- Joined
- Jul 1, 2001
- Messages
- 31,154
- Points
- 0
Date(s) Skied: Sunday, January 30, 2005, 8:55 AM - 1:45 PM
Resort or Ski Area: Catamount Ski Area, South Egremont, Massachusetts/Hillsdale, New York
Conditions: Machine-groomed packed powder, some edgeable hardpack, loose granular. Sun through thin clouds, no wind, high upper 20's/maybe 30.
Trip Report: This was our first trip back to Catamount in a number of years. The base area buildings seemed cleaner and in better shape. We got on skis just before 9 AM and had a great day skiing mostly the West side of the mountain.
We mostly rode the blue double, but also rode the yellow double once as well as the double that services the East side of the mountain. One of us heard during the lift ride that the plan was to upgrade lifts next year; no specifics. Probably a rumor, but if it's true it will help Catamount compete better with its neighbor Butternut. I actually enjoy Catamount's terrain better, but the doubles are brutal, especially on a busier day like today. The lines moved okay, but all lifts really backed up between 10 AM and noon. A summit quad would help.
Catapult (the mountain's double black and self-proclaimed steepest in the Berkshires) was closed until late morning for grooming. We didn't get on it until probably 40 minutes after it opened and it was torn up already by then. Great steep run, but not very long. Still a nice challenge and the lose granular was a nice surface to ski on. There were some scratchies immediately poking through though.
All trails were similar conditions, machine groomed packed powder. The run of the day was Upper and Lower Glade (not glades) which had some nice natural snow and small bumps on skier's right. The bumps on Lower Glade were a bit bigger but slick as they were in the shade. The run to finish up on was Off-Stage which consisted of very nice moguls on a ton of manmade powder. The troughs were very edgeable manmade and the tops were all powder. A pleasure to ski on and on a pretty mellow pitch. The run attracted a lot of beginners which were sprawled all over the trail though, but I guess you have to start somewhere.
All in all a great day, but a bit crowded; expected for one of the first mild Sundays in some time and great snow conditions. It was good to get back to Catamount which is a nice change from the standard fare of Butternut or Jiminy Peak.
Click HERE for pics.
Resort or Ski Area: Catamount Ski Area, South Egremont, Massachusetts/Hillsdale, New York
Conditions: Machine-groomed packed powder, some edgeable hardpack, loose granular. Sun through thin clouds, no wind, high upper 20's/maybe 30.
Trip Report: This was our first trip back to Catamount in a number of years. The base area buildings seemed cleaner and in better shape. We got on skis just before 9 AM and had a great day skiing mostly the West side of the mountain.
We mostly rode the blue double, but also rode the yellow double once as well as the double that services the East side of the mountain. One of us heard during the lift ride that the plan was to upgrade lifts next year; no specifics. Probably a rumor, but if it's true it will help Catamount compete better with its neighbor Butternut. I actually enjoy Catamount's terrain better, but the doubles are brutal, especially on a busier day like today. The lines moved okay, but all lifts really backed up between 10 AM and noon. A summit quad would help.
Catapult (the mountain's double black and self-proclaimed steepest in the Berkshires) was closed until late morning for grooming. We didn't get on it until probably 40 minutes after it opened and it was torn up already by then. Great steep run, but not very long. Still a nice challenge and the lose granular was a nice surface to ski on. There were some scratchies immediately poking through though.
All trails were similar conditions, machine groomed packed powder. The run of the day was Upper and Lower Glade (not glades) which had some nice natural snow and small bumps on skier's right. The bumps on Lower Glade were a bit bigger but slick as they were in the shade. The run to finish up on was Off-Stage which consisted of very nice moguls on a ton of manmade powder. The troughs were very edgeable manmade and the tops were all powder. A pleasure to ski on and on a pretty mellow pitch. The run attracted a lot of beginners which were sprawled all over the trail though, but I guess you have to start somewhere.
All in all a great day, but a bit crowded; expected for one of the first mild Sundays in some time and great snow conditions. It was good to get back to Catamount which is a nice change from the standard fare of Butternut or Jiminy Peak.
Click HERE for pics.
