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? For Local Burke Guys

Boardguy

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Have any of you given the Mtn. a driveby lately? I was wondering how things were looking. Really no info on the website just that opening day is Sat. You would think a picture or two on the website might be appropriate. So how does it look, are they making snow and where?
 

Boardguy

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Saw a pic on the facebook page looks like the bottom of the race trail and maybe Willoughby and Dashney mile. That about it so far?
 

burski

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It's not looking promising only lower warrens for training for BMA. It looks like they are trying to connect from there up bear den trial to get to the summit but they only extended up a few hundred yards (from the mid point of warrens way) as of this morning. It looks like there is a long way to go to get to the summit. I think they have started making snow on the lower mountain but it's not visible from the lower lodge. Not sure why they would be hoping to the lower Mtn if they don't even have a summit trail yet. The most disappointing thing is they were NOT making snow this weekend, or if so for a very limited period. I was at the Mtn both days and did not see or hear anything running. This weekend will be a huge disappointment and at this rate I don't see more than a handful of trails for vacation week unless major snow comes.
 

Quietman

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Today's post in Andrew's Blog on Burke's web site

Here at the mountain, we've made our preparations - we increased our snow gun count last year. We upped our available power this year. But the one thing we needed, that little bit of luck to get a good run of solid temperatures.... we didn't get. Well, we had it and things were looking good, and then it got warm. Real warm. And the skies dropped some of that dreaded non-crystallized precipitation on us. So here we are, on December 9th, still waiting with eager anticipation for the mountain to open. But fear not, Burkies, for our patience will be rewarded. It's snowing as I type this and we have an extremely positive snowmaking forecast for this week. The starting line is in sight! Unless either Mother Nature or the snowmaking system decide to go rogue on us, we'll be skiing and riding on Saturday, December 14th from the Summit down to mid-Burke off of the Mid-Burke Express. The plan right now is to open with Upper Willoughby to Lower Bear Den to Lower Warren's Way. High Meadows Pass also looks pretty good, so there's a good chance we'll have top-to-bottom availability with both the Mid-Burke and the Sherburne spinning. Obviously, standard caveats apply there so don't quote me on that just yet. From there, we'll expand terrain to include our beginner area. We'll crank out snow to make sure Steve and the crew can get the Dashney terrain park going. And we'll all remember why we love this place, and these sports, so much. Yes friends, all will be right with the world once again. In the words of the illustrious Axl Rose, we just need.... a little patience.
See ya on the hill,

Andrew
 

thetrailboss

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Good question. I've seen on FB some "select" pictures of snowmaking and lots of close-ups. Based on that, from my vantage point it looked good....until a disgruntled Burkie posted a pic yesterday that he claimed he took that day and it showed a lot of brown. His view was from Sherburne Lodge and there was NO snow at the base and snowmaking had only reached down to where High Meadows/Dashney merge with Binney Lane just above the HSQ. Here it is...you be the Judge (terrible pun):

1454958_1398893000354062_895343419_n.jpg
 

thetrailboss

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As to why they are where they are, it is because it costs Qmoney to make Qsnow (TM) and Q2 is on a mission to cut costs. WCAX had a Ski Vermont representative crowing on the Sunday news show about how awesome the season has been and the record amount of areas open early. Guess what? QBurke isn't one of them.
 

Boardguy

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Man do I dislike having to go to Facebook for info. Thanks for the local scoop guys, it does not look too promising. Qbummer. It appears that they are making some PR snow in front of the lodge though. Hope they get some natural before Christmas.
 
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xlr8r

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Their strategy of avoiding opening until mid December really is Quickly looking more and more Questionable
 

Savemeasammy

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This is the sort of thing people may take into consideration when deciding where to get their season pass. Maybe this market isn't all that important to Burke?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

thetrailboss

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In all fairness, except for one year in the mid 1990's, Burke has never really been an "early" opener. They just don't have the layout for it nor the resources. The problem is that last year they did a lot of "snowmaking guns ablazing" about their snowmaking improvements and all but promising the earliest start in their history, but that didn't happen.

This year reflects them being more conservative and is indicative of their loss of expertise and experience when they let go of their management team.
 

Andrew

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So I'm gonna go ahead and jump in here. I'm Andrew Baird, new marketing director up here in East Burke. Emphasis on the new, as my feet have been on the ground in VT less than a month. If you imagine a guy trying to drink out of a firehose, you'll have a pretty good idea of where I'm at right about now. In addition to having way too much to do and not enough time to do it in, I'm also a big believer in letting the conversation run it's course among folks who care to have it, so you won't find me jumping in and spewing marketing/pr speak at every turn here. I've paid attention to this particular forum long enough (started my career in New England before moving to Tahoe) to know that most of you guys know what you're talking about, most of the time. So I won't be attempting to blow smoke up your collective...well, you know. That said, I will hop in when/where it might be appropriate and drop some knowledge. And I'll keep it straight forward. If I don't know or can't answer something, I'll tell you as much.

