burke mountain

burke mountain印象

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  vijay0828

  I am in total agreement with the last reviewer. My sentiments on leaving Burke were plain sad. This could be a very nice family mountain. The other reviews (albeit 5 years old) suggest it was at one time. Unfortunately, our experience was severely disappointing.We know the pitfalls of Xmas skiing on the East coast. The weather doesn't always cooperate. On this occasion there had been some rain a few days before and many mountains in Vermont were recovering from that. But Burke was by far the worst affected and they had a mere 9 out of 50 trails open on Jan 2 when we went. Whether you measure by % of trails or % of terrain this was by some distance the worst of any Vermont mountain. On their upper mountain (where all the intermediate and advanced terrain is), there was basically only 1 route down the mountain open.We had planned to spend 2 days at Burke (and bought tickets in advance). But there was clearly no way we could spend 2 days skiing 1 trail down! So we asked to speak to the Manager to ask if he could refund our second day. We initially were put through to the General Manager who was quite understanding and said he would see what we could do. He promised to meet us the following morning. He never showed up. Instead, we got to speak with the co-owner, Ary Quiros . We patiently explained the situation to him and in particular asked why there were so few trails opened. In response, he told us the following. He and his partner had purchased Burke and found their snow-making equipment was archaic - from the seventies. They had made a large investment and their priority was to build a hotel to "try and develop a customer base". As a result, they had no planned new investment for the ski resort. We were totally shocked by this response. Firstly, Mr. Quiros seemed to have no interest in the ski mountain at all. Secondly, what he said was totally at odds with Burke's website, which joyfully depicts their extensive snowmaking equipment and beautifully groomed slopes. I responded to Mr Quiros that the best way to develop a customer base was to ensure the skiing experience was as good as possible. After all, nobody is going to come to a hotel in Northern Vermont in winter to hang out by the pool ... Burke has some interesting terrain, but it is poorly looked after and the attitude of the owner simply stinks. I would stay away until there is clear evidence that the ski mountain becomes the priority.

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  Greg0ry

  Burke is off the beaten path and isn't over commercialized like a lot of ski resorts. Skiing was very affordable when we went on Sunday afternoon ($25 half-day tickets). One lift looked pretty new and lines were short on both of the lifts we used. Burke has some great, steep intermediate cruisers. Trails were well groomed, which was a pleasant surprise given the rain we had earlier in the week and the warmer than normal temperatures. The view north toward Lake Willoughby is very unique. The bathrooms were clean and had fancy fixtures for a Vermont ski resort. We had an enjoyable first time at Burke. We'll be back.

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  st813

  At least half of the mountain is roped off and not skiable. Snow making equipment is only used one trail at a time, if at all. Again, for the second winter in a row, absolutely no snow making or preparing for the winter took place until 4 or 5 days before the beginning of Christmas break. Christmas break was a pretty sad affair with the bare minimum of trails open and ropes on all the rest. Only enough trails open to get people back down the mountain and to the lift. Even now in mid-January the mountain might as well just close. A week ago, the entire left side of the mountain at the top was roped off till about noon and on a Sunday. While cover looked half decent on some of the trails, absolutely no grooming had taken place, with a 1/2" layer of ice everywhere. It's obvious costs are kept at a bare minimum while season passes remain at a premium and the Burk-e Explorer program has doubled in cost over last year.

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  632PatriciaW

  We love Burke. As a beginner skier I had a great time learning on the lower mountain, and started discovering the upper mountain at the end of last season. My husband is an excellent skier and finds the mountain awesome and fun. My son will be starting the race program this winter, so we will be there all the time. We are looking forward to seeing how the mountain develops with the new ownership. We've been in summer as well and it is great for hiking and biking. All in all this is a great destination. A big bonus---barely any wait time in lines for skiing :)

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  SonyaS254

  My family visited Burke for a day of skiing and were not disappointed. The mountain is challenging, the conditions were great and the staff were outstanding. It was a holiday weekend and the lines were not long. One of my favorite things was that there were staff managing the lift lines to be sure lifts were full and that the merging of lines onto the lift happened in an orderly and fair way. The staff in the lodge at the cafeteria were very helpful and the guy in the shop was helpful when my husband needed to adjust his snowboard. The mountain is small,but had some great trails, and we all were happy with our time at Burke!

