Big Burke announcement

[thetrailboss]

Bretton Woods made snow last night but Burke did not. That's a bummer.

But now for some good news from today's snowmaking update:
"Given the conditions the entire New England area is experiencing right now, Jay Peak will be honoring any Q Burke season pass holder free skiing at their resort until we are able to open."

I think that this is a great gesture. Well done, Ary.

It was probably Bill that made that call.

 

[thetrailboss]

110% agree.

There were plenty of tactical errors made up to this point, however if their water supply will hold up, there is still something they can do to at least show they are aware of the pickle and trying....

If they sit on what they have currently and just try to blow snow with what they have now and get up and running from bare ground.....they will be left in the dust by darn near everyone.

Agreed. The weather sucks, but there are things that CAN be done to take advantage of whatever cold air there is.

 

[billski]

It was probably Bill that made that call.

Agree, but for different reasons. Wouldn't have expected sound judgement otherwise....

 

[VTKilarney]

It's to Jay's benefit to do this. They are bound to pick up some food and beverage revenue that they wouldn't have otherwise had. And they may even pick up a hotel reservation or two. Since people are no doubt cancelling left and right, any opportunity to add revenue is well worth it.

 

[thetrailboss]

Agree, but for different reasons. Wouldn't have expected sound judgement otherwise....

Yep.

 

[Smellytele]

It's to Jay's benefit to do this. They are bound to pick up some food and beverage revenue that they wouldn't have otherwise had. And they may even pick up a hotel reservation or two. Since people are no doubt cancelling left and right, any opportunity to add revenue is well worth it.

Yeah I would want to make reservation when they have 3 trails open (The Jet, Haynes and Mont L’Entrepide) and 1 lift (Jet). I agree they did it because Jay isn't getting any business either.

 

[VTKilarney]

Yeah I would want to make reservation when they have 3 trails open (The Jet, Haynes and Mont L’Entrepide) and 1 lift (Jet). I agree they did it because Jay isn't getting any business either.

With all of the EB-5 projects, Jay Peak has a TON of overhead. This Christmas may be a real disaster for their bottom line. This is unfortunate since they really could use some on-mountain improvements.

 

[oldtimer]

assume for a moment that Burke manages to get enough snow on lower training hill to run the Poma in their upcoming 60 hour window. Do they open with lower Warrens, Poma only, for the week from Xmas to New Years? tough call.

 

[from_the_NEK]

assume for a moment that Burke manages to get enough snow on lower training hill to run the Poma in their upcoming 60 hour window. Do they open with lower Warrens, Poma only, for the week from Xmas to New Years? tough call.

Better than nothing but I'm not paying $64 to ski it.

I might be strongly tempted at $40.

 

[Keelhauled]

assume for a moment that Burke manages to get enough snow on lower training hill to run the Poma in their upcoming 60 hour window. Do they open with lower Warrens, Poma only, for the week from Xmas to New Years? tough call.

If they're gonna spend the money to make the snow there's no downside to running the lift for whoever shows up. Hard to believe they wouldn't get enough traffic to pay to run the Poma and a half dozen employees. Of course the next question would be can they get enough snow made so it doesn't all promptly melt before the end of the week. If they can get continuous skiing through the week, then I can't believe they wouldn't do it. But if there's a question as to whether it sticks till the next window...do you try to salvage some pride and open for a couple days, or save the cash and wait till a longer stretch of cold so they don't have to start over for the third time? That would probably be the better decision financially, but you know there would be hell to pay publicly. I'm sure glad I'm not making these decisions, because I really don't know the right answer.

 

[VTKilarney]

I had that same thought too. They need to make snow on Lower Warren's Way. Without Lower Warren's Way open, any snow higher on the hill is useless. But they are essentially starting from scratch with snowmaking on Lower Warren's Way. So even if they can get it open, there is going to be just barely enough snow - right before a huge warm up.

This is a TOUGH decision. On the one hand, it seems absurd to open a token run just in time for the snow to melt. And the poma lift hasn't been the most reliable lift lately. On the other hand, the PR nightmare of not being open at all for Christmas won't help with hotel sales for next Christmas.

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that they aren't going to be open during Christmas. I came to this theory because of the announcement that they will allow skiing at Jay until they open. I'm guessing that the real reason they are allowing skiing at Jay is because they don't want passholders to go ballistic when they aren't able to open for Christmas.

Another clue... Burke did not make snow last night whereas most other ski areas in the region did.

 

[oldtimer]

Bingo- I do not think they open to the general public over xmas week. I am not even sure what I hope for since lapping on the Poma with a throng has no appeal. Looks like a week for the bike.

 

[Smellytele]

Bingo- I do not think they open to the general public over xmas week. I am not even sure what I hope for since lapping on the Poma with a throng has no appeal. Looks like a week for the bike.

Whoa! thought you wrote Thong not Throng

 

[VTKilarney]

Whoa! thought you wrote Thong not Throng

With temps in the 50's, a thong is not out of the question.

 

[oldtimer]

If is definitely out of the question for me.

with temps in the 50's, a thong is not out of the question.

 

[VTKilarney]

I'm not sure how serious an effort this is, but here they go...

 

[oldtimer]

Yeaaaaa

 

[VTKilarney]

Now I can't figure out why they didn't blow last night.

 

[MEtoVTSkier]

I'm not sure how serious an effort this is, but here they go...

They'd better drag every piece of portable equipment they can lay their hands on over there, and bury that wide area down towards the bottom. Should still be some air/water hookups down there somewhere hopefully. Going to need to cover the Poma track good too, to survive the upcoming holiday blowtorch...

 

[MEtoVTSkier]