In regards to snowmaking, we're making as much QSnow[SUP]TM [/SUP](I see what you did there, TB ;-)) as we can. In regards to 'PR Snow', snow in the base area, any other kind of snow, the Facebook photo referenced earlier in thread, and anything else snowmaking related, here's the deal. We had to get Lower Warren's Way (the training hill) open for BMA to train. So we did. After that, we were always shooting for an opening with Upper Willoughby and Lower Bear Den, which would connect to Lower Warren's and let us run the Mid-Burke Express. After that, if Mother Nature cooperated we'd connect down to the base area, get top-to-bottom and hit the learning area.

So we were cranking on the Upper Mountain until we hit a snag this past weekend. We had a communication issue with the Booster House, and we had a pipe break, effectively shutting down Upper Mountain snowmaking operations. Did it suck? Yes. Was it planned? Absolutely not. But, IT guys were called and welds were made and we righted the ship. While all that was going on, we moved down to the lower mountain, since that part of the system wasn't affected by the above issues. This is why there's snow in the base area. As far as the Facebook photo is concerned.... that's what that particular section of the hill looked like at that particular time. Was there a bit of strategery in selecting that angle to ignore the snow that had been made on High Meadows Pass? Methinks there may have been. But, it's not like I'll sit here and say "No, there was snow there I swear! They photoshopped it out!" All I can do is tell you that we've been blowing snow, that it looks substantially different right now, and keep you updated as to how things are progressing closer to the weekend, if you care about such things. And for whoever suggested we made base area snow for PR purposes - believe me I don't have anywhere near the pull here yet to make that happen. If you think I do, you're greatly overestimating me (thanks, though). Anyway, we've got really good temps coming our way this week, so odds are strong-to-very strong that we're going to open with Upper Willoughby, Lower Bear Den and Lower Warren's Way from Mid-Burke. And there's a chance we'll get High Meadows Pass for a beginner offering and top-to-bottom skiing/riding. Things are looking good there, but I wouldn't call it a layup at this point.

So there's the quick and dirty on that. If there's anything else you'd like an opinion on or want to ask, fire away. I'll check back periodically as I can and try and answer. And if any of you are up this way this weekend (or, whenever really), drop in and introduce yourselves. Believe me, I'll be here.
 
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Andrew, Thanks for chiming in and for recognizing the honest and true Burkies for what they are - the intentions are always honorable and we (most of us!) want to see Burke survive and thrive without losing what makes Burke (no Q, no trademark here) so special. When Bill (Stenger) announced the Burke 'intentions' he made specific comments regarding the personality and character of Burke - traits he said would remain high on the list - and the "collective we" took him at his word. For a lot of us Burkies, those traits rank higher than a series of hotels, etc. (especially ones that are too large and out of character....) as important assets to the future. Anybody can build a big hotel (s) but character and personality are not created by (oversize) amenities and mega-million dollar investments. That is created by people and when you transform your program from a people-powered business to a system-powered business you soon find that character and personality disappear................
 

from_the_NEK

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Thanks for the post Andrew. It is good to have an actual representative from the resort step in a set the record straight when the rumors and accusations start flying around.
I hadn't chimed in with an update here since I hadn't been up tot he mtn this week and I wasn't sure what was being covered.
 

thetrailboss

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So I'm gonna go ahead and jump in here. I'm Andrew Baird, new marketing director up here in East Burke. Emphasis on the new, as my feet have been on the ground in VT less than a month. If you imagine a guy trying to drink out of a firehose, you'll have a pretty good idea of where I'm at right about now. In addition to having way too much to do and not enough time to do it in, I'm also a big believer in letting the conversation run it's course among folks who care to have it, so you won't find me jumping in and spewing marketing/pr speak at every turn here. I've paid attention to this particular forum long enough (started my career in New England before moving to Tahoe) to know that most of you guys know what you're talking about, most of the time. So I won't be attempting to blow smoke up your collective...well, you know. That said, I will hop in when/where it might be appropriate and drop some knowledge. And I'll keep it straight forward. If I don't know or can't answer something, I'll tell you as much.

In regards to snowmaking, we're making as much QSnow[SUP]TM [/SUP](I see what you did there, TB ;-)) as we can. In regards to 'PR Snow', snow in the base area, any other kind of snow, the Facebook photo referenced earlier in thread, and anything else snowmaking related, here's the deal. We had to get Lower Warren's Way (the training hill) open for BMA to train. So we did. After that, we were always shooting for an opening with Upper Willoughby and Lower Bear Den, which would connect to Lower Warren's and let us run the Mid-Burke Express. After that, if Mother Nature cooperated we'd connect down to the base area, get top-to-bottom and hit the learning area.