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  kilarneyvt

  Burke is a hard place to review. There are some great things to say and some not good things to say. It really depends on what your preferences are.The Good:1) Lift lines? What are those?2) For a lesser known ski area, the vertical drop is quite respectable. Be aware, however, that Burke is really two ski areas in one - a lower and upper mountain. Calculate your own "usable" vertical accordingly.3) A great beginner (lower mountain) area serviced by a high speed quad. Burke is a fantastic place to learn to ski.4) Great views.5) A nice full service restaurant and bar in the base lodge, the Tamarack Grill.6) Lots of ski-in ski-out condos.7) A nice mix of trail types (ignoring pitch), including wide cruisers, narrow trails, and glades.The Neutral:1) New management. It remains to be seen how this will play out. On the one hand, they want the place to be financially viable. On the other hand, some of their cost cutting has been utterly myopic.2) The blue trails are quite steep. Some sections are truly black-diamond in steepness. 3) Some uphill sections and lifts that are less than ideal places.The Bad:1) Cramped and outdated facilities.2) Grooming and snow making are VERY substandard.3) A tough transition from the lower mountain (beginner) area to the main mountain. All of the trails down the main mountain are a HUGE step up - A much bigger step up than they should be.4) Travel time. No matter which city you are coming from, you have to drive by lots of bigger and better places first.The best way I can describe Burke is that it is a gentlemen's Mad River Glen or a sibling to Magic Mountain. Snow making and grooming are more of an afterthought, and the terrain is generally steep and challenging. With the right natural conditions, Burke is heaven. But if you depend on human intervention, you will be disappointed.For the 2013-2014 season, Burke management tried to cut costs. Snowmaking appears to have been a victim of cost cutting. Management seems to have realized their mistake, so we shall see what future winters hold. My concern is that they were willing to cut corners with the core experience in the first place. If you ask the average skier, they are willing to tolerate a lot of cuts so long as they make enough snow and keep the trails groomed. That hasn't happened this year. They never laid down a good base, which means that what base there is now is pure ice. I'm not even sure if they can bounce back. We are half way through the year and the first half has been a lost cause.To summarize, if you don't mind driving, don't mind some tricky conditions, and hate lift lines, Burke is the mountain for you. On the other hand, if you want to make sure that there will be decent conditions if you drive farther, then you may very well be disappointed. Burke has potential. They have lots of snowmaking capacity, but they just need to use it. This year they gambled on not needing to - and lost their bet big time. I think a lot of people will be looking at next year to see if they learned their lesson. If they haven't, I don't hold out much hope for the mountain. Lots of people will leave for good. Just this past weekend I rode up the lift with an out-of-state couple who had already made that decision. This was sad since they had been season pass holders for several years.A good analogy: Think of Burke as the run down motel on a gorgeous stretch of Cape Cod beach. When the weather is nice, nobody focuses on the fact that the motel is run down. But on a rainy day you quickly wish that you spent the money to stay somewhere nicer.

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  mugro

  My family and I just had our worst skiing experience ever. Skiing at Burke Mountain this past week reminded me of how we used to ski at Watatic Mountain back in the early 70s: if Mother Nature supplied the mountain with snow, conditions could be great. But if there isn't any natural snow, you are simply out of luck. I can hardly imagine how an organization in this day and age can fail to take advantage of a week of cold weather during what should be its busiest week of the year to make as much snow as it can. How can you expect to bring the mountain back into financial shape when you drive customers away with terrible ski conditions? On the weekend in between Christmas and New Years we were able to park right in front of the lodge and did not have to wait in line for anything. That is the good news. The bad news is that there was no one there on what should be the peak weekend of the year. Granted, the heavy rain and warm temperatures that we had over Christmas would definitely not be Burke's fault, but I was absolutely astonished to see that when it got cold again that they were only blowing snow on the one green trail that connected the two lifts. And this went on for several days. None of the other snow guns were activated and a week after the temperature went below freezing again, no other trails were opened. So, there was one way down from the summit and two green trails open at the bottom. That was it. My son was a beginner and could only ski two trails. He got bored very quickly with this. We spent several hundred dollars on lift tickets and rentals. We would have spent several hundred more to ski extra days but we did not because no new trails were opened. We skied at Burke several years ago before the new ownership came in and had a great time. After this week's fiasco, we will not be going back. I don't own any property near Burke, and I don't know anyone that does, but I feel very bad for anyone that owns property there as their home values must be plummeting. On our way back to Central Massachusetts, we drove by Wachusett Mountain. It was a good ten to fifteen degrees warmer there, but they seemed to have the entire mountain open and were making snow everywhere. The mountain was packed with lots of skiers. Wachusett Mountain knows how to create a good time for skiers, Burke doesn't. So, don't waste your time driving four hours to Burke when you can get a better skiing experience elsewhere.

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  j0e0s0s

  Have you ever boarded in Europe? enjoyed it? then I suggest avoid Burke mountain. We visited over the 2013/14 Christmas period and didn't clock the sheet of A4 next to the till that basically said most of the mountain was closed.The five trails they claimed to be open would be considered one run in European resorts and it was a pig of a ride, solid ice and convex camber all the way, OK for ski's but no fun for boards. All three of us rated it by far the worst resort we'd ever ridden.The website daily update had said there was good snow and positive conditions, yet on the mountain I spoke with one of the ski school instructors who said in his opinion the mountain shouldn't be open - the front desk were clear, no refunds, so we moved to Smugglers Notch which was fun and Jay Peak which was also icy up top but OK lower down.

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  326kalk

  There were a lot of kids but otherwise no lines. The East Bowl is a run not to be missed. Staff was friendly and helpful.

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  st813

  If you're traveling from MA or CT and booking a stay, be aware that Burke is not what it was last year or what it was any other year for that matter. If you have young kids and need to spend the day with them anyway, you will be fine. Till now I've bit my tongue, just hoping things would improve but I can't take it any longer. They turned the hut into ski rental and moved the extra customer space it served, to the old rental location in the basement one floor removed from trail access and the lodge. So the guys doing rentals need direct access and windows to the mountain while we can change gear in the basement with no windows and no bathroom on the entire level? Seriously, you've got to be kidding! Like I said, if you have kids and have to spend the day with them in a terrain park and the mellow lower mountain trails, you'll be fine. If you want real skiing and do not have kids do not spend serious money to go to Burke. You will be better served at practically any other mountain that is operating. You can drive anywhere and pay the same or less and get more.