Big Burke announcement

[crank]

I agree it will be better to be right at the trails. Easier to gather groups together for the lead rides. It was nice to have the lodge facilities available though.

 

[thetrailboss]

A new article today in the Caledonian Record has Q Sr. walking back the sh^& he said about Don Graham and previous owners. This is truly a PR disaster of epic proportions. I will see if VT Digger runs the article because the CR one is behind a paywall.....

 

[dlague]

A new article today in the Caledonian Record has Q Sr. walking back the sh^& he said about Don Graham and previous owners. This is truly a PR disaster of epic proportions. I will see if VT Digger runs the article because the CR one is behind a paywall.....

wow I have never seen anyone refer to the Caledonian Record - thats cool!

 

[thetrailboss]

Here's the article:

http://vtdigger.org/2014/01/23/stenger-apologizes-quiros-remarks-previous-burke-owner/

Also attached to the article is an "apology" that they sent to Don Graham. Note how there is no simple apology for saying something stupid. I guess it would have been too much to simply say, "I misspoke. I'm so sorry." I think it is time for the Q's to take a step back and hire someone who is diplomatic to run Burke.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Thanks for posting that. It seems the Quiros’ kind of just jumped into this head first and figured they could just kind of "fix the mountain" without really understanding its history.
How in the world did the not know some of this history?

“I spoke to his [Ariel Quiros'] son Ary Jr. today and I had a really nice conversation with him and he said that his father was sincerely apologetic and was very respectful after learning more about Don Graham’s involvement in Burke Mountain,” said Dwyer.

I think this shows how much Bill Stenger has not been involved with laying out a management plan for Burke. I’m sure a lot of these topics would have come up and he could have set the record straight before regrettable comments were publicly made.

And I keep coming back to the “Envisioning” panel that I was on late last winter. Both of the Quiros’ were there. Did they listen to ANYTHING that the invitees were saying? An undertone of community and passionate history was woven into almost everything anyone said.

 

[thetrailboss]

And I keep coming back to the “Envisioning” panel that I was on late last winter. Both of the Quiros’ were there. Did they listen to ANYTHING that the invitees were saying? An undertone of community and passionate history was woven into almost everything anyone said.

Why listen to the "little people"?

 

[thetrailboss]

So I was on the chairlift at Deer Valley today (with Sundance the tool factor was pretty high unfortunately). Rode up with one guy who got talking to me. I mentioned Burke as my home mountain and he replied.

"Oh yes, my friend just bought that place."

I diplomatically advised him to get better friends.

 

[twinplanx]

Wow I would love an audio replay of that conversation! I will settle for the highlights though...

Sent from my SCH-S735C using Tapatalk

 

[jimmywilson69]

You should've spilled the beans on the entire story...

Also LOL at the "tool factor" comment

sent from AlpineZone Mobile App

 

[Smellytele]

So I was on the chairlift at Deer Valley today (with Sundance the tool factor was pretty high unfortunately). Rode up with one guy who got talking to me. I mentioned Burke as my home mountain and he replied.

"Oh yes, my friend just bought that place."

I diplomatically advised him to get better friends.

Hmm Deer Valley and friend of Q - who would have thought?

 

[thetrailboss]

Wow I would love an audio replay of that conversation! I will settle for the highlights though...

Sent from my SCH-S735C using Tapatalk

We were about to get off. You don't know how disappointed I was that I could not fill him in even more. I doubt that he would have understood or even told Q about what I said.

You should've spilled the beans on the entire story...

Also LOL at the "tool factor" comment

sent from AlpineZone Mobile App

I love Deer Valley, but in my six days skiing there in three years this was the worst in terms of snow and tools. I felt that I was in the Craftsman section. It reminded me of holiday crap at Sugarbush...folks deciding at the last second "not" to ride up the lift with you, folks blocking lift queues, zipping in front of you without looking, ignoring you on the lifts, saying stupid things like "man, those are fat skis" (yes of course they are, it is UTAH. And yours are 70 mm so get with the program, fool.), and just not listening to you.

Back to Burke: I'm really sick of what is happening. These guys are the worst I have ever seen and are downright cocky about it. Sad, so sad. My home mountain deserves better.

 

[oldtimer]

Burke Weekend 1/25

We skied this weekend and things have definitely improved. They have made more snow down low and teh skiing on Bear Den to Ledges etc was great. Dippers, Little Dipper etc all skied very well. The were blowing hard on upper training hill Sat night through Sunday and with the wind it was filling in under the lift and even onto Doug's quite nicely.

Bad news is that those in the know tell my that day ticket purchases are in the dumper- way off of last year and last year was not good. No surprise, but not healthy.

Staff morale seems to be improving.

