Burlington Skate- Perkins Pier to North Beach

[kittyw...@gmail.com]

It was a good morning! We launched at dawn from Perkins Pier in time to catch the moon set and sunrise- glorious!

We went north behind the breakwater and crossed a fair bit of rubble to get to stunning black ice, covered w frost feathers. It wasn’t terrible but I think entering near the skate park or by north beach would be easier access. We’ll likely hear more about access points later.

As reported yesterday on Facebook, just north of the breakwater to the point at North Beach are beautiful plates of black ice ranging from 3-4 inches though we found one higher pitch plate that was closer to 2.

To the west, there is a clearly delineated line of barely skimmed ice. It is still steaming. That was maybe 1/4 inch and one easy poke through. Along much of that line was a collection of small ice triangles.

This isn’t a big distance but made for a perfect early morning skate before work. To the south of the breakwater was a decent sized rubble field but others did piece together a skate down to Oakledge yesterday.

Huge thanks to Chi, Kaori and Ben G. For the amazing start to the day!

[Chi]

We tried to scout for better access than Perkins, just note that the rubble field going north is doable on skates for this group none of us needed to take them off.

The Burlington waterfront boat ramp near The Frame is a possibility. We did not check for ice quality. 

The piers near the frame and fishing pier are private access only as the gates are closed. The fishing pier is too high up for access. 

If you want a pure Nordic experience, you could park at Arthur Park. Nordic ski down to North Beach, then put on your skates. The gates to North Beach are closed traffic.

Chi

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[David Huck]

Tl;dr this ice is responding to the sun as we left it at 11am. It is fun, if a relatively small area.

Four of us made a later outing from Perkins pier at 9am and were able to navigate rubble and find lanes to the light house. Too bad those piers are private.

It partially filled the need for adventure as there was one rubbly/shell ice section of pressure ridge that needed testing to assure us where to cross.

The black ice was nice skating though it was starting to move more with cracks telegraphing from test pole strikes and in one case, just before the group photo was taken, an unsettling settling sensation. Then we spread out.

I appreciate Roberta’s proactive approach to having a safety checkin before leaving land, including identifying who would coach the person who had fallen in, in case they need some reminders. 

I will also be making/excerpting a laminated checklist to avoid the unfortunate forgetting of one pair of ice testing poles and microspikes in our park ‘n ride shuffle.

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From: vtnordi...@googlegroups.com <vtnordi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chi <typec...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2026 6:51:29 AM
To: kittyw...@gmail.com <kittyw...@gmail.com>
Cc: VTNordicskating Listserv <vtnordi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [vtnordicskating] Burlington Skate- Perkins Pier to North Beach

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vtnordicskating/CAH-B%3DQBuRGZ7UYYTi970ELJhxws1qd1qL622WMyDBQgUqWRpYQ%40mail.gmail.com.