urungus
Well-known member
I thought that too but sadly as of Friday there are still broken bubbles
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Burke's New Owners and New Start (2025)
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
ceo
Active member
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- Apr 1, 2009
- Messages
- 440
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- 28
In WV's latest "Next Level Ops Report" (highly recommended reading), they mention "New bubbles continue to go on TEX on a near daily basis", so it sounds like they're being replaced gradually.
Edd
Well-known member
Checked into the Burke Hotel a bit ago, rolled the dice on a walkup rate. With Indy Pass discount, basic room $117 so I stepped it up to executive with separate living room and fireplace for $152. Smoking deal for nice slopeside accommodations.
Hope that you have hot water!
Edd
Well-known member
Things seem good tonight. Employees are clicking and there are more guests about than I’m used to seeing. Desk clerk said Indy was a shot in the arm for visits.Hope that you have hot water!
Also, I was able to redeem my Indy day for tomorrow at the front desk. No line, took less than 4 minutes including signing a waiver.
KustyTheKlown
Well-known member
great midweek deal. enjoy. skiing tomorrow should be a blast. moderating temps, some snow in the air, all that nice snow from last week.
Damn that's the cheapest room around for miles. Ive stayed at that place on a fall vacation and it was pretty nice hotel.
Beats my room at the dairy center tomorrow night...but I got bowling lanes attached lol
Good to hear. I want them to succeed.
Smellytele
Well-known member
Great day at Burke today.
Took the advice to get tix at the hotel. No line no waiting. Never went down to the other lodge/lift.
Conditions were great today. Glades were fun as always. Only the jungle was questionable at the top.
Went to the bar in the hotel for a change at the end of the day. Not crowded at all. Food was decent. Did have a mandatory beer in the bear’s den earlier.
Took the advice to get tix at the hotel. No line no waiting. Never went down to the other lodge/lift.
Conditions were great today. Glades were fun as always. Only the jungle was questionable at the top.
Went to the bar in the hotel for a change at the end of the day. Not crowded at all. Food was decent. Did have a mandatory beer in the bear’s den earlier.
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Looks like they are having a good season.
Smellytele
Well-known member
Most of NNE is.
Any talk there about their big news (i.e. buying Smuggs?)
Killingtime
Active member
Skied at Burke yesterday for the first time ever.. Everyone I spoke to mentioned the Smuggs deal. The employees there seem happy with Bear Den Partners running the place. Lifts were crowded but not crazy. It was a nice sunny day which helped alot.
eatskisleep
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- Joined
- Dec 23, 2003
- Messages
- 1,741
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- 83
I wonder what this will mean for downhill biking at each. Berkshire East has some of the best downhill biking in New England. Burke also has some incredible trails, especially when integrated with the Kingdom Trails.
Zand
Well-known member
Missed this view
Oh and the snow is fantastic.
Zand
Well-known member
Fun afternoon, only skied for about 3 hours but long enough to hit everything I wanted. First off, the groomers were fantastic well into the afternoon. Dipper, Willoughby, and yes...East Bowl were fun to zip down and make nice smooth turns.
Glades were a little variable but overall in good shape. It felt like there must've been some freezing drizzle in the last storm as the upper mountain woods were a weird loud packed powder, but very edgeable. Still powder if you know where to look but it was quite stiff today. Some of the more popular glades like Jungle, Birches, and Sasquatch were a little beat up in some areas but nothing terrible.
Nats were good up high but some of the more trafficked ones got slick further down...Wilderness for example not the most fun on the bottom part. Rerun was excellent, although weird getting stuck between two training runs and having to ski down a narrow area outside the snow fence on Mcharg's. Fox's Folly was roped for some reason which was a shame, always liked that one.
Have to talk shit about one of my least favorite trails in New England...Bear Den. Nothing has changed here in the past 10 years. They still blow a ton of snow on it and then they let the entire steep section become a sheet of ice. With Bypass at Cannon not receiving snowmaking this year and therefore being skiable, this was one of my worst runs of the year.
Gotta admit that I finally had the realization today that I really took this place for granted when I was in college. I forgot how good the pitch is, how excellent the groomers ski, how fun the woods are, and how laid back the vibe is. And on a bluebird day, the views are second to none. It's been over a decade since I had a proper day here with everything open, but with it on the Indy Pass I will definitely be using both days every year.
