Telesnowmonkey
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2020
After being let-down by the nor'easter that dumped a bunch of snow on the coast a couple weeks ago, northern VT finally got some redemption this past Friday. I was trying not to get my hopes up too much for Friday just in case the storm didn't deliver, but when I woke up Friday morning, there were a good 10+" of snow on top of my car! My organization is still pretty much working from home, and I immediately sent my boss an IM that went something to the effect of, "Um... so there's a lot of snow out there. Mind if I sign off after our meetings end at noon?" And I got a "Yeah, sure, go ahead!" back. Hooray! I kept an eye on web cams for Burke and Mad River Glen all morning to see where I'd be better off going. MRG was packed, but I didn't see any lift lines at Burke, so after grabbing some lunch and taking the dogs for a walk, I headed over. I was on the slopes by 1:45pm and managed to get 5 runs in before the lifts stopped spinning at 4pm. It was still snowing at a pretty good clip when I got there, and it started snowing a little heavier around 3pm. By then, there weren't many skiers left on the mountain, and tracks were actually starting to fill back in again. I took a warm up run down Carriage rd to Powderhorn to Dipper Doodle. The snow was perfect! It was fluffy but had nice body to it, and it was exactly what Burke needed to get open to 100%. It was definitely work getting through it, but it felt like one of those days that you could go anywhere and do anything.
For my second run, I decided to go down East Bowl, which has become one of my most favorite trails. It reminds me of a meandering waterfall, with a series of short, steep drops over boulders before a long flat run-out at the end (which kinda sucks, but it's worth it), and it provides some really amazing views. Here's looking down the trail:
And here's looking back up from where I was stopped:
I did a few more runs, though I don't exactly recall which trails. It was starting to snow harder and get a little foggier. I believe these two photos are from Upper/Big Dipper, looking down:
looking up:
On my fourth run, I decided to head over to the race slope on Lower Warren's way, hoping for some smoother turns and less chop. I don't know what led me to believe there'd be less chop there, but it seemed like it was even choppier than everything else I'd skied up to that point. Bumps, bumps, and more bumps! Maybe I was just getting tired. By the time I finished that run, my legs were definitely feeling it.
The fog, snow, and waning daylight were making it difficult to see on my last trip up the chairlift:
I took a pretty relaxed run down Deer Run for my last run of the day. By the time I finished, it was 4:05 and they weren't loading the lift anymore. That's okay, I was really happy with my five runs, and I had a grin on my face for the next 4 or 5 hours thinking about how amazing the conditions had been. My husband and I went back for more on Saturday and had a great time. No pics as is was too cold for me to think about taking my hands out of my gloves!
For my second run, I decided to go down East Bowl, which has become one of my most favorite trails. It reminds me of a meandering waterfall, with a series of short, steep drops over boulders before a long flat run-out at the end (which kinda sucks, but it's worth it), and it provides some really amazing views. Here's looking down the trail:
And here's looking back up from where I was stopped:
I did a few more runs, though I don't exactly recall which trails. It was starting to snow harder and get a little foggier. I believe these two photos are from Upper/Big Dipper, looking down:
looking up:
On my fourth run, I decided to head over to the race slope on Lower Warren's way, hoping for some smoother turns and less chop. I don't know what led me to believe there'd be less chop there, but it seemed like it was even choppier than everything else I'd skied up to that point. Bumps, bumps, and more bumps! Maybe I was just getting tired. By the time I finished that run, my legs were definitely feeling it.
The fog, snow, and waning daylight were making it difficult to see on my last trip up the chairlift:
I took a pretty relaxed run down Deer Run for my last run of the day. By the time I finished, it was 4:05 and they weren't loading the lift anymore. That's okay, I was really happy with my five runs, and I had a grin on my face for the next 4 or 5 hours thinking about how amazing the conditions had been. My husband and I went back for more on Saturday and had a great time. No pics as is was too cold for me to think about taking my hands out of my gloves!
