A look inside Burke Mountain Hotel.( Courtesy of Burke Mountain)
Catamount Ski Area, became available. Jim Schaefer spearheaded the acquisition, bringing the resort into the family fold. Jon applied the Berkshire East playbook to Catamount. In the fall of 2019, the“ Catamonster” opened, becoming the longest zip line in the United States and the seventh-longest in the world.
At roughly 3,200 feet high, Burke Mountain is what geologists call a“ monadnock,” from an indigenous Abenaki word for“ mountain that stands alone.” It weathered decades of instability, including ownership changes, bankruptcies, and false starts, culminating in a massive fraud case. More than nine years ago, a Florida judge appointed a receiver after federal officials seized Burke Mountain and nearby Jay Peak. They accused the then-owner of both mountains, Ariel Quiros, of defrauding his investors of more than $ 200 million in what’ s been characterized as the largest fraud in Vermont history.
This cycle of failure and betrayal eroded local faith in the mountain. The uncertainty impacted the surrounding community, which is deeply intertwined with the mountain’ s economy and identity. Still, Burke refused to die because so many people carried it in their hearts. An enduring source of that passion is the Kingdom Trails Network, a 100-mile multipurpose trail system that originated at the mountain’ s base. This world-renowned network, maintained by the nonprofit Kingdom Trails Association, is a community barn-raising of another sort: Approximately 100 private land owners have granted use of their property, creating over 240 acres of shared recreational land.
The Bear Den Partners, from left, Willy Booker, Don Graham, Jon Schaefer, and Ken Graham, with Burkie the Bear.( Courtesy of Berkshire East)
Amid the chaos, Burke Mountain Academy( BMA) has remained as another anchor. The school, founded in 1970 as the first ski academy of its kind, has produced more than 154 National Ski Team members and 37 Olympians, including Lanesborough native Mikaela Shiffrin. Willy Booker, who grew up in Colorado, came to BMA in 1991 as an eighth-grader. He graduated from the academy in 1996, became a ski coach at BMA, left briefly for a career in the ski industry, and returned to BMA in a full-circle moment as Head of School in 2017. According to Booker, Burke has managed to stay afloat due to its authenticity.“ I feel like, to the diehard skiers, the mountain has survived in spite of all these people,” he says.“ And that speaks to the core character of the place. I think Burke is a place that a lot of skiers would gravitate to because of the mountain’ s authentic nature and the local area. I think there are a lot of skiers who are looking for a less crowded, less corporate, less cookie-cutter type of experience.” All three men are cut from similar cloth. No one is a mogul; they’ re all mountain people, attached to Burke by common and lifelong ties. For Graham, the connection is multi-generational.“ There are five kids in my family, all five of us went to BMA,” he says.“ We have another four in the next generation, including my daughter, who went there. So nine Grahams. There’ s 30 of us who have been season pass holders at Burke.” His father, Don Graham, was the first chairman of BMA and benefactor of the school for 50 years. Don bought Burke out of bankruptcy in 2001 and has historically assisted with other improvements at the resort. The trio that makes up Bear Den Partners was completed by Schaefer, whose experience turning around Berkshire East and Catamount, as well as consulting at Bousquet, the Hermitage Club, and the new Hinata Retreat in Charlemont, provides the playbook for operational expertise. Schaefer, who attended Middlebury College, raced in multiple national championship ski events and coached the Middlebury Ski Team, has his own personal history with Burke, including holding his bachelor party on the mountain. Schaefer’ s“ hands-on owner / operator, family vibe” resonated with Graham.“ I was always hoping that Ken would want to step forward and buy it himself,” Booker
88 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday 2025