Skiing Burke Mountain
Sunday, January 11th, 2026
Runs: 13
Distance: 16.25 miles
Elevation: 16,247 feet
Max Speed: 35.5 mph
Avg. Speed: 11.8 mph
Moving Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes, 12 seconds
Total Time: 6 hours, 27 minutes, 10 seconds (lunch break)
After a busy, but super fun day at Jay, I was up at 5:45am to get up and out and drive over to Burke for the first time! I had hoped Emma would be joining us, but she opted to sleep in and stay home instead. I got my Indy redemption, which took no time at 8:00am, and got ready with Sarah and Mom in the lodge upstairs before stashing our bags downstairs. It was truly a delightfully quiet morning! Once chores were done, we were outside just after 8:45am to get our first run on the Sherburne Express!
Mountain Conditions
Sunday, January 18.
Rise and shine! Or don't... Either way, the snow showed up and it's shaping up to be a great day. Snowfall continued until the lifts stopped spinning yesterday, and we picked up 5 inches in the last 24 hours. Today, look for more snow showers in the morning with a high of 29. A solid Sunday all around.
When the skiing wraps up, settle in for classic apres with Kyle Fickeisen playing live in The Bear Den from 2:30-5:30pm.
Sherburne Express, J-Bar, Magic Carpet will start spinning at 8:45am followed by the Mid Burke Express at 9am. Last chair for all lifts is 4pm.
PACKED POWDER.
Runs 1-2
Run 1: Sherburne Express - Bunker Hill
[0.80 mi; 3:03; 604 feet; 29.4 mph max; 15.7 mph avg]
Run 2: Sherburne Express - Midway
[0.38 mi; 2:34; 164 feet; 19.2 mph max; 8.9 mph avg]
Since we got on the Sherburne right when it opened, we didn't want to be waiting for the Mid-Burke to open, so we got a nice easy green lap in to start our day down Bunker Hill, which was a DREAM. Fresh corduroy the whole way down and nobody else around us. There was a little steep section near the end of it, which was surprising for a green, but super fun to ski! As we each got back to the lift we, like clockwork, all went "that was WONDERFUL!" Our second run was up the Sherburne again and down Midway to the Mid-Burke Express. We didn't know we needed to get speed on this run, so we had some skating to do. There was a small crowd at the lift, but nothing too bad!
Runs 3-6
Run 3: Mid-Burke Express - Upper Willoughby - Lower Willoughby
[1.12 mi; 4:31; 1,637 feet; 30.3 mph max; 14.9 mph avg]
Run 4: Mid-Burke Express - Upper Bear Den - Ledges - Lower Bear Den
[1.18 mi; 7:23; 1,683 feet; 30.9 mph max; 9.6 mph avg]
Run 5: Mid-Burke Express - Upper Fox's Folly - Deer Run - Big Dipper
[1.36 mi; 6:12; 1,677 feet; 35.5 mph max; 13.1 mph avg]
Run 6: Mid-Burke Express - Upper Dipper - Wilderness - Powderhorn - Cavemen - East Bowl - Dipper Doodle - High Meadow Pass
[2.19 mi; 15:11; 2,096 feet; 26.3 mph max; 8.6 mph avg]
Our first run off the Mid-Burke was delayed becuase we couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it was up top! Snow-covered trees in a wide area for everyone to get their bearings (it was extra fun for me because I knew this unload area was the top of the auto road that I had drive up years ago). We decided to work our way across the map, starting with Upper and Lower Willoughby. They were both a little busy, as it seemed many others also started with this run, but it was fun! Surprisingly steep (which would become a theme for the day). The snow felt GOOD, too!
We got adventerous for Run #4 - first following Upper Bear Den from rfthe top, which was ungroomed and very fun with soft snow, and then down the first black run of the day, Ledges, which was also ungroomed and bumpy. There was, to no surprise, a steep series of ledges that were bumped up and a little icy, but nothing too wildly out of my comfort zone. Sarah and Mom did a great job being my cheerleaders! We followed Lower Bear Den, which was groomed, back to the lift.
The lift line was now getting LONG, so we started hitting the singles line, which was definitetly the faster move for the day. We followed Upper Fox's Folly (the old lift line) to Deer Run (the auto road), eventually landing on Big Dipper, which was a wildly wide run with a series of steep sections split up by flat ones - similar to upper Ullr's Dream up at Jay. It was FAST and FUN! We were all really loving this mountain!
We did a quick stop at the Mid-Mountain Lodge for water and a potty break before heading back up for Run #6. We were feeling good and warmed up and were on the hunt for some trees. We followed Upper Dipper to Wilderness, which was a mix of soft bumps and icy troughs, to Powderhorn and then into the Caveman woods, which were just beautiful! A little icy, not too soft, but simply beautiful. Sarah and Mom both continued to be excellent cheerleaders. We hit a hiccup at the end of the glade, though. Sarah exited the run and turned right, crashing into another skier (a man in his 50s-60s not wearing a helmet). Neither of them were hurt, but she was super frazzled about it. The man was super kind and they both kept checking in on each other and Sarah apologized a bunch of times - I think they handled it really well and accidents happen! He was in a blind spot and had some speed because of the East Bowl runout - we didn't know! Once everyone was back on their feet we essentially cross-country skied out of the East Bowl runout, which was a doozy! Sarah's Mom was more frazzled than Sarah, so she gently nudged us to head back to the Sherburne Lodge for a break and some lunch! Our run ended with Dipper Doodle (incredible name) to High Meadow Pass, which passed many condos and homes that looked beautiful (most featuring hot tubs!).
