Category: Vermont

2005-2006 Season, Burke, March

Burke, VT

East Bowl at Burke

I arrived at Burke with a 50% off Big Burke Day coupon in hand at 8:30 A.M. to boot up. As per my dining experience at the Tamarack Grill during my recovery period, two enthusiastic employees greeted me as I ascended the new stairs to the recently renovated Sherburne Base Lodge. Those employees were en route to the drop off area to help lug equipment for families, kids, and parents with way too much gear and too few hands. Nice touch.

Entering the lodge, I was amazed at the amount of employees working hard to ensure guest comfort and satisfaction. My initial impression with the Ginn Resort Burke Mountain is that no expense is to be spared in ensuring a first class experience of the highest quality for all skiers; with most especially the family with stressed out parents in mind. I still can’t believe the bag check is complimentary. I headed over to “The Igloo,” which is their brown bag area doubling as a kids play pen, booted up, left my bag in the corner, and headed over to the new quad.

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2005-2006 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day, Video

Powder Day and Broken Elbow at Jay Peak

Steve in Kitz Woods

Wow, what a day. A two-fer $49 coupon had me skiing for only $24 as yet another early season snow storm slammed into Northern Vermont. Jay Peak was reporting a foot and a half of fresh over the last few days with a 40″ total for the week. I quickly found out that most of the snow had been blown off the trails and deposited into the woods.

The Green Mountain Freezer was pretty darn cold! I took one run from T Freezer on the only open trail from the lift on crappy frozen granular which totally sucked. Over to The Jet I went, where the open runs were okay featuring lots of chewed up pow left over from the recent 6″. The glades were phenomenal though!!! Wow! Very hard to understand why the gladed trails were roped. A foot and a half of light pow and plenty of fresh lines! Timbuktu and Kitzw Wods were simply sensational. I met up two guys from the FTO Forums in Timbuktu and we paired up for the rest of the afternoon.

We headed up The Freezer after lunch and started wondering what Beaver Pond Glades were looking like on such a fine powder day. Only one way to find out I quipped! We hiked up above the Freezer so as not to duck any ropes and proceed to lay waste to untracked foot and a half boot deep freshies. Spectacular. We jumped into Beaver Pond and had an awesome time trying to find fresh lines in the exceptional powder.

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2005-2006 Season, December, Powder Day, Stowe

Powder Day at Stowe!

Hiking Cliff Trail

I could not have picked a better first day to ski Mount Mansfield! I have no room to complain since tickets were $15 with two canned goods, but the morning got off to a TERRIBLE start with a 20+ minute wait at the ticket counter. Stowe may have a new POS system that was not working too well. Only three out of four ticket windows were open and operating terribly slow. Cashiers were hand entering all the credit card info. Customers putting fifteen dollars on a credit card and not consolidating group purchases also substantially contributed to the backup. After the ticket line fiasco, I was more than ready for some turns in fresh snow!

The Forerunner Quad was running with an average wait time of about 5 minutes. Not too bad considering the gondola wasn’t running and they were busing folks in from Spruce Peak as the Mansfield lot was packed. Snow was falling in the morning and never stopped throughout the day but I would suspect total accumulations were low today. Maybe an extra inch or two. Low visibility and poor light throughout the day.

Screw warm up runs! Let’s see what all the hype is about regarding the fabled Front Four. I took three runs down Liftline and one down National to start my day and I Was not impressed with the trails themselves. Neither were excessively steep and both are rather wide. Unfortunately, Goat and Starr were roped and were the two trails I was most interested in giving a rip.

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2005-2006 Season, Burke, Earned Turns, November

Early Season Earned Turns at Burke

Willoughby Quad Under Construction

A legendary early season in New England continued on the week of Thanksgiving as two back to back storms slammed into the mountains. Waking up Wednesday morning to a mere dusting barely an inch deep at home in Saint Johnsbury, I knew better things awaited me at higher elevations. I opted for Burke as it was the closest drive and where I suspected had the most snow in the area. I was not disappointed with my decision. Upon reaching the mountain, I opened my car door and stepped out into half a foot of powder.

Burke was alive with action preparing for their opening just two weeks away. Pairs of men were working on various structures including a new stairway in the parking lot, the Mid-Burke Lodge, the Summit Quad, and the new High Speed Sherburne Quad. The new Sherburne Quad recently had its unload station installed, all of the towers flown in and mounted, and the haul rope hung. The newest High Speed Quad in Vermont is nearly ready to beckon a new age at Burke Mountain.

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2005-2006 Season, November, Sugarbush

Uploading Early Season at Sugarbush

Mount Ellen from Rim Run

After bailing on Sugarbush’s opening day on Saturday due to fatigue and just not feeling it, I rolled myself out of bed on Sunday hoping for the best but expecting the worst. My expectations were not to be disappointed.

Sugarbush opened up one run down from the summit of Glen Ellen. An upload on the Green Mountain Express dropped skiers off at the Summit Quad. A slow ride to the summit through a few snow guns landed way too many skiers and riders on way too little terrain. Rim Run to Elbow was the trail combination of the day. One fellow chair rider joking asked me “which trails have you been skiing today?”

Views were enjoyable with clear skis and minimal wind. Temperatures were above freezing at the base lodge but just below freezing near the summit which allowed for snow making on F.I.S. and Lower Rim Run.

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