Edd
Well-known member
How'd Burke make out with rain?
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Big Burke announcement
- Thread starter the original trailboss
- Start date
bdfreetuna
New member
Can only guess (I was there Saturday for the snow part), but they got more snow than was expected, I think it must have been an overall gain in depth. Snow was pretty deep in the woods but with no base, I imagine now its a little crustier and compacted, maybe not a bad thing in the long run.
SIKSKIER
New member
Here is their positive spin on yesterdays weather.
Yesterday, well, focusing on the plus side water levels rose significantly to keep our snow making efforts going strong and the moisture certainly settled the snow pack with a nice crust.
Yesterday, well, focusing on the plus side water levels rose significantly to keep our snow making efforts going strong and the moisture certainly settled the snow pack with a nice crust.
from_the_NEK
Active member
According to the stake at my house the snow depth came out pretty much even, but the snow quality went from being perfect powder to solid base. Pretty much a perfect setup for the rest of the season assuming we get some snow on top of it.
The river water level is very important and I imagine they were getting close to having to shut down the withdrawal from the East Branch due to low levels. They have been blowing snow like crazy with these cold temps. Lots of trails are opening up.
Hopefully Thrusday's clipper drops at least 5 inches. If so, Burke should be over 70% open for the upcoming Holiday week.
The river water level is very important and I imagine they were getting close to having to shut down the withdrawal from the East Branch due to low levels. They have been blowing snow like crazy with these cold temps. Lots of trails are opening up.
Hopefully Thrusday's clipper drops at least 5 inches. If so, Burke should be over 70% open for the upcoming Holiday week.
Thanks for the report.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
Edd
Well-known member
Yes, indeed.
Smellytele
Well-known member
How does this work with the agreement Cannon has? Is this for people not on the US team yet where as the Cannon agreement is for those on the team but still in development?
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
To pull that off my guess is they must have handed the U.S Ski Team the keys to the castle.
from_the_NEK
Active member
MEtoVTSkier
Active member
VTKilarney
Well-known member
I had a chance to ski this morning. The rain definitely took its toll. But they are doing what they can do to rebound. Conditions were quite firm, but you could definitely hold an edge.
The biggest issue is getting Upper Dipper open in time for Christmas. Right now, the only viable way to get to Big Dipper is to take Deer Run. Deer Run is an absolute mess. It's a sheet of ice and there isn't enough snow to even groom it. It just isn't worth it to ski half of the Dippers. This means that the only other way down is Willoughby (to Warren's Way). That leaves precious little real estate for Christmas - especially with a real hard pack for a surface. If they can get Upper Dipper open, this will give two viable routes down on either side of the mountain. There are whales on Upper Dipper, so I am crossing my fingers.
They were making quite a bit of snow on the lower mountain today. It looks like Binney Lane is about to come online.
They are definitely making whatever snow they can, and they seem to be able to make more snow at one time. I can't fault them for lack of effort. Hopefully they get a little bit more out of tomorrow's storm than they are predicting. At least we are way ahead of where we were last Christmas.
The biggest issue is getting Upper Dipper open in time for Christmas. Right now, the only viable way to get to Big Dipper is to take Deer Run. Deer Run is an absolute mess. It's a sheet of ice and there isn't enough snow to even groom it. It just isn't worth it to ski half of the Dippers. This means that the only other way down is Willoughby (to Warren's Way). That leaves precious little real estate for Christmas - especially with a real hard pack for a surface. If they can get Upper Dipper open, this will give two viable routes down on either side of the mountain. There are whales on Upper Dipper, so I am crossing my fingers.
They were making quite a bit of snow on the lower mountain today. It looks like Binney Lane is about to come online.
They are definitely making whatever snow they can, and they seem to be able to make more snow at one time. I can't fault them for lack of effort. Hopefully they get a little bit more out of tomorrow's storm than they are predicting. At least we are way ahead of where we were last Christmas.
We stayed at the new hotel 12/28-30. Studio king room was nice and well laid out. The staff is new and we expected some glitches. Room did not get made up one day, waited 2 hours for our meals at the restaurant. They were a little slow opening up the coffee/breakfast counter in the morning. Overall though a good experience and at $229.00 with 2 lift tickets it was a great deal. Hotel was full for our last night there and for NYE.
