Burke's New Owners and New Start (2025)

[thetrailboss]

Made my first trip to Burke last week. As a Catamount / Bousquet / B.East passholder, I couldn't be happier with this development.

Awesome to hear. I grew up in Lyndonville and Burke was where I learned to ski and I follow it, so I will try to respond to some of the questions. I am going back up in a couple of weeks.

Complaints - parking is kind of a pain up top on a weekend powder day. Lots fill quickly, and there's a lot of confusion and chaos with people driving around in circles. That's probably a rare occurrence, but I'm surprised there isn't a bigger lot on the NW / front side of the hotel. The hotel has this kind of grand entrance, but you never see it. Maybe it's worth having the views. I never actually set foot inside the hotel though.

YES. The lots at MidBurke used to extend BELOW the Mid-Burke Lodge. The current lots are actually the overflow lots from 15 years or so ago (and way before that the original lots). Parking with the new hotel is a PITA. On both overnight stays I would drive down to the Hotel entrance and search, usually in vain, to find a spot before resigning myself to parking in those lots and walking across the bridge to the Hotel. Add racers and it is much worse. Going into the Hotel is worth it--the store and Pub are nice.

Racers / BMA kids feel like they own that upper lodge. We've had enough complaining about racer kids on this board, but damn. "Kids these days, amiright?"

Racing is an elite sport because it requires a lot of time and money these days. The kids you saw are, arguably, the best of the best in terms of racing, or the ones who have the most resources, or both. Some of them carry that sense of entitlement. That is all I will say. We have to coexist because without them Burke would have been NELSAP 30 years ago.

I looked back through some old threads.. was the location of the new summit quad controversial? The trek from the lower lift is mildly annoying (especially if you are towing kids). The Willoughby looked like a perfect spot. I can kind of understand getting closer to the hotel, but even as it is it's quite a hike with ZERO steps or anything from the hotel up to the lift. Looks kind of awkward if not downright treachorous in snow boots; not what you want your five-star guests to deal with. I realize the Willouby (and TBH, I came across a eulogy you wrote for that lift on here, very nice) was still up while the summit was installed, but it sounds like they almost never ran at teh same time. In a perfect world you would've just swapped 'em one summer? Oh well.

Controversial? No. There are several backstories as to its location.

Some history--the T-Bar actually runs pretty close to the original lift line for the mountain although you would not know it. In 1956 the founders constructed a Poma lift that ran straight up to the summit. It crossed over the middle of what is now Upper Warren's Way. Almost 20 years ago I skied the portion of the liftline in between the Willoughby Quad and Warren's Way and one could barely make it out. The Shoot and part of Upper Fox's Folly is this original liftline. The Poma ended right beside the current ski patrol cabin. The Poma was shortened in 1966 or so when the first Willoughby Chair was constructed up the line that the old quad ran. Hall and the owner picked a line that was direct and relatively sheltered.

By 1966 there were a fair number of trails on the east side, surrounding the Toll Road. This makes sense as the Toll Road made for easy access in the summer, was the corridor for some of the first CCC cut ski trails (Wilderness-Powderhorn-Lew's Leap in particular). So a downside to the chairlift was that it unloaded in the parking lot at the summit, just down a slight incline from the start of the Toll Road and the eastern trails. Go back 20 years and you will see folks here bitching about having to climb that little pitch. I know, first-world problems. So that was one issue.

The bigger reason for the liftline is due to another interesting quirk involving another NELSAP area--in fact the only one to have a HSQ. Mountain Manager Dick Andross and others at the time thought that this was a good alternative to have the lift end in a sport where one could ski down to all the terrain (so no more Toll Road climb). Perhaps the "new" lift would follow this route. This also left the Willoughby as an option to be shortened to serve the racers and intermediate terrain. Other locals knew that this new line was a bit more exposed to wind, and Burke rarely had windholds prior to this lift. What forced Burke's hand was their initial replacement plan. To save money, Burke had approached the creditor of Ascutney and offered to buy the Ascutney HSQ. It was a CTEC, like the Willoughby and had low hours. Negotiations dragged on. Lift manufacturers were very skeptical of reusing the lift. The target was to install it in the Summer of 2011. However, by late spring, the deal was not done. Burke had to make a last minute pivot and buy the new Poma HSQ. Due to timing, there was a very real possibility that the lift would not be ready until January--which meant a very delayed opening for racing and customers. So this alternative lift route was selected to allow for the Willoughby to remain in place and operational in case of delays. They kept it operational until about 2015 or so. Q hated that lift BTW. In 2016 or so, either the Receiver or possible Q, started disassembling the lift. They removed the chairs and haul rope. I think it is an eyesore and makes me very sad as I have a lot of memories of that lift--my "first quad" ride.

Forgot to add - in a world of magic carpets, it's amazing how much fun my kids have with new surface lifts. This was their first T bar / J bar experience, and I couldn't get 'em off the damn thing. Riding a T bar with a four year old is more exhausting going up than endless moguls coming down Caveman.

Glad you got to ride "the D-Bar". It is rarely open to the public as it is BMA's designated lift. However, it opens to the public on windhold days. The old Poma was a lot faster and served up some great runs.

Also, special shout out to the couple working the hot dog stand in the upper lodge. That's probably a pretty good gig, and they are working hard all day and just super nice and friendly and while a five dollar hot-dog isn't really a bargain, it does hit the spot.

I am pretty sure that you're talking about Rocky's. He is from NYC IIRC and has been selling his hot dogs around the area. Mid-Burke used to have a full kitchen but they closed it to save money.

Glad you liked it! Ski the Outing Club next time for a real blast from the past!