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#$%$%^$ "Q" Bukre....what do I do?

Slow

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So, after two years of day trips all over Vermont from Boston, including probably a dozen days at Burke we decided it was time to put my two sons in a full-time ski program and invest out time and resources in a specific mountain. We chose Burke because the NEK has the right pace and approach, the mountain seemed to have a great symbitic relationship with the surrounding community, the terrain is fantastic, and the great community on the mountain.

So, last Spring I gave Burke $1500 for season passes.
This fall I gave them $1300 for ski school for my two boys
And, I split a place with a friend who will be up every other weekend with his kids (bringing them to Burke...from Sugarbush).
The place we rented sleeps...a ton...so the plan was to get friends from home to come up for weekends and give Burke a try (yes this was intentional gorilla marketing on my part to recruit other like minded friends to embrace the mountain as their own)

So, here I am today; hoping they drop the Q, invest in the infrastrcture, and straingten out their relationships with the surrounding community and the few remaining mountain staff who have been there for years. But, fearful that they wont.

And, the more I see and hear the more I worry. I mountain bike. I have never ridden the KT or any other mountain, and probably never will, but this last news just continues to make me question "what the Q is up with their approach to invest in Burke without changing the character of Burke."...I think they missed the point. Burke is the people, Burke is the community. Investing in Burke includes investing the people and community. If I wanted to ski someplace that is a buffed out mountain, staffed by seasonal workers and is completely detached from the surrounding community I have plenty of other choices at bigger moutains that are closer to home.

I guess I am invested for the year and will let it play out. The owner of the house we rented has already indicated he would like to sell it to me after the season if we are interested. So, I thought we were done looking for a mountain. But, if it doesn't play out, maybe I'll go over to ther other small mountain with big terrain and a fantastic "all montain" program for the kids that we were torn between...the one off of 89 that is also about 3:30 from my town south of Boston...but OHHH the lift lines on the very best days can be deadly.

Anyone else have ideas?
 

kingdom-tele

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your dropping over 3k to play, are looking at buying a second home, and worried about lift served mt biking prices and the fact that a business man is making business decisions?

and people make fun of the locals from the NEK for being adverse to change.
 

Nick

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There's a lot of talk here and we have some Burke reps on the board. He might chime in and give you a No BS answer.

Isn't the Q just the official company name? The mountain is still Burke. I know everyone likes to poke fun with the Q. At one point i think we were all confused and thought they were renaming the mountain to Qburke. Or at least I did.
 

Slow

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I'm not worried about lift served mtn bike prices.

I'm worried about a pattern of bad business decisions if the intent was to add beds, revenue sources, and infrastructure (and skier visits) to what is already a great skiing community. Alternatively, these are reasonable business decision if this is becoming a mega mtn that doesn't support it's surrounding community but, I can get that at bigger mountains closer to home. I chose Burke because it wasn't.
 

kingdom-tele

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past tense. it is now. 6 months ago these were the kind of decisions people wanted in the name of sustainability. wasn't the idea that burke is to become that mega mtn/destination resort, you don't like that, you should move on.

the skiing and the community are still the same. choose to stare at what you like.
 

from_the_NEK

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There's a lot of talk here and we have some Burke reps on the board. He might chime in and give you a No BS answer.

Isn't the Q just the official company name? The mountain is still Burke. I know everyone likes to poke fun with the Q. At one point i think we were all confused and thought they were renaming the mountain to Qburke. Or at least I did.
Yes, unfortunately "Q Burke Mountain Resort" is now the official name.
 

deadheadskier

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There's a lot of talk here and we have some Burke reps on the board. He might chime in and give you a No BS answer.

Isn't the Q just the official company name? The mountain is still Burke. I know everyone likes to poke fun with the Q. At one point i think we were all confused and thought they were renaming the mountain to Qburke. Or at least I did.