Runs 7-10
Run 7: Sherburne Express - Midway
[0.36 mi; 2:22; 167 feet; 19.9 mph max; 9.1 mph avg]
Run 8: Mid-Burke Express - Upper Dipper - Carriage Road - Deer Run - Big Dipper - Deer Run - Mountain Marsh - Little Dipper
[1.33 mi; 7:23; 1,670 feet; 28.8 mpph max; 10.8 mph avg]
Run 9: Mid-Burke Express - East Bowl - Deer Run - Big Dipper
[1.93 mi; 16:49; 1,655 feet; 29.8 mph max; 6.9 mph avg]
Run 10: Mid-Burke Express - Upper Dipper - Deer Run - Flaming Eddie's - Deer Run - Little Dipper
[1.29 mi; 7:42; 1,654 feet; 29.6 mph max; 10.0 mph avg]
After a nice lunch we hopped back on the Sherburne Express and were shocked at how extreme the lift line had become! We all took a deep breath, reminded ourselves that it was a holiday weekend, and got back in teh singles line. Run #8 was more or less just a wiggle down the mountain. Carriage Road was a little scrapey, but super pretty. Deer Run was lovely. Big Dipper was fast and fun, and a little scrapey now. Deer Run pt. 2 was also lovely, and passed an intermediate glade called "Flaming Eddie's" that we pinned for later. We cut through the woods and popped out on Mountain Marsh - an ungroomed blue run that was, to no surprise, a little scrapey, but still fun! We ended on the groomed Little Dipper, which had some of the best groomed snow we'd skied all day! We did another quick bathroom break at the Mid-Mountain Lodge before getting back in line.
Run #9 was our adventure run - we went to tackle the East Bowl, which started with a little hike/skate through the woods (it reminded me of getting to Tight Line at Saddleback) before a long series of drops and flats, all bumpy and super fun! Some were icier than others, some were trickier than others. Sarah and Mom continued to be the best cheerleaders and coaches, and we all had a really great time! With fresh fresh snow, this would be an insanely fun run - even still, I think it was my favorite run of the day just for the variety of terrain, the challenge, and the sense of accomplishment. It was also SO quiet, which was in contrast to the busy rest of the mountain. I had to take off my balaclava, mittens, and shell by the runout because I was SWEATY.
Run #10 was much more calm. We decided to connect the dots with the dippers by hitting all of Upper Dipper before checking out the Flaming Eddie's glades. Sarah and Mom went in first and a bunch of ~13 year old kids came right up to the entrance after them. I told them that I was going to be super slow and they said "oh we're not going in, but we are going to watch you now!" I jokingly said "we'll you're allowed to boo if you need to!" and they said "No way! We're going to cheer you on!" - and they did. I made one turn and they all started hooting and hollering - it was genuinely one of most wonderful moment and maybe the kids are going to be alright?!
Anyway, the glade was pretty skied out at this point, and exiting the glade was tough - either a jump off a rock or a narrow, scrapey chute - fun!
Runs 11-13
Run 11: Mid-Burke Express - Deer Run - Big Dipper - High Meadow Pass
[2.84 mi; 12:29; 2,106 feet; 25.8 mph max; 13.7 mph avg]
Run 12: Sherburne Express - Binney Lane
[0.72 mi; 2:35; 551 feet; 24.0 mph max; 16.8 mph avg]
Run 13: Sherbune Express - Bunker Hill
[0.76 mi; 2:57; 597 feet; 29.0 mpph max; 15.4 mph avg]
At this point, we were all beat. We decided to start our victory tour of the mountain with one last ride up the Mid-Burke Express and following Deer Run all the way down, and then High Meadow Pass ALL the way down. This was a DELIGHTFUL run. Deer Run was in good shape the whole way and just a pleasure to ski through the tree tunnel. It did get a little busy at times, but no complaints! High Meadow Pass was wonderful again, and after a nice long time skiing, we were back on the Sherburne Express.
We hit Binney Lane, which was mostly the lift line, since we had not skied it yet, and then our final lap was down Bunker Hill to put a nice book-end on the day. We all LOVED skiing at Burke and are hungry to come back for more on a non-holiday day!
We were going to apres upstairs, but they had no food and we were all a little hungry. We ended up at Estella's Bar & Grille in Lyndonville, and it was perfect! Reasonably priced, good food, easy in and out. Afterwards, I drove to the Gale River Motel in Franconia to spend the night while Sarah and Mom had a long drive home.
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