Earlier this season, my friend Myles loaned me a pair of Nordica GT 84 Ti skis, so that I could work on my carving skills on the groomers. I’ve been having so much fun on my Blizzard Rustler 10s, that I haven’t gotten around to trying out the Nordicas yet. Since Burke put ropes up on all their natural terrain this week, I decided it was the perfect time to drop them off at their repair shop to get a full tune done. Excitingly, I picked them up this morning from the shop to test them out for the first time.
Trying Out Some Fresh Tuned Skis
I’ve had two other pairs of skis tuned there in the past week and they have done an excellent job! Both skis now fly down the mountain and cut through the ice on perfectly sharpened edges. With this in mind, I was expecting an extremely fun first run with the Nordica’s down the groomed trails. I took them down Upper and Lower Willoughby, which was a mostly powder surface with some icy spots. They seemed a little sluggish at first, for having a fresh coat of wax on them, but otherwise appeared to work great. That is, until they hit the ice and started to slide away from me.
For how excellent my Blizzards cut through the ice after their tune, I thought it might have just been a glitch in the ski matrix. I made my way back up the mountain, this time skiing down Carriage Road, which was a lot icier then Whilloughby, but still my edges weren’t gripping. Once I hit the steeper portion of Carriage Road, I couldn’t catch an edge for the life of me. I started sliding out of control and ended up in the tree line. Instead of the fun I thought I would have, the rest of way down was a bit unnerving.
Back To The Blizzard Rustler 10s
I decided to go back to my car and swap the Nordicas out for my Blizzard Rustler 10s. I spent the rest of the day skiing the Rustlers, cutting through ice and flying down the mountain. I absolutely love the playfulness of these skis; they are so fun on any terrain and put the biggest smile on my face. As far as the Nordica’s go, I will take them back to the repair shop tomorrow, to see what they can do about the edges.
The natural terrain was looking rather grim and thin, especially on Rerun and Lift Line. I’m not sure if the added snow tonight will be enough to reopen them, but Burke has stated they intend on dropping ropes tomorrow. My friends from Boston are coming up to ski with me in the morning, because regardless of conditions, Burke is still one of the most fun mountains in the east.
Links
- Check out Stoked! Jan’s Ski Blog for more of his skating off-season adventures.
- Visit skiburke.com for more information.
- You can also follow Burke Mountain on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- Follow Jan Welch on Instagram.
About “Stoked! Jan’s Ski Blog”
I’ve spent my entire life living in cities, where I was able to urban, distance and aggressive skate all year long. In December of 2017 I moved to rural Vermont and found myself in the dead of winter, with snow all around me. Winters in Vermont are long and harsh, making skating nearly impossible 4-5 months out of the year. I live 2.5 hours from the nearest city and an hour from the nearest trails, making skating even in the summer much less frequent then I was used to.
Something needed to supplement my skating during the off season, so I took up skiing on January 2nd of 2019. From the moment I put on skis, I was hooked! Skiing gives me the exact same feeling I get from urban skating. Through skiing I am able to replicate the feel of carving around on city streets and playing on whatever obstacles catch your eye. This blog chronicles my stoke on skiing during my skating off season.
– Jan Eric Welch (Founder of bigwheelblading.com)
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