[B]URKE– Precipitation fell from the sky Friday morning at Q Burke Mountain ski area, but it wasn’t snow. It felt like rain, with a bit more weight. It didn’t last for long, and it didn’t stick.
Looking up the hill, there was nothing near a complete trail, just a half-dozen melting snow patches dotted among grassy trails. An Otter Creek Brewing truck delivered beer in the morning, but the bar was shuttered, chairs sitting on top of tables. Parking lots and condominiums were empty.
“You could give it a go today,” said a woman Friday selling tickets and passes at the mountain’s base lodge. “But you would have to do the ole’ tuck and roll on grass patches.”
In less than 24 hours, the ski slopes were supposed to open for the season, an opening that had already been delayed because of the lack of snow in the region’s unseasonably warm weather. But it was clear from the picture on the ground that the chair lifts wouldn’t be running anytime soon.
In addition, the opening of a new resort hotel at Burke Mountain has been delayed again, according to the construction manager.
While the 116-unit hotel was supposed to be open by Dec. 11, the grand opening now appears to be at least a month away.
Jerry Davis, president of PeakCM, the construction firm managing the 180,000-square-foot hotel development, said he still hasn’t received timely payments since early November. He said he is still owed around $3 million.
“We can’t turn over a building without some guarantee of payment,” Davis said Friday. “The minute we are paid up to date, and we have a plan for future payments, guaranteed, it will be a minimum of four weeks to complete the fit-up of the hotel.”
As for skiing, administrators pushed back opening weekend, and are now aiming to open by Dec. 26.
Davis said he could have completed the hotel on time, but that when payments were stalled, his workforce was reduced from between 125 to 165 people to 45 to 65 people.
“Companies who were subcontractors had to go other places to keep people busy,” he said.
Davis said he was aware of Burke officials booking rooms in the hotel in December, as well as conferences and holiday parties.
“From what I was told, they had rooms booked as early as Dec. 11,” he said, acknowledging he had no idea how much money was lost from those bookings when the hotel was delayed.
Bill Stenger, CEO of Jay Peak Resort and developer of Q Burke, said he hasn’t witnessed such a temperate start to winter in his 40 years in the ski industry.
“The Vermont ski industry is likely to experience its worst holiday period in decades and the real story is how much tax revenue will be lost to the state as a result of this record warmth,” he said. “It could be in the tens of millions in lost meals and rooms taxes and sales taxes.”
Stenger said Burke invested $1 million in 20 new snow fans this year, but they have been unable to consistently blow due to warm overnight temperatures.
“The simple answer is we need about 4-6 more days of reasonable snowmaking weather to get some decent terrain open on Burke Mountain,” he said. “We are at the ready and will work round the clock when we get the chance.”
Ariel Quiros, who is Stenger’s partner at Q Burke, could not be reached for comment. An assistant said Friday that Quiros was in Miami (where it was 85 and sunny).
THE CONDO COMMUNITY
Only a few out-of-state plates could be spotted throughout the maze of condominiums at the mountain on Friday.
One of them belonged to Mary Ann MacDonald, an Ashland, Massachusetts, native who was picking up her daughter from Burke Mountain Academy (students at the prestigious ski school have been traveling to Sugarloaf in Maine to practice).
MacDonald said she had planned to ski throughout the weekend with her daughter, but said she would be heading back to the Bay State with her daughter early because of the poor conditions.
She said she wished the mountain’s snowmaking infrastructure was better, so a base pack of white could be created quickly. But she didn’t blame Stenger or Quiros for the delays, instead she leveled her complaint at Mother Nature.
“Why would you spend thousands of dollars to get one trail open overnight to have all the skiers complain of how bad conditions are,” MacDonald said. “They should open when the mountain is skiable.”
She said the new management didn’t totally understand the Burke culture, or the surrounding community, citing a clash when Quiros cut off mountain bike access to Kingdom Trail members. A deal on access was eventually reached.
“I don’t think that Q Burke, under the Stenger/Quiros management, fully understand the culture, but they are getting there,” MacDonald said.
Charles Wentzell, a chemistry student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, came up to his Burke condo with college buddies for the weekend. He said he was hoping to ski, but said he doubted the mountain would open.
“If we get frost overnight they might be able to make snow,” he said hopefully. “If not, it makes sense not to open, it’s still a business, they can’t just throw money at the mountain and hope it sticks.”
Wentzell said he could find ways to stay busy if there wasn’t any snow. He had several bottles of wine and beer on the countertop.
Steve Volk, a New Yorker who works at a brokerage firm in the city, said he loves the terrain at Burke, as well as the small community of die-hard snow junkies that frequent the mountain. He said he was disappointed that skiing wouldn’t be available over the weekend, but added that “you can’t fight the temperature.”
Volk said he would be spending the holidays at his Mount Snow condo in southern Vermont, noting their impressive snowmaking capabilities. But he said if the warm weather persists he might not even hit the slopes at all.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do Christmas week,” he said. “I’ll bring my mountain bike, and maybe I’ll go on a hike.”
EYEING THE SKY
Steve Maleski, a meteorologist based a few miles away at the Fairbanks Museum, said this December is on track to be one of the least snowy in Vermont history.
“That’s rain, that’s rain, that’s rain,” he said, pointing to precipitation models for Christmas week. “Whoa, this really looks bleak.”
The least snowy December ever recorded was in 1895, when the state received just 2.5 inches. So far, only a trace of snow has fallen, meaning the record could be broken.
“We may make a run for the least snowy December,” Maleski said.
Maleski said the upcoming week of weather would continue to make it hard to make snow at Burke, and that things weren’t likely going to cool down until the New Year.
“The overnight low on Monday night is 35 degrees, the overnight low Tuesday night is 36, and Wednesday the overnight low is 40,” he said. “You can’t make snow with that.”
The mountain’s ski report on Monday said a weekend burst of cold weather allowed for snowmaking, and was hopeful that the weather would stay winterlike.
“This week’s forecast predicts a warm-up these next few days,” the report said. “But if there was a time for the weatherman to be wrong, now is the time.”