 

[thetrailboss]

We skied this weekend and things have definitely improved. They have made more snow down low and teh skiing on Bear Den to Ledges etc was great. Dippers, Little Dipper etc all skied very well. The were blowing hard on upper training hill Sat night through Sunday and with the wind it was filling in under the lift and even onto Doug's quite nicely.

Bad news is that those in the know tell my that day ticket purchases are in the dumper- way off of last year and last year was not good. No surprise, but not healthy.

Staff morale seems to be improving.

That's in part due to the weather and probably somewhat due to the negative PR.

 

[SkiRaceParent]

I also skied a lot at Burke this weekend. The conditions were the best I could remember in quite awhile. It seems like the snowmaking has amped up considerably in the last couple weeks, and we even have gotten about 6" natural over the last couple of days (~4" today). I think the mood/atmosphere is changing. Certainly, there have been some missteps by new ownership/management, but I think that they are beginning to 'get it' and the mood at the mountain is beginning to change, a lot. Hopefully that continues and there's a strong finish to the season....looking forward to it!

 

[Masskier]

Just got in from skiing. The conditions are by far the best of the season. They continue to pump snow on training hill and some on Doug's. They also added lower Foxes, Foxes and started to resuface lower Bear Den. I've never seen so much snow on the training hill. It probably be skiable till May or June. Reminded me of how Killington use to pump up Superstar.

 

[xwhaler]

That's great news---just booked my Cannon/Burke trip today (3rd wknd in March)

 

[from_the_NEK]

Good to hear things are improving (conditions at least). Hopefully things will continue to improve on all fronts.

 

[thetrailboss]

An excerpt from an Email to passholders:

Dear Season Passholders,
As we approach the end of January, I wanted to reach out and let you know about our snowmaking plan for the remainder of this season. We have admittedly faced some challenges this season, but I want to let you know up front that we are committed to making snow into at least mid-February. Our mountain operations and snowmaking teams have been working hard all season long, and I believe that hard work is now manifesting itself in some great conditions - the best we've seen all season - up on the mountain.
In terms of our recent snowmaking efforts, temperatures have been incredible for snowmaking and we've been taking full advantage. Over the course of the last 10 days or so, we've made snow on Little Dipper, Ledges, Open Slope, Big Dipper, Upper Bear Den, Upper Fox's Folly, Deer Run, Binney Lane, Bunker Hill and Carter Country, bringing our trail count up to 25. The guns are currently on Upper Warren's Way and Lower Warren's Way (photo on the left taken today), which we'll look to complete in the next few days. We'll finish on Upper and Lower Warren's, then move to Fox's Folly. Once we're done there, we'll evaluate the remainder of the mountain and continue to make snow where we need it and refresh surfaces that could use it to make sure they last through March. I want to re-assure you of our commitment to making snow through at least mid-February so that we can continue to provide you with the best possible conditions for Presidents Weekend and School Vacation weeks, as well as set the mountain up for a strong spring all the way through March and hopefully, into April. If you happen to be on the mountain anytime soon and see our Mountain Operations Director Jason Lefebvre, or our Snowmaking Manager Denny DeGreenia, or any of Denny's team of hardworking snowmakers, please thank them for their efforts. They have worked tirelessly through some incredibly challenging conditions this season, have put in more hours than they can probably remember, and in the end have done an incredible job.
Once again, conditions are fantastic and I urge you all to come up and inspect them for yourselves. This weekend would be a great time to do so. We've got Ski & Ride with the Point on Friday, a Super Bowl party in the Tamarack on Sunday, and in between it's Passholder Appreciation Weekend. We're happy to offer 50% off lift tickets for your guests both Saturday and Sunday. We've lifted the restrictions on our midweek passes for Saturday and Sunday, so midweek passholders can ski or ride this weekend. We're doing an Apres Party in the Bear Den from 3-6pm on Saturday where I'll do a quick welcome, thank you and update, and you'll have a chance to meet the team here, if you haven't already. During the happy hour we'll also raffle off a 2014/15 Season Pass to one lucky person, so make sure to be there. After that, live music from the Dean Machine from 9pm-Midnight, and a free continental breakfast for passholders on Sunday at 8:30am in the Kingdom Cafeteria round out the weekend. This is just one small way we can show you how much we appreciate you and everything you do for this mountain.
Thank you again for your commitment to the mountain and for allowing us to be a part of your skiing and riding family. I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Sincerely,Ary Quiros, Jr.President and CEO
​

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[from_the_NEK]

The webcam is back on! And as I post this it is DUMPING. http://skiburke.com/webcam

 

[fbrissette]

The webcam is back on! And as I post this it is DUMPING. http://skiburke.com/webcam

Hmmmm. The Qwebcam please.

Powder will not solve everything, but it'll help.