Big Burke announcement

[billski]

Everyone else also get their daily/hourly FB feed from the Q offering 30% Winter Holidays?

So let me get this straight.....I can pay 70% of the full price for 30% of the mountain being open? Shouldn't it be 70% off?

Why don't we just price room rates at what % of the trails are actually open? Perhaps then they might get their shit together on the ancient formula of making snow.....

Math does not seem to be their strong suit.

 

[thetrailboss]

 

[thetrailboss]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

[VTKilarney]

 

[thetrailboss]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

[thetrailboss]

Yes where is Masskier?

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

[thetrailboss]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

[thetrailboss]

OK, enough for now. It does suck that this year was very dry in Vermont. On my visit in October the rivers were VERY low.

 

[VTKilarney]

 

[VTKilarney]

 

[burski]

"from_the_NEK" your a bit off on a lot of your assumptions - the State of VT allows ski areas to withdraw water from rivers when the river flow is above the February Median Flow avg - if the Feb median flow is 45 cfs as you state than there is no reason Q cannot withdraw from the Passumpsic over the past few weeks. The likely problem is they have issues with their river pump station which I would expect, since they have no employees with any experience that understand what it takes to complete preventive maintenance and do the necessary testing to make sure the system is ready to go when needed. It is very convenient of them to blame it on the river rather than not doing proper preseason maintenance (this is my assumption, not fact). historically the passumpsic has been one of the most reliable rivers in the State of VT hence burke never had to build a large snowmaking pond in the past. So unless this year is one of the worst drought years in VT history then the river level is likely fine (unless it is currently below the Feb median flow). Water supply has almost never been an issue for Burke in the past two decades but for the past two years now this is a problem?? This does not make any sense.

Would building a bigger pond be a worthwhile investment? Definitely, but historically the Passumpsic has been extremely reliable through late January when snowmaking typically slows down significantly anyway. And FWIW, the pond is significantly deeper than 4-5 feet - I believe it holds 3-4 million gallons.

 

[thetrailboss]

"from_the_NEK" your a bit off on a lot of your assumptions - the State of VT allows ski areas to withdraw water from rivers when the river flow is above the February Median Flow avg - if the Feb median flow is 45 cfs as you state than there is no reason Q cannot withdraw from the Passumpsic over the past few weeks. The likely problem is they have issues with their river pump station which I would expect, since they have no employees with any experience that understand what it takes to complete preventive maintenance and do the necessary testing to make sure the system is ready to go when needed. It is very convenient of them to blame it on the river rather than not doing proper preseason maintenance (this is my assumption, not fact). historically the passumpsic has been one of the most reliable rivers in the State of VT hence burke never had to build a large snowmaking pond in the past. So unless this year is one of the worst drought years in VT history then the river level is likely fine (unless it is currently below the Feb median flow). Water supply has almost never been an issue for Burke in the past two decades but for the past two years now this is a problem?? This does not make any sense.

Would building a bigger pond be a worthwhile investment? Definitely, but historically the Passumpsic has been extremely reliable through late January when snowmaking typically slows down significantly anyway. And FWIW, the pond is significantly deeper than 4-5 feet - I believe it holds 3-4 million gallons.

I think you touch on two key points--one is lack of historical working knowledge a company has from its staff and the second is lack of preventative maintenance. I know that the second one is an issue in other areas of the mountain.

 

[zeke]

OK, enough for now. It does suck that this year was very dry in Vermont. On my visit in October the rivers were VERY low.

the new over/under be should be when the first time the dry fall is used as an excuse for lackluster snowmaking

 

[thetrailboss]

the new over/under be should be when the first time the dry fall is used as an excuse for lackluster snowmaking

Or the warm weather. I can't believe they haven't used that.

 

[River19]

Pics of skiing on Sugarloaf and Mt Snow have been rolling in this morning......been warm all over.....just sayin......

 

[from_the_NEK]

According to the graph found here;
http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/vt/n...od=&begin_date=2014-12-01&end_date=2015-02-28

The February median is roughly around 50cfs. The river dropped below that level 3 times in November.

And the pond may be deeper than an average of 3.5 feet, I'm just going from what I've heard. If it actually holds 3-4 million gallons it would have to average 9.2 to 12.2 feet deep.

 

[thetrailboss]

Pics of skiing on Sugarloaf and Mt Snow have been rolling in this morning......been warm all over.....just sayin......

Trust me....I saw those pics and LOVED them. I also wanted to get after my other home Sugarbush for their pathetic snowmaking efforts in comparison.

 

[deadheadskier]

anyone got a pic of the pond in it's current state?


Crotched's pond runs out fairly routinely to start the season and they have to suspend snowmaking operations. I don't believe they have the ability to pump from a river. It fills up fairly fast with a bit of rain. Once they get the base down on 100 acres, it no longer becomes an issue.

I'm just pointing this out to hopefully be optimistic for the Burke crew. Crotched is known for great snowmaking and while it's only 100 acres of terrain, I'm guessing Burke's snowmaking coverage is what? 150 acres with the rest being natural snow trails and glades to round out their acreage?

Now the key difference is that Crotched can light up the whole place with who knows how many fan guns. The story I've been told is they once fired up all of them one night to see if they could do it and the local electric utility called them and said if they don't turn some of the system off, they might cause a local brown out.

 

[thetrailboss]

the new over/under be should be when the first time the dry fall is used as an excuse for lackluster snowmaking

Someone read your comment:

Water levels are back to normal and we began pumping water and refilling the snow making pond late yesterday afternoon to replenish our water supply. Forecast is calling for 1-3 inches of natural snow with the low tonight only getting to 28 degrees. Temperatures fall throughout the day tomorrow and we will fire back up the system and add to the accumulation with snow making. Our gameplan will be to finish the upper mountain (Upper/Lower Willoughby and Upper Bear Den) then move to Warren's Way training hill to get BMA online.

 

[VTKilarney]

Now the key difference is that Crotched can light up the whole place with who knows how many fan guns.

This is the problem. Burke can only seem to muster 25 or 30 guns at any given time. This means that when snowmaking conditions exist, the rest of the competition is blowing Burke out of the water. What we are going to see is Burke limping along when cold weather returns, gradually getting just a few trails open over the course of about three weeks of snowmaking. They will get trails open at a fraction of the pace that other hills will get them open.

Whether the problem is water or compressed air, Burke just doesn't have enough of what they need. This is mostly because Ary made a strategic decision to eliminate compressed air capacity. The water was just bad luck (if it's indeed true), whereas the lack of compressed air was intentional.