No, I'd say the mountain is very much being called Q Burke now. It's part of the logo. It's how it's discussed in news articles. It's how it is promoted on the web. Look at the online snow report from On the Snow......it's not Burke Mountain. It's Q Burke Mountain Resorts

http://www.onthesnow.com/vermont/skireport.html

No offense to Andrew and the mountain employees, but I'll say it again, I find the renaming incredibly lame. I've worked for numerous historic hotel and resort properties over the years through numerous ownership changes; many of them family owned. Almost all of them had a different business name from the marketing name because they realized those properties were called something long before they owned it and will exist long after they're gone and have sold the property.
 

thetrailboss

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Slow: send your concerns to Ary Quiros, Jr. at Burke, err, QBurke. I'm sure that the sales guy will be in here, but he now has a four alarm PR fire on his hands at a time when he should be crowing about the skiing and the start of a new season. It's not his fault, it's his boss's brainwave.

There's a lot of talk here and we have some Burke reps on the board. He might chime in and give you a No BS answer.

Isn't the Q just the official company name? The mountain is still Burke. I know everyone likes to poke fun with the Q. At one point i think we were all confused and thought they were renaming the mountain to Qburke. Or at least I did.

You've got to get up to speed. Ary Jr. is insisting that everyone call the place "QBurke Mountain Resort." It is absolutely ridiculous.
 

thetrailboss

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And this is the THIRD Burke Mountain thread that has negative PR implications for them. It's too bad because folks love the mountain and what it was.
 

from_the_NEK

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Jay bought them to close it down. :popcorn:


Let's get this point clear, technically JAY PEAK DOES NOT OWN BURKE! The Quiros family owns Q Burke. They also happen to be part of the primary ownership group of Jay Peak.

That conspiracy theory has been raised before but would seem like the Quiros’ have gone through a lot of trouble and expense to eliminate a “competitor”. Calling Burke a competitor to Jay in the current state of things is like calling Magic a direct competitor of Stratton. Why would they want Burke to fail? There are far easier ways to accomplish that.

IMHO many of the home owners and skiers at Burke wouldn’t automatically migrate to Jay if Burke closed. And I guarantee that is the case if it is apparent that “Jay bought them to close it down”. Many of the condo owners would likely look south either in NH or south/central VT. The local population of skiers/riders isn’t really substantial enough to boost Jay’s bottom line much, if at all.
 

DJAK

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On this logic, any resort they would acquire would be well served to become QKillington, QVail, QSugarloaf. They should buy the Red Sox and Q it (please don't). Doing it to Burke is no different, just a smaller balance sheet. Same level of branding/marketing WTF.

Sadly the move makes any other they do (Kingdom Trails for example) immediately very questionable because they've broadcast this initial ego Q oddity far and wide. Don't expect any underling mtn reps to come in here and explain it away. Best to let the goo stick to the goo'er if the goo'er is not taking your advice.

They still could turn this all around. Drop the Q, release a mea culpa, move on. You can do it Ary.
 

Edd

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It's incredible nobody was able (if they tried) to tap him on the shoulder and convince him that the name Q Burke is awful. "Mt Shit" sounds about as good.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 

thetrailboss

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It's incredible nobody was able (if they tried) to tap him on the shoulder and convince him that the name Q Burke is awful. "Mt Shit" sounds about as good.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

I'm pretty sure that they did.
 

from_the_NEK

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It's incredible nobody was able (if they tried) to tap him on the shoulder and convince him that the name Q Burke is awful. "Mt Shit" sounds about as good.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
Well "Mt Shit" would also be a memorable name. Gets people talking that would otherwise just look past a plain jane name like "Burke". Even a bad reaction is better than no reaction, Right? :dontknow: Just look at all this discussion about a letter of the alphabet. How many people in Boston even cared/remembered what Burke was named before?
 

Edd

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I'm picturing a company policy where they tack "Q" onto many words while dealing with the public for the sake of brand reinforcement.

"Qmorning! Welcome to QBurke. We've got 6 fresh inches of Qsnow!!!"
 
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