Category: February

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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2009-2010 Season, February, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Powder & Crowds at Magic

The last week of February brought record snow fall to the Catskills of New York while leaving most of New England with moderate snow at best and rain at worst. After consulting the radar and weather reports, Magic seemed like the safest bet with the best combination of snow, lack of rain, and good terrain. I was not alone in coming to this conclusion as Magic Mountain saw record crowds and long lift lines.

I awoke extremely early to ensure I made first chair at 8:00 A.M. New snow was variable throughout the mountain. The base area picked up about two inches of very heavy wet snow. The upper mountain was densely powdery with about 4-6″ on the trails and 6-8″ in the woods. Most of the mountain skied great but the lower mountain got more and more manky as the day progressed. Groomer run outs on the lower mountain were the best option skiing back to the Red Chair.

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2009-2010 Season, February, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Magic = Epic

More face shots today in one run than all others in my life combined. Multiple trips to the white room. Well over two feet deep at the base and almost three feet deep most places on the mountain with deeper drifts. Snow was rather heavy but the snow never turned over despite the warm temperatures.

Steep runs were required for completely untracked turns. Any pitch less than about twenty to twenty-five degrees resulted in tip dive, snow above the thighs, and a complete stop. Slightly tracked runs were amazing. No competition with untracked freshies every run, all day, open to close. We hit every wood shot including two mandatories, Red Line, Black Magic, and two times down a pillowy and sensational Magician (a.k.a. Master Magician). Suffice to say, today owned. Best day of the season and I think a top ten lifetime day.

2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, February, Powder Day

Five Runs in Five Hours at Cannon

While the trailing weekend of the President’s Day Holiday period is much less busy than the opening weekend, one can still expect holiday crowds. And one can also expect not to find discounts. And one can expect to have prepaid vouchers blacked out making. Thus making the decision making process two days after a micro-storm rather difficult. After much consideration, I picked Cannon over Balsams (amongst other options), despite Balsams being a mountain on my “to do list” for this season. My decision was sound leading to spectacular results.

After grabbing my ticket, I took the first tram and began what would be the first of five hourly runs. I opted for one of my favorite stashes that reliably has “day after the powder day” freshies. My expectations were mixed. Yet I found extensive amounts of untracked lines through six inches of fresh. “Where were the powder hounds yesterday?” I wondered aloud before tearing up what they had missed out on.

Next I decided that Kinsman Glade could use an inspection. It was listed as open on the trail report but was roped when I arrived. I used the trail report as my guide instead of the rope. The upper section of Kinsman Glade skied fabulously well with plenty of untracked lines to pick from. The middle section was sketchy to say the least! By the lower middle section, I was making cautious and deliberate survival turns carefully placed and occasionally well executed. Whereas when I entered the glade I had been thinking this was a sure repeat, by the time I was nearing the end, it couldn’t be done with soon enough. Rare is the day that I can report that a rope was up for good reason.

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2009-2010 Season, February, Sugarbush

Exploring Mount Ellen

Having only ever skied Mount Ellen during the late spring, my knowledge and experience of the mountain has been limited to the Summit Quad. This was a sad omission in my skiing experience which was in need of remedy. With untracked snow from last week’s storm long gone at resorts across northern Vermont and with SkiVT Cards to burn, I pointed my car towards Sugarbush in pursuit of those wonderfully short lived feelings of novelty inspired by the wonder and bewilderment of new discoveries.

Sugarbush reported in with all trails open. But the reality is that most trails are really not worth skiing. My agenda this morning was to work the Northridge trails in quick secession before exploring the woods. But indications on my first few runs were that the woods should not wait one more run longer.

Groomers were fast hard pack with occasional scraped and frozen groomer tracks. Bumps featured either frozen or grass troughs, variable back sides, and often quite firm and unforgiving lines. Every time I started skiing a bump trail such as Exterminator, Bravo, Hammerhead, Cliffs, Encore, or Tumbler, I found myself pointing the skis into the woods in short order.

The trees skied wonderfully. Even the well traveled on map trails that were hammered had better packed snow than the exposed bump runs. But the best snow was in the trees off the map. Despite this being my first time tree skiing at Mount Ellen, my tree skiing radar is finely tuned and I found great trees on every run simply by keeping my eyes glued to the sides of the trails for those tell tale signs that rarely can be masked.

Amazingly, I found six inches of completely untracked fresh in several locations. Even more amazingly, those locations were sometimes very obvious shots in plain sight. Generally though, tighter lines in the soft woods were challenging and very thinly covered, and already hit hard enough to take out of commission until the next storm. Mid-mountain hard woods was where it was at. Lower Mountain trees were variable and often very thin. Skiable but with a snow pack that is not entirely safe.

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