Today I skied powder in Annandale, in my neighborhood.

I live in the small, not well known, Stonehaven subdivision on the north side of Braddock Rd. (The King's Park subdivision on the south side is bigger & better known.) There is a trail on the north side of Braddock Rd. with a steep hill between Wakefield Chapel Rd. and Southampton Dr. In summer on a bike it is a challenge to climb it and keep one's weight distribution so as not to topple over backwards. Today, after shoveling my driveway, I skied it on the junkboards. It looked and felt flat on the first run and I actually had to pole a bit to keep moving downhill. The second run, in the same tracks was good, and the third was fast and good. I had to nibble the untracked powder in places to keep from gaining too much speed. The steepest part has steel pipe fencing on both sides and is about 8 ft. wide. Great fun!

Tomorrow, if the roads are not too bad to get there, I'll do the dam at Burke Lake, an old favorite.

Where at Burke Lake is the dam? What is the terrain like?

It's an earthen dam with a vertical drop of about 75 feet at 25-30 degrees. It's at the south end of the lake. Access is by the dirt road off 123 marked as public fishing access. Go to Google maps and blow it up enough times and you will see the dam as a straight line about 1/4 mile long running fron ESE to WNW. The exit stream and a small pond just below the dam are also obvious. The dirt road will be a risk tomorrow. You'll need 4WD or AWD and better bring a shovel just in case.

Since you are in Herndon it might make more sense to check out Wolf Trap, assuming there is a plowed road or a reasonable place to park off the access road. I have been meaning to do this but haven't yet. If you do, let us know how it is.

Thanks. B/c i'm over at Burke quite frequently, I know exactly where the fishing access road is. Never been down it, but I'd be interested in any photos you might be able to provide... if the roads are passable for you tomorrow. If time permits, I'll try to head over there relatively soon.

5 runs, 4 turns each. That's 20 turns. Not much you say? Make that 20 bottomless powder turns.

Well, 19. On the last turn I stalled out; came to a complete stop in mid turn. Realized that while farming the slope I had been gradually sneaking out toward the middle part that had been baking in the sun all day. It had turned to snowman snow, even made that crunching noise that those huge snowballs make when kids are rolling them. As I left, the sun was sinking and the breeze picking up. Tomorrow that whole slope will have a sturdy crust on it, however today's skiing sure was nice!

Question. Why is the Burke Lake fishing access road beautifully plowed right down to bare pavement, while my neighborhood, where hundreds of people live, lies totally untouched?

Denis,

Good to hear you getting after it. I managed to bootpack and get some turns in on a hill in Charlottesville. 5 runs, 6 turns each. Unfortunately, the steepest part of the hill was pretty exposed to the sun, so by the time I got out (around noon on sunday) it was not exactly the soft powder I was hoping for...still fun though.

Saturday night we were on BC skis in Arlington, on the western side of Ridge Rd. Started at 23rd street (10 laps, some pow, some chop), worked our way up to 20th (15 laps, all pow).