Mt. Hood: Day 5 (Photos)

 Sophie and Audrey loving the sunshine.

U16 Group out for a hike.

A couple of photos from Day 5. Stay tuned for Day 6 updates and possibly an addition to the Legend Series...

Mt. Hood: Day 3 (belated post by Bug and Lizzie)

Late post from our second day on snow:
Mother nature did not want cooperate with us. We had everything from rain to fog to snow and wind but us burkies toughed it out like champs. After an epic day of skiing the group hit La Bamba in Sandy for lunch.....muy delicioso! Afterwards we went grocery shopping after underestimating our burkie stomachs and running out of food in 2 days. When we got back to the condos we did a recovery in the pool/hot tub/sauna......very relaxing. JOCELYN arrived today! now we are at full stock and ready to attack the slopes tomorrow. YEHAW!

Mt. Hood: Day 4 (with Soph and Ood)

Today was our third day on snow and the second of a five day block. It was totally wicked awesome. The sun came out for the first time (it must be due to Jocelyn’s arrival) and we skied for six whole hours! Harlow had the technology in line and we watched video on the iPad halfway down the hill several times. After being the last group on the hill (only the snowboarders were left) we came back to our condo for a homemade lunch, we were all starving! We ate turkey sandwiches, carrots and hummus, apples, raisins, peanut butter, bananas, Ramen noodles, butternut squash soup and tortilla chips. For recovery we did a core circuit by the pool and swam around like little mermaids. We discovered that Bug is a natural mermaid because she can hold her breath for a very long time. Tomorrow, we’re switching to GS skis and we’re stoked as!

The Legend Series: Erich Sailer, UberLegend

Today, we started what we hope will become a tradition on the burkie bear blog; The Legend Series. In all of our travels, we come across living legends in our sport and this series will commemorate them.

First up is an appropriate one, especially here on Mount Hood. We welcome to the Legend Series:

Erich Sailer

Here is a short, modest bio from his website:

Erich pioneered summer ski training in North America. He has international recognition as the coach of many Junior Olympic Champions and United States Ski Team Members.

He's an International Coach with the United States Ski Coaches Association and a 2005 Inductee into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. Additionally, Erich is Program Director with the Buck Hill Ski Racing Team.


This doesn't really begin to tell his story, but all you need to know is that he's been coaching skiing for a very long time and coached an incredible number of very successful athletes. For instance, Erich coached both Lindsey Vonn AND her father Alan Kildow. He's as amiable and sharp as ever, even when Lizzie and Lisa asked him to take a moment to pose for the Legend Series photo with them.

Today, the Sailer Campers were running ten gate SL courses, taking their skis off, hiking back to the top of the course and running it again. What if they got tired? Well, they took a run all the way down and rode the lift!

Here's an article that details Erich's incredible journey through our sport: http://austria.squarespace.com/november-december-2007/erich-sailers-contribution-to-ski-coaching-in-the-us.html

Mt. Hood: Day 2

Well, we got shut out.

We went up, waited around in the lodge for about two hours and then we headed back to the condo. From there, we regrouped and went to Portland for lunch and a movie.

For lunch, we went to the Blue Plate Lunch Counter. It's a little hole-in-the-wall that's been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with the one and only Guy Fieri. Check out their clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5eg4CeEiBk

That afternoon, the girls saw Snow White and the Huntsman. Their reviews were not favorable. Kristen Stewart, if you're reading this... Better luck next time. Trace and I saw Prometheus. We enjoyed it, but since neither of us saw any of the Alien trilogy, we were afraid some of it was lost on us.

We prayed for better weather on Tuesday...

Mt. Hood: Day 1

Mountain Hoodlum Day Uno

Our first day up on ze glacier and it vaz phenomenoh! When we first
started skiing in the morning, it was a little misty and foggy but a
brisk wind cleared that right out. By late morning the sun came out
and we took a run on the top lift. Big deal. Then, we took another
run. Hard core. All in all, skiing was a success. Harlow took some
siiiick video of us freeskiing and was able to upload it onto his iPad
so we could watch it on the hill. We were the last group on the hill.
(Go us.) When we got down from skiing, we remembered that we had
forgotten to bring vices so we paid our main man Fuxi a visit. For a
dryland sesh, we did a fifteen minute poolside ab routine and Harlow
absolutely killed it. It looks like it’s going to be a productive week
of fundamentals and some rad free skiing. Stay tuned for more
phenomenal updates.

Lisa and Makenzie

24 Hours of Burke: Relay and BBQ

It was a day that required toughness, fitness and a willingness to push your limits... so it wasn't too much different than any other day at BMA, but still, it was awesome.

The pods faced off in a run-bike-hike-run relay competition that took them from the BMA campus to Lake Willoughby via Pisgah. It was quite the trek and in the end it was pretty close, but Pod 2 (pictured below) came away with the hard fought victory, completing the course in 2 hours, 28 minutes, 18 seconds.

Pod 2: Basking in the Glow of Victory

 The water at the lake was cold... just ask these boys!

 The BBQ was presided over by Chef Phillips and Chef Gray:

24 Hours of Burke: Dodge Ball

Here are a couple of photos from today's Dodgeball game that pitted pod vs pod.

Yesterday's Senior Trip Update

Hello all,

Just a quick note to let you know that we survived the week. We got some good soakings, but the islanders were kind to us and made life not so bad at all. I won't get into all the details - you need to ask the seniors, but I am sure that each senior learned something, experienced something very new, met great people, got dirty, got wet, saw wildlife, worked hard, ate seafood, had a great time with their classmates, and much much more!

Attached is a photo from Ames Knob this morning - a short hike - with Camden Hills in the background.
See you back at school tomorrow (we're staying at Mariah's tonight).

Best,
Christin