Also stopped into the Bear Den afterwards and that place is still as great as always.
What else can I say...it was really damn nice to be back.
Glades were a little variable but overall in good shape. It felt like there must've been some freezing drizzle in the last storm as the upper mountain woods were a weird loud packed powder, but very edgeable. Still powder if you know where to look but it was quite stiff today. Some of the more popular glades like Jungle, Birches, and Sasquatch were a little beat up in some areas but nothing terrible.
Nats were good up high but some of the more trafficked ones got slick further down...Wilderness for example not the most fun on the bottom part. Rerun was excellent, although weird getting stuck between two training runs and having to ski down a narrow area outside the snow fence on Mcharg's. Fox's Folly was roped for some reason which was a shame, always liked that one.
Have to talk shit about one of my least favorite trails in New England...Bear Den. Nothing has changed here in the past 10 years. They still blow a ton of snow on it and then they let the entire steep section become a sheet of ice. With Bypass at Cannon not receiving snowmaking this year and therefore being skiable, this was one of my worst runs of the year.
Gotta admit that I finally had the realization today that I really took this place for granted when I was in college. I forgot how good the pitch is, how excellent the groomers ski, how fun the woods are, and how laid back the vibe is. And on a bluebird day, the views are second to none. It's been over a decade since I had a proper day here with everything open, but with it on the Indy Pass I will definitely be using both days every year.
Also stopped into the Bear Den afterwards and that place is still as great as always.
What else can I say...it was really damn nice to be back.
Edd
Well-known member
Was East Bowl groomed? Haven't seen that in years, but I don't go much.
Zand
Well-known member
Yes. I think they generally do it once a year to pack the base in before spring. It was kind of weird zipping down the trail but the resulting packed powder was perfect. Also made life quite a bit easier on the runout.
drjeff
Well-known member
I'd think that sending a cat up that run out on a semi regular basis wouldn' be a bad idea at all. Now keeping the top section, before that left hand turn heading down to the flat cat free on a more often basis than the runout, that seems reasonable as even without all the fun tree areas in East Bowl, the top 1/2 or so of that trail is just a fun one to ski/ride, especially on a clear day with some of the views you get up top on it
Abominable
Active member
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- Jan 18, 2013
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- 28
Made my first trip to Burke last week. As a Catamount / Bousquet / B.East passholder, I couldn't be happier with this development.
What a great mountain! Obviously when conditions are great, any mountain is enjoyable, but I was really impressed with Burke. Wall to wall coverage, sunny days in mid 30s, with an excellent power day last Saturday. Kids killed it in glades all over the mountain, and the groomers are pretty awesome. I love the way you can link trail -> woods - > trail right down the front face and still find plenty of fresh tracks. If I knew it better (and wasn't managing three kids 4/6/8) you could rack up some serious mileage. It's also kind of a confusing mountain (in a good way) the way there's so many intersections. I was still finding new ways down on day four. Reminded me a lot of the east side of B. East, but of course taller. And views all around were stunning.
Favorite runs were starting in Sasquatch then winding our way down to either Flaming Eddie's area, or hanging a right somewhere and taking our pick of the glades that funnel to east bowl. No complaints about the runout, small price to pay.
A mountain of this size, these conditions, over February break, and we still had slopeside parking in the upper lot for four days, quick walk and boot up in a tiny, cramped, quaint and comfortable old lodge with a great bar attached, and pretty much zero lift lines except Saturday (power day morning).
Looking like the weather in the near term is conducive, trying to line up a spring break trip.
Complaints - parking is kind of a pain up top on a weekend powder day. Lots fill quickly, and there's a lot of confusion and chaos with people driving around in circles. That's probably a rare occurrence, but I'm surprised there isn't a bigger lot on the NW / front side of the hotel. The hotel has this kind of grand entrance, but you never see it. Maybe it's worth having the views. I never actually set foot inside the hotel though.
Racers / BMA kids feel like they own that upper lodge. We've had enough complaining about racer kids on this board, but damn. "Kids these days, amiright?"
I looked back through some old threads.. was the location of the new summit quad controversial? The trek from the lower lift is mildly annoying (especially if you are towing kids). The Willoughby looked like a perfect spot. I can kind of understand getting closer to the hotel, but even as it is it's quite a hike with ZERO steps or anything from the hotel up to the lift. Looks kind of awkward if not downright treachorous in snow boots; not what you want your five-star guests to deal with. I realize the Willouby (and TBH, I came across a eulogy you wrote for that lift on here, very nice) was still up while the summit was installed, but it sounds like they almost never ran at teh same time. In a perfect world you would've just swapped 'em one summer? Oh well.
