Burke developed his own climbing career in the UK and established new routes in the Alps and in the USA.
[1] Mick Burke came from Abram, near Wigan, and began his climbing career at age 15 as a member of the Wigan Rambling and Climbing Club, when Jo Moran took him on his first hike up 2000 ft Pendle Hill in Lancashire.
He was last seen alive "heading upwards, a few hundred metres from the summit",[4] but it is not known for sure that he reached the highest point.
The fund intended to promote outdoor pursuits and pioneering activities for young people from the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and surrounding districts[5] In the years immediately after his death, climbing colleagues helped to raise funds for the Trust, including through the first annual Mick Burke Memorial Illustrated Lecture in October 1977 at Wigan's Queens Hall.
The guest speaker was Don Whillans, recounting his expedition with Joe Brown, Hamish Macinnes and Mo Anthoine.