Category: Vermont

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.

2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak

Brutal Cold and Fresh Snow at Jay

Saturday was the culmination of a week featuring frequent snow and brutally bitter cold. Jay received a few characteristic inches overnight but not enough to call it a powder day. Stateside only received about two inches and riding the Jet Triple was an exercise in self discipline. After a few runs on the Jet, I gave the Bonnie a try and found the ride fairly wind free (even coming over the ridge above Liftline). Dropping into Liftline from the top and dropping the cliff, I found a few more inches of tracked up fresh, perhaps up to four inches, on top of previously hammered in bumps. Despite the fresh and having found a wind free lift, my energy was non-existent and the cold had seriously gotten into my bones. So I decided to call it an early day just as the hordes began massing at the lift.

2008-2009 Season, January, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Magic Mountain Boot to Knee Deep Powder!

Lots of uncertainty about a storm and how much would fall in Vermont. Storm projections decidedly favored southern New England with storm totals rapidly diminishing to the north. With a rare drive to southern Vermont tipping the day trip meter at two and a half hours on dry pavement, I only wanted to make the drive if it was going to be worth the effort.

And it definitely was! Words can not describe but I will do my best. After a harrowing drive that lasted more than three hours and involved knuckles from a virtually unplowed I-91, I got to Magic at 8:45am and hooked up with Kingsley. Magic opens at 8am on the weekends which I totally dig but did not work in my favor today!

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2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Decent Three Days After the Storm Powder Day at Jay

Not bad, not bad at all. What a difference a week makes. Last week at Jay just sucked. That day last week will probably be my worst ski day of the season. But today… it was all good! Not good as in a two foot powder day (which was two days ago) but good as in “damn, three days after the storm and I am still finding some untracked” good.

Some tree shots still need more snow to cover up the sticks. But we are back to where we were before the Christmas melt down. Perhaps even a little better. On map glades were packed and tracked and bumped per expectations. Off map trees ranged from breakable wind slab foot plus deep (meh) to buckle/boot deep occasional untracked (lots of bush thwacking required). The cut up and tracked up powder in the woods skied very well and had some fluff factor.

Nothing to rave about… just another typical day at Jay that I have come to expect when there is no pow left to be had at most other areas. I brought my skins but was tired and sore and wanted to save some juice for tomorrow’s romp at Magic, so I opted to cut out at lunch time and save my legs for Sunday. No crowds to speak of. Last run I went out to the D and hoofed it back. It was surprisingly tracked out already but still some quality snow. Low angle BC is probably sensational right now.

2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak

Ugly Day at Jay

Ugh. UGH. UUUUUUUGH. UUUUUUUGLY.

This is a complete and total repeat of early January 2007. Thankfully, we have a much deeper base than early January 2007 so a recovery should happen fairly quickly after two big storms. It is going to take at least two feet to get conditions we experienced at Jay in mid-December.

A few inches (three on average, sometimes more sometimes less) covered up all the crap nastiness on the natural snow trails. Instead of helping non-groomed trails, the fresh snow made things worse because you couldn’t tell where the crap was located. I did two quick low angle glade options and decided to stick to the groomers for the rest of the day.

Not that things were much better on the groomers. Frozen groomer tracks and real legitimate ice all over the map. Tramside skied significantly better than Stateside, though Goat had some pretty nasty looking sections.

I met up with some friends and we banged out three down Ullr’s Dream before I left at 11:30am. Ullr’s had the best conditions of the day. If I hadn’t met up with some friends, I would have been out of there an hour and a half sooner after only three runs. Definitely worst conditions of the season so far.