We skied Loon with some friends on Wednesday and drove over to Burke after skiing. Thursday we xc skied at Kingdom trails then skied Burke 2-4 in the storm and it was starting to get pretty nice. We got on line for the quad at about 8:45 Friday morning with about 30 folks ahead of us and maybe 50 behind when the lift opened at 9. Longish line all morning. We got in 4 runs on the quad and 1 on the poma, all with fresh tracks on at least part of each run. They got about 8" overnight and it snowed pretty hard until around 11AM Friday.
No food service other than Bear Den at mid mountain lodge and that was crowded with a long line to order so we hit the pub in the hotel and it was pretty good and our food came reasonably fast. There is a cafeteria/ day lodge in the lodge but it did not look very appetizing. After lunch we took a nap in our room (love staying slopeside) and then skied left over pow, soft crud and soft bumps until closing. Lines were gone by 2. Burke was aggressive about opening terrain and thin cover did not keep us out of the glades or off Ledges.
We skied Loon with some friends on Wednesday and drove over to Burke after skiing. Thursday we xc skied at Kingdom trails then skied Burke 2-4 in the storm and it was starting to get pretty nice. We got on line for the quad at about 8:45 Friday morning with about 30 folks ahead of us and maybe 50 behind when the lift opened at 9. Longish line all morning. We got in 4 runs on the quad and 1 on the poma, all with fresh tracks on at least part of each run. They got about 8" overnight and it snowed pretty hard until around 11AM Friday.
No food service other than Bear Den at mid mountain lodge and that was crowded with a long line to order so we hit the pub in the hotel and it was pretty good and our food came reasonably fast. There is a cafeteria/ day lodge in the lodge but it did not look very appetizing. After lunch we took a nap in our room (love staying slopeside) and then skied left over pow, soft crud and soft bumps until closing. Lines were gone by 2. Burke was aggressive about opening terrain and thin cover did not keep us out of the glades or off Ledges.
Did than try and run the Willoughby Quad to knock the line down some or is that lift RIP?
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dlague
Active member
That's not the first time I've heard about really slow service at the Pub. Seems they are still working out kinks.
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They just ran the express and the poma. We never ventured to the base lodge area.
Regarding food services at hotel - I went to the new Hotel Jay a few years ago on a similar promotion the week before Christmas and the service and food was much worse than Burke's.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
I just wanted to chime in and say that I am really impressed with how things are going at Burke this year. They seem very dedicated to putting out as good a product as possible, and the results are showing. Most of all, you can tell that management is listening to the employees and are using their knowledge to their advantage.
My only gripes are with food and beverage. We tried to eat at the Gap Pub on a not so busy day, but gave up after waiting for 15 minutes at a table that hadn't even been cleared yet. We proceeded to the cafeteria in the new hotel, and were given the worst cheeseburgers I have ever had. They were essentially small chunks of carbon in a bun that was twice the size. My wife noticed that the cook was reheating already cooked burgers. If you wanted lettuce or tomato to help distract you from the bad burger, you were out of luck. Overall, the cafeteria in the new hotel is a real disappointment. It's more of an after thought than a genuine cafeteria.
At both the Mid-Burke and Sherburne cafeterias, I have yet to see a pre-made sandwich made on the same day. If you are lucky they were made the day before, but I have also seen plenty of sandwiches for sale that were made 2 or, on one occasion, 3 days prior. At the prices they are charging that is just inexcusable.
The good news is that the F&B issues should be pretty easy to fix. They are spending money on the skiing product, so these issues are pretty minor.
My only gripes are with food and beverage. We tried to eat at the Gap Pub on a not so busy day, but gave up after waiting for 15 minutes at a table that hadn't even been cleared yet. We proceeded to the cafeteria in the new hotel, and were given the worst cheeseburgers I have ever had. They were essentially small chunks of carbon in a bun that was twice the size. My wife noticed that the cook was reheating already cooked burgers. If you wanted lettuce or tomato to help distract you from the bad burger, you were out of luck. Overall, the cafeteria in the new hotel is a real disappointment. It's more of an after thought than a genuine cafeteria.
At both the Mid-Burke and Sherburne cafeterias, I have yet to see a pre-made sandwich made on the same day. If you are lucky they were made the day before, but I have also seen plenty of sandwiches for sale that were made 2 or, on one occasion, 3 days prior. At the prices they are charging that is just inexcusable.
The good news is that the F&B issues should be pretty easy to fix. They are spending money on the skiing product, so these issues are pretty minor.
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VTKilarney
Well-known member
Prior management made it clear that the lift was not going to run. I haven't heard anything different from the new management.
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