So we were cranking on the Upper Mountain until we hit a snag this past weekend. We had a communication issue with the Booster House, and we had a pipe break, effectively shutting down Upper Mountain snowmaking operations. Did it suck? Yes. Was it planned? Absolutely not. But, IT guys were called and welds were made and we righted the ship. While all that was going on, we moved down to the lower mountain, since that part of the system wasn't affected by the above issues. This is why there's snow in the base area. As far as the Facebook photo is concerned.... that's what that particular section of the hill looked like at that particular time. Was there a bit of strategery in selecting that angle to ignore the snow that had been made on High Meadows Pass? Methinks there may have been. But, it's not like I'll sit here and say "No, there was snow there I swear! They photoshopped it out!" All I can do is tell you that we've been blowing snow, that it looks substantially different right now, and keep you updated as to how things are progressing closer to the weekend, if you care about such things. And for whoever suggested we made base area snow for PR purposes - believe me I don't have anywhere near the pull here yet to make that happen. If you think I do, you're greatly overestimating me (thanks, though). Anyway, we've got really good temps coming our way this week, so odds are strong-to-very strong that we're going to open with Upper Willoughby, Lower Bear Den and Lower Warren's Way from Mid-Burke. And there's a chance we'll get High Meadows Pass for a beginner offering and top-to-bottom skiing/riding. Things are looking good there, but I wouldn't call it a layup at this point.

So there's the quick and dirty on that. If there's anything else you'd like an opinion on or want to ask, fire away. I'll check back periodically as I can and try and answer. And if any of you are up this way this weekend (or, whenever really), drop in and introduce yourselves. Believe me, I'll be here.

Andrew--

First, a hearty welcome to the Boards. Folks here really appreciate it when mountain reps come in here and say how things are and try to speak directly to skiers and riders. Some of your larger competitors including your big brother Jay Peak and Sugarbush, MRG, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River have popped in and out of here over the years to speak with folks and get ideas. Second, when you get a chance, go to this word cloud (scroll down). Notice how large the term "burke mountain" is, indicating that it is a very popular search term. I say this because folks here really, really love and are interested in Burke. So although we may deliver some constructive criticism, your few minutes checking this place out will be worthwhile for you and the Mountain.

It takes a big set to come into a ski forum and discuss the real deal when competition is so stiff. I really wished you had said that on Facebook, where the audience is larger, because that photo I posted was pretty obvious and folks would have gotten a better context as to what was going on. Quite frankly I was shocked when I saw it because I was under the impression that things were going well. But I'm a Vermonter sitting in SLC so what do I know. :lol:

That problem with snowmaking sucks. Sorry to hear that. Glad you told us though because folks understand. It happens.

Please don't be a stranger.
 

Boardguy

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Thanks for the response Andrew. In regard to my comment about PR snow I would respond that as a 15 year visitor to Burke I have heard the term PR snow used many times. A few seasons back I was on the lower lift and found myself riding with one of the old "management team". As we were riding up they were making snow under the lift in and area where the cover was IMO pretty good. Anyway as we were chatting I asked why they were making snow there in the middle of the day. The answer was "PR snow". I heard it twice more that particular day used by mountain employees. So there is a historical basis for my use of the term. Pardon my cynicism but I see a picture of the front of the lodge with no snow and then soon there after there is a new picture on facebook and they are making snow right in that spot. That is just good, heads up, pardon the term - PR. Even if it was accidental. Personally I am just glad to see snow being made. In the past few years with the SnowX there by this time the snow cover in that area was good. They were not back this season so no snow. Hopefully the unfortunate breakdowns will cease and with the help of mother nature by Christmas the coverage will be good. Again thanks for the response.
 
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Nick

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So I'm gonna go ahead and jump in here. I'm Andrew Baird, new marketing director up here in East Burke. Emphasis on the new, as my feet have been on the ground in VT less than a month. If you imagine a guy trying to drink out of a firehose, you'll have a pretty good idea of where I'm at right about now. In addition to having way too much to do and not enough time to do it in, I'm also a big believer in letting the conversation run it's course among folks who care to have it, so you won't find me jumping in and spewing marketing/pr speak at every turn here. I've paid attention to this particular forum long enough (started my career in New England before moving to Tahoe) to know that most of you guys know what you're talking about, most of the time. So I won't be attempting to blow smoke up your collective...well, you know. That said, I will hop in when/where it might be appropriate and drop some knowledge. And I'll keep it straight forward. If I don't know or can't answer something, I'll tell you as much..

Hi Andrew, welcome to AlpineZone! Glad to have you on the site!
 

Andrew

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Thanks for the welcome, and the feedback guys. Both much appreciated. Boardguy - totally understood and I apologize if that came off as a call out, wasn't the intent. Just trying to set the record straight.
 

thetrailboss

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Thanks for the welcome, and the feedback guys. Both much appreciated. Boardguy - totally understood and I apologize if that came off as a call out, wasn't the intent. Just trying to set the record straight.

I don't think we took it that way. And like the new "Industry Rep" handle. Are you new to the business? Enjoying it? Finding it challenging?
 
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