Berkshire East 1/26/13

I skied Berkshire East on Saturday the 26th. It was sunny and the skies clear but a bit on the cold side (probably low 20s during the day) but better than the weather for the few days that preceded it. There was enough of a breeze at the top to keep the turbine cranking but for the most part the wind at the surface was not a problem. Nothing that depends on natural snow was open but the groomed trails were very good. I have been skiing at Berkshire for about 5 years and they really have improved their snow making a lot in the past two years. Aside from the lack of natural snow there really is no evidence of the big melt down left.

No crowds at all and around 10:30 am they opened the second triple to the top. You could ski right onto a waiting chair on "Chair 1" at least until I left a little after 1 pm). Kudos to the mountain for opening both chairs. It was not necessary but made for a nice low key day of skiing for everyone there. I skied there the MLK weekend Saturday and while busier lines were relatively short, almost weekday like at my home mountain of Wachusett.

Mike

Berkshire East is really benefitting from having the pond at the top of the mountain they can make way more snow.

Roy's son seems to be running the mountain well these days.

It is definitely noticeable. They really recovered nicely for MLK weekend and a few years ago I don't think they could have pulled off such a quick turnaround. They were even making snow all day Saturday on a few trails. I live about two hours away from Berkshire but for a weekend day trip it is near the top of my list because I like laid back mountains and small crowds. Now that the conditions are consistently better I plan on hitting the mountain more often. Outside of snow making their new solar farm finally went live. The lifts are old but the power system is cutting edge.