Burke 3/23

[xwhaler]

Nice day up at Burke using my Fox44 voucher. Breakfast at the comfort inn in St J and then headed up. Wife did 1st shift while I hung out with our son at the Sherburne lodge. She skied 9 till 1030 under a mix of clouds and Sun...enjoyed the classic Burke cruisers and ski on at mid Burke.

I got on skis about 1045 and did a warm up down upper/lower dipper. Very nice pp with hardly any scratchy spots. Next checked out Doug's drop which was in great shape with soft bumps. Wilderness to CaveMan was next also great. Upper Willoughby was excellent as well. Ended my session exploring The Jungle which I'd never done before. A bit more scratchy than the east bowl woods but a nice long/tight glade for sure. When Burkes woods are open and in good shape the mtn is a lot of fun.
Nice lunch in the Tamarack before heading home. Decent crowd but riding singles was no more than a 2-3 min wait. With sunny skies, lifts running until 5, and best conditions of the year it was probably a popular NEK Sunday for the locals.

 

[billski]

I drove by Lyndon on I91 on my way home today; The snow was looking really sweet. I'm really thrilled to hear they are fully open, with no Qelp from mgt!

 

[jaysunn]

I have Thursday and Friday off, thinking of watchking the QBURK CEO clear chairs for me. Can't wait.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I was there Saturday afternoon. Windy with occasional heavy snow showers. Keeping the lift open to 5:00 was sweet, thanks Ary :-o. Great coverage everywhere. I was skiing with my sister and her snowboarding friend who is from Colorado. Her friend kept saying "This is like Colorado snow! I thought it would be icy." Burke definitely has more people skiing late into the season this year than I think I've ever seen. It is probably due to pent up demand from the last 2.5 years of sub-par conditions. Hopefully, the crowds are getting them back toward the black financially for this season.

 

[VTKilarney]

We were there on the 23rd as well. Conditions were absolutely fantastic, and we skied right up until 5:00 PM. There was not a hint of "spring" in the conditions, which is unbelievable for this time of year.

 

[VTKilarney]

By the way, I saw the lights on at the Lyndon Outing Club on Friday night.

 

[Masskier]

Conditions continue to be great. I haven't seen this much snow pack this late, in a long time. I hope they spin the lifts on weekends to May.

 

[VTKilarney]

Sadly, they have announced an April 6th closing date. I think that's one reason they are pushing the Judge passes - so their passholders can ski until May at Jay.

 

[fbrissette]

Sadly, they have announced an April 6th closing date. I think that's one reason they are pushing the Judge passes - so their passholders can ski until May at Jay.

that would make sense, but on the other hand, I fail to see why they have not announced the Burke only and Jay peak only ski passes deals yet.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Could Lyndon Outing Club be open later than Burke this year? :-o

 

[fbrissette]

Sadly, they have announced an April 6th closing date. I think that's one reason they are pushing the Judge passes - so their passholders can ski until May at Jay.

There is a rather high likelihood that they would close with 100% of the terrain open, which would be a slap in the face of pass holders.

 

[VTKilarney]

I would love to hear theories as to why only the Judge Pass is available right now. Having just purchased four of them, I have a very small concern that Burke may not open next year and the Jay component will be our consolation prize. I know that this is entirely paranoia, but I'm still trying to figure out why they changed their protocol. There must be a reason.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Jay may be attempting to reduce pressure on their trail system during peak periods by trying to get more people over to Burke. That may happen if people have the Judge Pass. Is there a shuttle that runs between the mountains? I know I keep seeing a van (that says "QBurke Shuttle" on the side) pulling an enclosed trailer.

 

[fbrissette]

Jay may be attempting to reduce pressure on their trail system during peak periods ...

It may be more to boost traffic at Burke than to reduce traffic at Jay IMO.

 

[VTKilarney]

That's a very interesting perspective. I was thinking about this from a Burke-centric point of view. It makes sense that Jay now has a decent "overflow" hill to steer people toward. I'm wondering if this may be the last year that they offer a single mountain pass.

The only wrinkle in this theory is that the single mountain passes are going on sale prior to the price increase in mid-May. The only reason we bought right now is because we wanted to ski for free during the remainder of the season. If we already had passes, I would have definitely waited until April 4th to see what the single mountain pricing looked like.

 

[deadheadskier]

If Jay is trying to reduce traffic then why are they offering partnerships with places like Ragged given 50 % off lift tickets.

 

[VTKilarney]

They still want to promote the place. I think this is more about pushing the local passholders onto Burke. Since Jay depends so much on hotel revenue, it makes sense to continue to offer promotions to skiers from farther away who will stay in their hotel and eat meals on-site.

To be frank, I feel that I'm getting the better end of the deal as a Burke passholder. By adding Jay Peak, I get a mountain that will be open sooner and close later. The Jay Peak passholder's don't get their season extended by adding Burke, but Burke passholders do.

 

[Big Wave Dave]

Burke closes this weekend every year, snow or no snow. its a known quantity, not a slap in the face.... if you want to ski in late April and May, buy the Judge pass. Its a dumb name but a great product. Jay is only selling the Judge right now also.

props to Qburke for running the lifts until 5. Anyone that was skiing there saturday in the absolute whiteout that rolled in late afternoon got what may have been some of the best turns of the year. the wind loading on the east side glades made for tracks that filled in as the day went on.

 

[dlague]

Nice day up at Burke using my Fox44 voucher. Breakfast at the comfort inn in St J and then headed up. Wife did 1st shift while I hung out with our son at the Sherburne lodge. She skied 9 till 1030 under a mix of clouds and Sun...enjoyed the classic Burke cruisers and ski on at mid Burke.

I got on skis about 1045 and did a warm up down upper/lower dipper. Very nice pp with hardly any scratchy spots. Next checked out Doug's drop which was in great shape with soft bumps. Wilderness to CaveMan was next also great. Upper Willoughby was excellent as well. Ended my session exploring The Jungle which I'd never done before. A bit more scratchy than the east bowl woods but a nice long/tight glade for sure. When Burkes woods are open and in good shape the mtn is a lot of fun.
Nice lunch in the Tamarack before heading home. Decent crowd but riding singles was no more than a 2-3 min wait. With sunny skies, lifts running until 5, and best conditions of the year it was probably a popular NEK Sunday for the locals.

Too bad we missed you guys! We originally planned on skiing there the same day after you mentioned it! However, my son ended up having Lacrosse practice Sunday afternoon. We plan of being there this Saturday with our 2 Fox 44 cards and a couple of comps we just got. Looks like we are down to skiing Saturdays only at this stage which is a huge bummer!

 

[thetrailboss]

Conditions continue to be great. I haven't seen this much snow pack this late, in a long time. I hope they spin the lifts on weekends to May.

Not very likely