billski
Active member
From the parking lot, everything looked status quo. Sign told everyone to go inside to purchase tickets at customer service. When I walked in the door, the little lobby had been replaced by a wide open area and a new more generous ticket counter. Where the rentals were, picnic tables are now, the "brown bag section".
Upstairs, I walked in, the store space is now the real estate/rental office. Walking further ahead, where the greeter's table once stood is a very large, L-shaped leather sofa. The bag check has been replaced with a somewhat bigger store. Most of the merch, certainly all of the clothing had the "Q Burke" name and logo. On the opposite side of the bricks was the old fireplace, now turned faux, with a gas-fired fireplace and a very large, comfortable wrap around sofa. Very nice for a nap. We'll see how long that lasts. I've seen similar stuff trashed in less than half a season by clunky boots and oafish teens. A couple of fire "pits" have been located out front. Other than that, the general seating area is the same, as is the cafe, along with reasonable prices and a similar menu as before. These are pretty much all the external changes. The lifts are all the same. Since it was midweek, Midburke is pretty much a warming hut and a place to go to the bathroom.
The snowmaking efforts are very obvious. The trails are wall to wall snow, which often wasn't possible this early in the season. Consider that the NEK has only received a fraction of what So. VT did in the past week.
Burke doesn't groom a lot historically. That hasn't changed. At least not yet. Burke is a bit more "back to basics", more generous about opening trails with "thin cover." "Thin cover" is very different at Burke vs. Mt. Snow. MS covers everything. With Burke, a trail is general open, especially this early in the season with some grass/hay showing through. Doesn't affect the skiing in the slightest. "Thin cover" at Burke literally means that small rocks and some dirt may show. You just have to be on your toes.
Back to the skiing. The morning began with 32 degrees F and sugar consistency coming down. As usual, very few people skiing, not even the racers were out. Most stuff was open, except glades, but there was one glade open, from the top, near the turbine, but it just seemed too early in the season. I also avoided West glades because of the temps, I didn't want to have a "pleasurable" time on the runout. Probably a good choice.
So the first hour was a big surprise; the groomers were fast, but a bit too compressed for my liking. But the ungroomed was fun. There was about 4-5" of loose chop. Not blower, but not cement either. Surprisingly not many moguls had grown - mostly "baby moguls". I hit a very large (several acre section of 5" untracked), which would have been more fun if I didn't have 70 under foot. Back to the car for the 96. That's when the fun really began. Most of the blues were pretty challenging as the day went on as the temp rose and the precip became moisture and fell faster. I could literally see and felt the difference as the snow compressed from one to the next. Pretty much everywhere I went I was pushing about 2-3" of snow. Grass on about half of the trails I was on. I clicked some photos below.
Came in for a break about 1:30 as I could feel the precip turning to rain. Halfway down the mountain the brakes went on the skis from the water suction. I stayed inside for almost an hour, feeling the burn in my legs, cozy on the big couch around the fake fire. Grabbed some paste wax, found a handy heater and applied a coat. I went back out at 2:30 as the rain subsided. Wax made a huge difference, at least for a while. I should have done a hot wax, but I was lazy. I skied right up to closing. For about the last hour me and one other guy were probably the only people on the mountain. Kinda weird, all these people just waiting around for us to leave
By 4:30 when I was back to the rack, mine were the only skis, and it was decidedly raining.
Upstairs, I walked in, the store space is now the real estate/rental office. Walking further ahead, where the greeter's table once stood is a very large, L-shaped leather sofa. The bag check has been replaced with a somewhat bigger store. Most of the merch, certainly all of the clothing had the "Q Burke" name and logo. On the opposite side of the bricks was the old fireplace, now turned faux, with a gas-fired fireplace and a very large, comfortable wrap around sofa. Very nice for a nap. We'll see how long that lasts. I've seen similar stuff trashed in less than half a season by clunky boots and oafish teens. A couple of fire "pits" have been located out front. Other than that, the general seating area is the same, as is the cafe, along with reasonable prices and a similar menu as before. These are pretty much all the external changes. The lifts are all the same. Since it was midweek, Midburke is pretty much a warming hut and a place to go to the bathroom.
The snowmaking efforts are very obvious. The trails are wall to wall snow, which often wasn't possible this early in the season. Consider that the NEK has only received a fraction of what So. VT did in the past week.
Burke doesn't groom a lot historically. That hasn't changed. At least not yet. Burke is a bit more "back to basics", more generous about opening trails with "thin cover." "Thin cover" is very different at Burke vs. Mt. Snow. MS covers everything. With Burke, a trail is general open, especially this early in the season with some grass/hay showing through. Doesn't affect the skiing in the slightest. "Thin cover" at Burke literally means that small rocks and some dirt may show. You just have to be on your toes.
Back to the skiing. The morning began with 32 degrees F and sugar consistency coming down. As usual, very few people skiing, not even the racers were out. Most stuff was open, except glades, but there was one glade open, from the top, near the turbine, but it just seemed too early in the season. I also avoided West glades because of the temps, I didn't want to have a "pleasurable" time on the runout. Probably a good choice.
So the first hour was a big surprise; the groomers were fast, but a bit too compressed for my liking. But the ungroomed was fun. There was about 4-5" of loose chop. Not blower, but not cement either. Surprisingly not many moguls had grown - mostly "baby moguls". I hit a very large (several acre section of 5" untracked), which would have been more fun if I didn't have 70 under foot. Back to the car for the 96. That's when the fun really began. Most of the blues were pretty challenging as the day went on as the temp rose and the precip became moisture and fell faster. I could literally see and felt the difference as the snow compressed from one to the next. Pretty much everywhere I went I was pushing about 2-3" of snow. Grass on about half of the trails I was on. I clicked some photos below.
Came in for a break about 1:30 as I could feel the precip turning to rain. Halfway down the mountain the brakes went on the skis from the water suction. I stayed inside for almost an hour, feeling the burn in my legs, cozy on the big couch around the fake fire. Grabbed some paste wax, found a handy heater and applied a coat. I went back out at 2:30 as the rain subsided. Wax made a huge difference, at least for a while. I should have done a hot wax, but I was lazy. I skied right up to closing. For about the last hour me and one other guy were probably the only people on the mountain. Kinda weird, all these people just waiting around for us to leave
By 4:30 when I was back to the rack, mine were the only skis, and it was decidedly raining. 
