Powder Day? Two days after the storm? Pinch me!

After staying out late last night, I was feeling very tired at the 6 A.M. alarm. Ditched plans to ski either Jay or Mad River Glen (more likely MRG), I opted for a $15 half day at Burke Mountain which averaged about a buck fiddy per run. Sweet deal, especially considering the quality of the runs.

The competition at Jay Peak on a powder day is insane. You get so little chance at scoring top to bottom untracked despite the amazing quantity of terrain and tree shots at Jay. It is baffling how quickly the powder goes gets played out only one day after a storm. But two days after the storm? Even off the map shots are fully tracked out. Enter Burke Mountain two days after a storm at noon time…

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Worked late yesterday so I came in late to work this morning. Felt really good, kind of like I was sticking it back to the man for the man sticking it to me every so often. Jay Peak reciprocal mid-week pass was in effect for two runs before heading into work. Burke was empty, wow! Talk about a mountain that is under utilized mid-week, let alone on the weekends. Burke’s very friendly staff directed me to the correct desk for my ticket and I was advised (by a former Jay employee who I talked trees with) that Cave Man would be better than Throbulator (both recently opened). The employee informed me that he had been on the trail crew that maintained Cave Man over the Summer, pretty cool getting that type of information when both runs count!

Up the Sherburne Express and then up a rather cold Willoughby Quad to the summit. Two inches of dust on top of the groomed made the first couple turns on Big Dipper feel amazing. But I bared right onto Wilderness that had natural snow and really nice small and soft moguls with 2-4″ of light fluff on top of a packed base. I built up a lot of speed since the moguls were small and the snow was soft. Cruised some arcs down another groomer with 2″ of fluff en route to the Caveman entrance.

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