Berkshire East & Catamount: 3 New Lifts, Terrain Expansions

[RH29]

Trees have been cut on the Upper Mountain in preparation for the new lift (no construction yet.) The damage looks to be minimal - Liftline is currently intact and at least based off what you see from the base, all that's been cut is what is necessary for the liftline. Super thankful

 

[Zand]

RIP Upper Minnie Dole, but I'd rather lose that than Liftline. Fingers crossed that they're done cutting.

 

[RH29]

With no official press announcement or social media hints from the resort and no sign of construction other than the tree work, I'm increasingly beginning to doubt that this lift happens, at least this year.

 

[danimals]

With no official press announcement or social media hints from the resort and no sign of construction other than the tree work, I'm increasingly beginning to doubt that this lift happens, at least this year.

Blue mountain in PA installed a six pack last season, and nothing but trees and groundwork were completed by November. It didn't open for opening day, but it opened.

 

[RH29]

Blue mountain in PA installed a six pack last season, and nothing but trees and groundwork were completed by November. It didn't open for opening day, but it opened.

I would expect BEast to want to be able to use the lift for fall MTB.

 

[ss20]

I would expect BEast to want to be able to use the lift for fall MTB.

Doubt it. As @danimals says, the site could very well sit unchanged til the end of August and it wouldn't be that unusual.

 

[drjeff]

Unless they have to do some MAJOR grading work/blasting around the base and top terminals, and I don't believe they will, the lack of active construction now isn't that much of a big deal. Now if the lift manufacturer hasn't started fabrication work, and say this lift is multiple orders behind other lifts in fabrication right now, that may be more of an issue

 

[urungus]

For the doubters …

Berkshire East Mountain Resort on Instagram: "Something BIG is happening at Berkshire East! Join us in the Crazy Horse Bar & Grill on Saturday, July 8th at 3:30pm for a special announcement from Jon Schaefer. Afterwards, Grammy nominated singer-son

624 likes, 22 comments - berkshire.east on July 5, 2023: "Something BIG is happening at Berkshire East! Join us in the Crazy Horse Bar & Grill on Saturday, July 8th at 3:30pm for a special annou...".

www.instagram.com

 

[urungus]

Something BIG is happening at Berkshire East! Join us in the Crazy Horse Bar & Grill on Saturday, July 8th at 3:30pm for a special announcement from Jon Schaefer. Afterwards, Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Reed Foehl will be live in concert in th

Something BIG is happening at Berkshire East! Join us in the Crazy Horse Bar & Grill on Saturday, July 8th at 3:30pm for a special announcement from Jon Schaefer. Afterwards, Grammy nominated...

www.facebook.com

 

[RH29]

Wow. So excited

 

[urungus]

I went to the “special announcement” this afternoon from Jon Schaefer at the Crazy Horse at Berkshire East.
The announcement was merely a confirmation of the new detachable lift running up Competition.

A few tidbits from the announcement and Q&A session
- target opening is December
- all 3 summit lifts will operate next ski season. Decision on which of the two old summit lifts will be moved to the new Thunder terrain expansion, will not be made until after next ski season. (Previously they had indicated that the Summit Triple would be moved.)
- only additional tree clearing on the edge of Competition will be to remove deadwood
- 3 or 4 new trails from the new summit terminal connecting directly to Outback, Mohawk, straight back down Comp, and UMass - no more having to curl around onto Lookout/Riva Ridge
- Horace’s Grove will survive

They also had a free raffle for the very few people in attendance, check out my haul - 2 ski lift tickets, 2 bike lift tickets, t-shirt, bag, drink Koozie, and 5 stickers:

 

[pinion]

Pretty solid swag. That t-shirt is amazing.

 

[Mum skier]

Hope to get a visit on Indy pass this year. Especially if there will be a high speed lift (yeah I know, whole idea of Indy is small resorts, but I hate slow lifts!).

 

[ss20]

All 3 lifts running to the summit would be a disaster, imo. Only 8-10 realistic ways down from the top depending how you slice it.

 

[Newpylong]

By running he most likely means inspected and capable of operating, not scheduled to run simultaneously.

Sounds like Upper Minnie Dole redux will occur to get people down the front instead of wrapping around.

 

[urungus]

Concrete pouring for new lift

Berkshire East Mountain Resort on Instagram: "Today we were out pouring concrete for our new high speed detachable quad! As you can see, it will be going up Competition on skier’s right. Shout out to the crew working in this heat today - thank you!

572 likes, 20 comments - berkshire.east on July 20, 2023: "Today we were out pouring concrete for our new high speed detachable quad! As you can see, it will be going up Competition on skier’s r...".

www.instagram.com

 

[urungus]

Not much visible progress on the new lift since concrete pour on July 20. I do like how they have put up wood cladding to hide the ugly cinder block walls of the patio…

 

[Newpylong]

What do the terminals look like so far? That will be the telltale sign of if this lift gets done this year.

 

[urungus]

What do the terminals look like so far? That will be the telltale sign of if this lift gets done this year.

Zilch

 

[RH29]

Four months is still plenty of time. And the terminals arrived pre fabricated, so less work to be done on that front.