We stayed at the Wildflower Inn on Darling Hill and it was beautiful and convenient for less than 200 / night. The whole area was bumping between snomobiliers and skiers, restaurants and bars were packed, and reservations or seating at 5 PM were required to get a bite to eat (didn't try the hotel spots though).
If any summit passholders are heading up for more than two weekend / holiday days (not many of those left), in other words if you are anticipating paying 50%, PM me, I have a hot tip.
Forgot to add - in a world of magic carpets, it's amazing how much fun my kids have with new surface lifts. This was their first T bar / J bar experience, and I couldn't get 'em off the damn thing. Riding a T bar with a four year old is more exhausting going up than endless moguls coming down Caveman.
Also, special shout out to the couple working the hot dog stand in the upper lodge. That's probably a pretty good gig, and they are working hard all day and just super nice and friendly and while a five dollar hot-dog isn't really a bargain, it does hit the spot.
What a great mountain! Obviously when conditions are great, any mountain is enjoyable, but I was really impressed with Burke. Wall to wall coverage, sunny days in mid 30s, with an excellent power day last Saturday. Kids killed it in glades all over the mountain, and the groomers are pretty awesome. I love the way you can link trail -> woods - > trail right down the front face and still find plenty of fresh tracks. If I knew it better (and wasn't managing three kids 4/6/8) you could rack up some serious mileage. It's also kind of a confusing mountain (in a good way) the way there's so many intersections. I was still finding new ways down on day four. Reminded me a lot of the east side of B. East, but of course taller. And views all around were stunning.
Favorite runs were starting in Sasquatch then winding our way down to either Flaming Eddie's area, or hanging a right somewhere and taking our pick of the glades that funnel to east bowl. No complaints about the runout, small price to pay.
A mountain of this size, these conditions, over February break, and we still had slopeside parking in the upper lot for four days, quick walk and boot up in a tiny, cramped, quaint and comfortable old lodge with a great bar attached, and pretty much zero lift lines except Saturday (power day morning).
Looking like the weather in the near term is conducive, trying to line up a spring break trip.
Complaints - parking is kind of a pain up top on a weekend powder day. Lots fill quickly, and there's a lot of confusion and chaos with people driving around in circles. That's probably a rare occurrence, but I'm surprised there isn't a bigger lot on the NW / front side of the hotel. The hotel has this kind of grand entrance, but you never see it. Maybe it's worth having the views. I never actually set foot inside the hotel though.
Racers / BMA kids feel like they own that upper lodge. We've had enough complaining about racer kids on this board, but damn. "Kids these days, amiright?"
I looked back through some old threads.. was the location of the new summit quad controversial? The trek from the lower lift is mildly annoying (especially if you are towing kids). The Willoughby looked like a perfect spot. I can kind of understand getting closer to the hotel, but even as it is it's quite a hike with ZERO steps or anything from the hotel up to the lift. Looks kind of awkward if not downright treachorous in snow boots; not what you want your five-star guests to deal with. I realize the Willouby (and TBH, I came across a eulogy you wrote for that lift on here, very nice) was still up while the summit was installed, but it sounds like they almost never ran at teh same time. In a perfect world you would've just swapped 'em one summer? Oh well.
We stayed at the Wildflower Inn on Darling Hill and it was beautiful and convenient for less than 200 / night. The whole area was bumping between snomobiliers and skiers, restaurants and bars were packed, and reservations or seating at 5 PM were required to get a bite to eat (didn't try the hotel spots though).
If any summit passholders are heading up for more than two weekend / holiday days (not many of those left), in other words if you are anticipating paying 50%, PM me, I have a hot tip.
Forgot to add - in a world of magic carpets, it's amazing how much fun my kids have with new surface lifts. This was their first T bar / J bar experience, and I couldn't get 'em off the damn thing. Riding a T bar with a four year old is more exhausting going up than endless moguls coming down Caveman.
Also, special shout out to the couple working the hot dog stand in the upper lodge. That's probably a pretty good gig, and they are working hard all day and just super nice and friendly and while a five dollar hot-dog isn't really a bargain, it does hit the spot.
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