Burke Mountain - Boston Globe

[56fish]

As a former LSC student/Burke intern holding a 30 year love affair with the NEK - I'm selfishly not into the mega developement. The local economy is/has been rough for a long time - it's transplanted flatlanders like me that want to stifle developement the most!

From the local papers & population (depends on who you talk to); I'd say they're 50/50 on the build up.

 

[the original trailboss]

I don't hear a lot but

I think there is a lot of skepticism in general (based on a past history of big talk and no action and no money) and some short term peripheral $$ gain for sell-outs,speculators and local trades people but not as much comment as one might expect. When "the plan" is finalized and released it might hit home. Interestingly enough, the local newspaper seems a little disinterested in the whole thing-they could take this one way or the other or just be neutral but it should get more attention than it does.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I think there is a lot of skepticism in general (based on a past history of big talk and no action and no money) and some short term peripheral $$ gain for sell-outs,speculators and local trades people but not as much comment as one might expect. When "the plan" is finalized and released it might hit home. Interestingly enough, the local newspaper seems a little disinterested in the whole thing-they could take this one way or the other or just be neutral but it should get more attention than it does.

It seems like the Caledonian is trying not to "step on any toes" in the treatment of the goings on at Burke. It seems like there was a lot of interest at first but they have stopped running as many stries this year. I think the Ginn Company is holding their cards very close and the Caledonian was not able to easily root them up so they gave up. They have really only done press releases that come from the mountain. This Boston Globe article has more in depth research than anyhting the Cal-Rec has had this year.

Myself, I feel like the company is correct that it needs to keep the local rural character to sell its product. However, I am sometimes skeptical of large corps. not keeping their word. As long as the development they put in place does not wreck the mountain biking (I'm sure the golf course/condo/home are going to take a bite out of the Kingdom Trails network) and the mountain remains open and affordable to the general public I am for this boost to the local economy. As far as I can tell they aren't turning the mountian into Killington. I just hope they don't turn it into Stratton (luckily Burke is currently a better "terrain" mtn than Stratton).

I need to ride the lift at Burke with some people this weekend so that I can hash this over more. Are either of you Trailbosses going to be there this weekend?

 

[riverc0il]

heh, i am not sure burke or lyndonville could ever be considered "ritzy" despite however much development ginn gets :lol: a solid article, though "natives are starting to wonder" makes it sound like folks haven't been wondering for the past year. if anything... from the folks i have spoken to about their thoughts, most folks seemed resigned that for better or worse it is going to happen, right now it is all about working with ginn as much as possible to ensure as many people as possible are satisfied with the development. you only get one chance to build it, so they have to do it right.

 

[klrskiah]

As a former LSC student/Burke intern holding a 30 year love affair with the NEK - I'm selfishly not into the mega developement. The local economy is/has been rough for a long time - it's transplanted flatlanders like me that want to stifle developement the most!

From the local papers & population (depends on who you talk to); I'd say they're 50/50 on the build up.

The whole thing sounds very similar to whats going on in the Greenville/Moosehead area in northern Maine where Plum Creek timber plans to build 2 resorts and over 1,000 private homes in wilderness areas. Locals are divided on the plan, but it is out of their hands as the LURC governs over the 10 million acres of unorganized townships in Maine. The economy is pretty much nonexistant up there and it's understandable why people are in support it. But that region is the last remaineng sizable tract of wilderness land east of the mississippi river (larger than all of Massachusetts) and once it gets opened up to development it will be lost forever. The upside i guess is they also are trying to buy Big Squaw mountain and revitalize the resort.

edit: the article does mention the moosehead development.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Change comes with great dificulty especially to a bunch of yankees but the plain truth is you can't have it both ways. If you want the positives of a busier economy you have to accept the changes that come along with it.

Nowadays I think most big developers are pretty sensitive to the effect on the local community, they have to be. Working together they can have the positive while at the same time minimizing the negetives.

I think we all realize that the locals cannot support a bigtime ski resort, who have to bring in guests from away. Burke is one of the best examples in NE of this.

 

[56fish]

Change comes with great dificulty especially to a bunch of yankees but the plain truth is you can't have it both ways. If you want the positives of a busier economy you have to accept the changes that come along with it. .....

I think we all realize that the locals cannot support a bigtime ski resort, who have to bring in guests from away. Burke is one of the best examples in NE of this.

Dead on.:sad:

 

[kingdom-tele]

locals have a hard time supporting the local ski resort when the tickets for their family to ski cost more than the grocery bill

theres more than one way to skin a cat - introducing big business isn't the only way to keep a ski hill open

 

[riverc0il]

locals have a hard time supporting the local ski resort when the tickets for their family to ski cost more than the grocery bill

theres more than one way to skin a cat - introducing big business isn't the only way to keep a ski hill open

but prices haven't really gone up much since ginn took over. ticket prices have only gone up at comparable rates to similar other ski areas in the area such as cannon, wildcat, jay, etc. mid-50s is respectable pricing for any 2000 vert mountain with the terrain that burke offers. the only other cheaper option with an hour and a half drive is lyndon outing club, when it opens. skiing is an expensive sport, and i am not going to flame ginn for expensive lift tickets until they are on par with expensive areas such as ASC, bush, stowe, stratton, etc. vermonter rates were put into place this year as well. when was the last year that a local could buy a $39 day ticket to burke?