A new face to good ol’ Burke
Vermont mountain mixes best of all worlds
Meet the new Burke, same as — but also better than — the old Burke. The Vermont mountain has a long history of ebbs and flows in the ski world, and this much is true: Never has it been in a better position to offer skiers and riders a perfect ski experience.
The latest feature is a massive yet comfortable hotel that sits mid-mountain and offers the resort’s first-ever slopeside accommodations, and stunning ones at that. There is a bright, airy cafeteria with a fireplace to cozy around, a deck for al-fresco dining, and easy access to the quad chair lift just above the hotel.
Yet this in no way means Burke isn’t embracing the old as well. In fact, Burke has, with its decisions to upgrade lifts and lodging but let the premier trail structure remain intact, found the magic elixir of modern and classic. It’s a formula sure to please those who love New England skiing for its classic beauty but crave modern touches as well.
My visit there last week proved that to me clearly. It was our first morning, and we were moving slowly, planning on getting out on the snow by about 10 a.m. We sauntered down to Edmund’s Coffee Shop on the main floor of the hotel, and as I stepped up to order, a ski patroller asked me if I was skiing that day. I told her I was.
“Get up there now!” she gushed with joy. “There is this really surprising layer of new snow; like four or five inches of it. And you just float right through it. It’s amazing! Get up there!” We grabbed our coffees, zipped back to our slopeside room and were on the lift in 15 minutes.
She was right. Nature had delivered a surprise, but here’s the thing: Burke’s mountain ops knew exactly what to do with it that morning, and that was to leave it be. While there were groomed trails, many of Burke’s lovely, winding, tree-lined trails were left untouched. It was magnificent; the kind of runs that make you just plain giddy.
We did run after run, cutting fresh tracks often in the soft snow. Burke is a steeper mountain than most but not in an unmanageable way. Catwalks make cruising along to find your own way down a snap, and there’s always an easy way to the bottom.
This day, though, we craved pitch, snow and fun, and that’s just what we found. East Bowl takes a tiny hike to get to — it’s more like a few pushes of your poles, but the entry scares away a lot of folks who don’t like working for turns. It is worth any effort it takes. The snow was a bit deeper there, and the narrow trail tossed up double fall lines here and there. It was fun to work our way down it. For a moment, we stopped.
“Hear that?” my husband asked. “No,” I said. “Exactly,” he replied. It was like our own quiet, beautiful trail.
There were more we loved, too. On Upper and Lower Dipper, nicely pitched intermediate runs, we let it fly and felt the fun of speed on a little more open trail. On Carriage Road, we savored the tucked-in-the-woods feel and appreciated that the snow lasted longer in that shady area. We spent the day going between trails that asked for tight turns and others that let us go out wide and cruise.
The scenery is breathtaking. Burke sits higher than any other peak in that area, giving a seemingly endless view on a clear day. The Willoughby Gap is visible from all over; a photo op just screaming to be Instagrammed.
And then there is the view of something closer: worldclass skiers working their craft on the competition hill. Burke Mountain Academy has long called the mountain its home and is a top national ski academy. As they carve through gates with a talent that is real, you can marvel right from your chair. A U.S. Ski Team development site, Burke will provide training days on its mountain for regional and national development projects, as well as access for U.S. Ski Team athletes. In other words, Burke and Burke Mountain Academy will serve as a central point for race development for the entire nation. As is the case now, all that will be happening right in front of guests daily, a cool addition to any ski or ride day.
So much is new at Burke, but the resort remains true to its long history. Proof of that is the old mid-mountain lodge that sits just above that shiny, perfect hotel. Inside it is the Bear Den Lounge, a retroresort pub that has changed little in decades, a beautiful thing. Taps rotate local beers, and a real fire crackles. It’s like a living museum of mountainside fun. And word is it won’t be changing soon. While some changes are planned for the mid-mountain lodge, one resort official, when asked about changes to the Bear’s Den, was succinct. “They’d show up with pitchforks and torches if we ever did that.”
Amen to that. Burke is proving that you can have your new and still embrace your classic. That’s a ski cocktail worth enjoying.