Burke Thurs 3/21

[Whitey]

We broke up the trip from Boston up to Jay for the weekend by driving to Burke on the way up and skiing there before continuing on to Jay after skiing. I can get to Burke in about 2.5 hrs and then it's a little over an hr to get to Jay from Burke. I had a free lift tix from my Champlain Valley ride & ski card and I also have CHAD ride & ski so that gave us 1/2 off on the other ticket. So two adult full day lift tickets for us cost a total of $36.

The skiing was the day before the snow storm hit so they were coming off of the rain from the last week. You could tell. The conditions were kind of meh. Not awful but not great. The "outer" glades trails (Dixieland, Jungle, Birches) were all closed. I was disappointed in that because from skiing the other stuff on the mountain I had to wonder how those trails could be "worse" than what we were skiing in other glades. Late in the day we ducked the rope on Dixieland and it was as skiable as the other glades. Throbulator and Caveman glades were in OK shape and were fun to ski. My last run I did Powerline into Caveman. The snow had finally started to soften and I got a great spring-like run thru those. Too bad it didn't warm up earlier.

I have no intel about the glade closing but it is in line with the overall vibe of the mountain. It really felt like they just didn't want to have to sweep those trails at the end of the day and figured that no one was there anyway so it wouldn't matter if they opened or closed them. I am trying not to read too much into a Thursday late in the season with so-so conditions, but the place was dead. It had an overall vibe of neglect. Which is to be expected when you're bankrupt/receivership. There didn't look to be anyone at the hotel. It was ski on lifts all day. At 1030AM I parked my truck across from the stairs up into the lodge.

It was just a little bit sad as it is a mountain that has a lot to be offered. Hopefully their situation will get better with new ownership and not end up NELSAP.

Pics:
Dixieland (does this look like it should be closed?):


Caveman:


Hotel looking pretty quiet. Also note the liftline. This is at around 1130AM:


Powerline:


Wilderness:

 

[Whitey]

One last note. I was a little surprised to see the old Willoughby Quad hasn't been taken down yet. The cables and chairs were off but the rest of the structures were still there. I doubt there's anything there that can be salvaged and used at another mountain. You can see from this pic that the top unload is rotting and falling apart.

 

[deadheadskier]

Well

They are in receivership, so they don't really have the money to do much with it. Probably took the chairs down so they don't get damaged in wind. New owners can take care of the rest.


Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[thetrailboss]

One last note. I was a little surprised to see the old Willoughby Quad hasn't been taken down yet. The cables and chairs were off but the rest of the structures were still there. I doubt there's anything there that can be salvaged and used at another mountain. You can see from this pic that the top unload is rotting and falling apart.

View attachment 24905

Believe it or not but the long-term plans have always been to "re-use" the lift somewhere else on the mountain. Agreed that I hate seeing it in such a state. It is a money issue as DHS has said.

 

[Whitey]

Believe it or not but the long-term plans have always been to "re-use" the lift somewhere else on the mountain. Agreed that I hate seeing it in such a state. It is a money issue as DHS has said.

TB -

Just out of interest - where were they thinking of putting it? Running it up Powerline or nearby so you don't have to do that awful runout? Other than that area, not sure where else on that mountain it would make sense.

 

[thetrailboss]

TB -

Just out of interest - where were they thinking of putting it? Running it up Powerline or nearby so you don't have to do that awful runout? Other than that area, not sure where else on that mountain it would make sense.

You got it. Northern Star and others envisioned moving it to the East Bowl near where you said. Another idea was to shorten it to replace the Poma, but that didn't happen. So now she stands somewhat disabled and an eyesore.

 

[from_the_NEK]

East Bowl or West Bowl would be candidates but would require massive overhauls which would likely make a new lift more cost effective. If Burke were to keep the Willoughby Quad, this would be my vision of how it would be used:

It could be shortened to the bottom of Fox's Folly and used to create an excellent intermediate pod.

 

[thetrailboss]

East Bowl or West Bowl would be candidates but would require massive overhauls which would likely make a new lift more cost effective. If Burke were to keep the Willoughby Quad, this would be my vision of how it would be used:

It could be shortened to the bottom of Fox's Folly and used to create an excellent intermediate pod.

Pretty sure that was "the plan" for a short time in the last 14 years or so....but with it ending at Tower 17 or so.

Agree that it is pretty shot. I imagine they will sell the components to a smaller outfit. The terminal, drive, carriers, and some hardware are perfectly fine. The pylons themselves are 55 years old, but modified in 1988-1989.

 

[thetrailboss]

And another big irony: before MBX, the Willoughby RARELY closed due to windholds. Now wihtout it, MBX has occasional windholds making the upper mountain inaccessible above the T-Bar. Oops.