Burke HSQ Construction Update (September 10)

It official, Burke has finally put out a press release about the new summit lift.
Burke Press Release

Work on the new quad (now rather generically named the "Mid Burke Express") is progressing. This past Saturday, I decided to check out the steepest section of the lift line. From my vantage point I could see that there was a crew working again near the area at the bottom of the Poma lift. It wasn't clear from halfway up the lift line if they were working on tower footings or prepping for a new Race/Timing building.

According to the press release, the trail formed by the new lift line is going to be divided into two parts, Upper Lift Line (Intermediate rating) and Rerun (Expert rating). Rerun was the local name of the former unofficial glade that existed between Doug's Drop and Upper Warren's Way. The new Rerun will apparently run from the top of the Poma lift all the way to the bottom. Technically, Burke could get another "trail" out of this setup. The section of lift line below the intersection with McHargs Cutoff could have its own name. Rerun as I figure it will exist is modeled here in bright green in Google Earth:

Upper Lift Line (another generic name) will be the section of the lift line that starts at the summit and ends at the last Toll Road (Deer Run) crossing. It will cross the Toll Road three times.

On the steepest section of Rerun, the holes for the tower footings have been blasted and leaving lots of  jagged rocks. Hopefully, some of these will be cleaned up when they pour the concrete and back-fill. Otherwise it is going to be a mine field in there. Moving machinery around on this steep slope has to be a bit hair-raising as well.

Down:

Up:

Blasted hole

View of Jay Peak from Rerun:

As mentioned in the press release, the Powerline has also offically been added to the trail map. With the addition of the wind tower at the summit, the power line had to be upgraded. This included removing brush and replacing the old short rotted poles with taller new ones. The wire will hopefully be high enough that ducking isn't required. This is a very tight line and has some rather sketchy crossings with the toll road. When skiing this trail this winter, please use caution at the crossings and look out for guy wires.

It was a beautiful day in the NEK. There was a swarm of paragliders and hang gliders riding the updrafts above the northwestern side of the mountain.  It looks like a lot of fun!

(Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them)