• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

Berkshire East 2/22/07

Zand

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
4,108
Points
113
Location
Spencer, MA
Date(s) Skied: 2/22/07

Resort or Ski Area: Berkshire East, MA

Conditions: PP on snowmaking trails, thin and variable on natural... sunny and warm early (30s) then snow in the afternoon

Trip Report:

After my first trip to Berkshire East 3 years ago left a lot to be desired, I gave them a second chance today and this time things clicked. I had a great time there today and it definitely made me feel like I was back at MRG at some points. Crowds were very light (although the regulars must've found it very crowded lol) which made the day better. The longest wait for the triple all day was about 10 chairs max and both times I was over at the quad, it was a ski on.

Big Chief: Nice blue cruiser with some bumps on the right side. Reminded me of Conifer at Wachusett... complete with "SLOW" signs every 1/3rd of the trail or so. Conditions were good both times I skied it (once early and once late).

Flying Cloud: Steep cruiser at the top with bumps on the right. I had some of the first tracks on it in the morning which was nice. The bottom half was ungroomed and had some decent bumps but was low on cover. Later in the day, the groomed part was a bit scraped, but still do-able, especially on the left.

Liftline: Had a blast on this trail today. Felt like being back on Gazelle. Rocks and bare spots galore to play tag with and some good snow on skiers left. When the snow came down, it covered the hazards which made things kinda dangerous but I knew where most of the bad parts were. Watch out on the bottom part... theres one part where rocks cover almost the entire width of the trail.

Competition: They were practicing slalom on it almost all day, but they always left a part open for people to ski down. It skied much like Flying Cloud on the upper half and the lower half had great packed powder to fly down.

Minnie Dole: Some bare spots and rocks, but much of the trail was covered in deep, DENSE snow. If you like making short, snappy turns on a dime, this ones for you. If you didn't make short turns, it was nearly impossible to turn in. Only saw 3 other people on it the entire day, 2 of them ski patrollers putting some bamboo on a water bar. This and Liftline were my picks of the day.

UMass/War Dance: UMass wasn't groomed over night so it started out the day very scraped off. After the snow started, it was a nice run. War Dance was similar to Lower Competition, fast and fun.

Outback/Roundabout: Fun green trails off the backside. Besides the very beginning of Outback and the first couple hundred feet of Roundabout, theres no poling required. A very light pitch and fun twists and turns made this a very good beginner trail.

Exhibition: Started off in the ungroomed left side in which the snow was pretty much too dense to do anything with, so I got on the groomed part and made sone nice turns down in the perfect packed powder.

Well, that about sums it up. To those of you headed there tomorrow: it should be nice with the new snow... just watch out for the covered rocks on the natural trails. As for me, I'll be at Wachusett tomorrow from 4 PM till 8 AM Saturday for the 24 hour ski-a-thon.
 

Grassi21

New member
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
6,761
Points
0
Location
CT
Thanks for the TR. I can't wait for the BEast with some fresh as soon as the lifts open.
 

Greg

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 1, 2001
Messages
31,154
Points
0
Sounds good. Liftline should be fun. Thanks Zand! Was Minnie Dole open from the summit (ski right off the lift?) Great trail. Any glades open? How much snow do you think they picked up while you were there? Snow intensity?
 

Grassi21

New member
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
6,761
Points
0
Location
CT
Sounds good. Liftline should be fun. Thanks Zand! Was Minnie Dole open from the summit (ski right off the lift?) Great trail. Any glades open? How much snow do you think they picked up while you were there? Snow intensity?

I'm getting a strange feeling that you are excited for tomorrow...
 

Zand

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
4,108
Points
113
Location
Spencer, MA
The very top of Minnie Dole was closed. Many of the natural trails were closed... Mohawk and Bear Run and everything on that side of the mountain were closed. Grizzly, Jug, and Beast were closed. All the glades were closed. I wish they would've made mention of this on the website instead of just saying "natural".

As for snow, they had about an inch when I left at 4. It doesn't look like it stopped there yet... I'd estimate they'll get about 3-4" by morning but IDK whats really happening right now.
 

Greg

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 1, 2001
Messages
31,154
Points
0
I wish they would've made mention of this on the website instead of just saying "natural".

Yup. Well aware of the "natural" designation. Read the fine print:

berkshireeast.com said:
Natural = Trail is only covered in natural snow, expected open but to be determined by ski patrol day by day depending upon surface conditions.

Kind of weak. If a trail was closed, say yesterday, it wasn't going to open today and should have been specifically marked "Closed". We ran into this when we all met up there 2 years ago. Pretty misleading...
 

bvibert

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
30,394
Points
38
Location
Torrington, CT
Thanks for the report Zand, I can't wait for tomorrow!

Kind of weak. If a trail was closed, say yesterday, it wasn't going to open today and should have been specifically marked "Closed". We ran into this when we all met up there 2 years ago. Pretty misleading...

Agreed that Natural marking is way lame! If it's closed its closed. :roll:
 

Newpylong

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
4,938
Points
113
Location
Upper Valley, NH
They also claim 100% snowmaking, but we all know that's a leap from the truth.

My favorite runs there I would say are the Jug, Competition, and Umass. Umass really has some pitch.... Comp always has awesome snow. The Jug is just great..

Liftline is great too.

Nice report : )

BTW 3-4 new inches on the ground in the Northern berkshires now.
 

Newpylong

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
4,938
Points
113
Location
Upper Valley, NH
Still coming fown, albeit slowly. Its hovering around freezing so its the heavy cement snow - your legs will get a work-out!
 
Top