, for us.  Never heard of it until reading about it on here.  And then we discovered one of our friends and his family skis there and loves it, so we decided to try it this year. Hope to be there in a couple of weeks.  New lift had no bearing, but good to know!


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 24, 2012)

The Sneak said:


> We are hoping to hit Burke on Saturday. Fingers crossed for fri-sat snow and no wind holds!



I'll be there


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## Masskier (Feb 24, 2012)

Burke has 3 " of new snow on top from last night and its just starting to snow now.


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 24, 2012)

If anyone else is at Burke this weekend, and you stumble across this guy...








Throw a snowball at him 

{Pic stolen from wa-loaf and his trips and events thread}


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## WJenness (Feb 24, 2012)

from_the_NEK said:


> If anyone else is at Burke this weekend, and you stumble across this guy...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Just be prepared to miss... that dude skis pretty darn fast.

-w


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## The Sneak (Feb 24, 2012)

I will be skiing with 2 snowboarders tmrw. Blue shell, grey pants, beat up prophet 90s. See you on the hill!


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## soulseller (Feb 24, 2012)

The Sneak said:


> I will be skiing with 2 snowboarders tmrw. Blue shell, grey pants, beat up prophet 90s. See you on the hill!



I'll be there with the sneak. NEK, I first discovered Burke a few years ago thanks to some pictures you posted on NASIOC. This will be my first time there with the new quad, can't wait!


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## ScottySkis (Feb 24, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> If you are coming up I-91, it is basically the same distance or closer than anything from Sugarbush north.



Very easy drive to Burke, unfortunately the only day I was their was a rain out so I didn't get to enjoy Burke at it's best.


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## abc (Feb 24, 2012)

MommaBear said:


> This, for us.  Never heard of it until reading about it on here.


Same here too!

I actually heard of it but just never paid much attention until I heard good things about it on AZ. 

I've only been there once. Access is relatively easy. I should know since I went there mtn biking in the summer a few times. Though if the weather is bad, driving that stretch north of White River Junction late at night can feel pretty lonely. 

It's basically the same route to Jay, only shorter, and less crowded. That said, they don't quite get the "Jay cloud" which I was fortunate to experienced. That same weekend (last season) I did Jay one day and Burke the next. Jay had better snow but more crowded, Burke had no crowd whatsoever. So if snow is somewhat assured, I'd choose Burke for the quietness.


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## billski (Feb 25, 2012)

I'll be at Burke Feb 26-27 (tomorrow and Monday).  See Trip and Events.


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## Slow (Feb 27, 2012)

Cannot tell you why everyone else is showing up at Burke.  But I can tell you I (and my wife and 2 kids) were all there for the first time on Sunday (schedule meant we drove up Saturday afternoon) and we will be back.

I grew up in New England and knew Burke was there but never made it up.  My brother (a Stowe devotee) went a year ago with a friend (who had grown up there).  When we were talking about finding a "go to" mountain for my family he said Burke had great skiing and a good family vibe.

HE WAS DEAD SPOT ON!!

Report:

Dropped the 3.5 year old in monring ski school and went out with my wife (day 5 over 2 years after 15+ years off) and my 6.5 year old (his 3rd season, 7th day this season, another 7-10 last season).  We skied groomers together until noon.

7 minutes after we sit down for lunch and 15 seconds after my 6.5 year old finishes his hotdog he is gearing up to get back out and yelling at me to hurry up!!  He already knew what he wanted to ski when we got back out (he had begged to ski Lift Line into ReRun all morning and my wife had told him not while she was there). I wasn't too keen on running him under the lift so I took him over to Throbulator instead. Second run after lunch he did talk me into his line.

Make no mistake..he (we) still have plenty of work to do but, he was all smiles all the way down and never had  a problem.  He parallel turns on everything but will still throw a wedge for control when he thinks he needs it.  [Not sure the temperment on this board (registere 5 minute ago) but, before anyone comments on trail selection with a young (intermediate) skier: two ski patrollers caught up with us at the end of Throbulator and they gave him props on style and attitude.]

Came down at the end of the day to find out my wife had driven around to the two real estate agents in town to try to learn about seasonal rentals for 2012/13.  So, while passes and food are really reasonable...I think this might have been a very expensive trip for me.


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## Masskier (Feb 27, 2012)

Slow said:


> Cannot tell you why everyone else is showing up at Burke.  But I can tell you I (and my wife and 2 kids) were all there for the first time on Sunday (schedule meant we drove up Saturday afternoon) and we will be back.
> 
> I grew up in New England and knew Burke was there but never made it up.  My brother (a Stowe devotee) went a year ago with a friend (who had grown up there).  When we were talking about finding a "go to" mountain for my family he said Burke had great skiing and a good family vibe.
> 
> ...




Welcome to Burke.

  If you want a seasonal rental for next year, you are smart to look now.  There are not that many available and we are already getting request.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 27, 2012)

Great to hear you liked it!


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