Berkshire East 2-19-2009

[LiftlineRedcoat]

Berkshire East 2-19-2009



The snow that started Wednesday evening helped improve conditions at the BEast quite a bit, but as I left the area for the night I was sure the predicted change to rain would leave a wet sloppy mess for the morning. The rain never came, and the mountain had 5 inches of fresh snow the morning of the 19th when I arrived to open the hill.

There wasn't enough snow to open Upper Liftline, but most of the other trails both groomed and ungroomed were in great shape. For a school vacation week, we almost had the mountain to ourselves. Flying Cloud, Grizzly and UMass were left ungroomed, and the glades were skiable again for the first time in a while.

Temps rose into the high 30's / low 40's by mid afternoon making for a great spring skiing day. Weather for the next few days looks good.

This is my first post/trail report. Comments appreciated.

 

[marcski]

Welcome. Nice report. Looks good. I like the softness under the trees. I haven't skied the BEast in 25 years.

You didn't get any video of yourself skiing. My favorite part of the video was the shadow at about 3:00 minutes.

 

[LiftlineRedcoat]

Welcome. Nice report. Looks good. I like the softness under the trees. I haven't skied the BEast in 25 years.

You didn't get any video of yourself skiing. My favorite part of the video was the shadow at about 3:00 minutes.

Thanks for the "welcome aboard" Marcski. Actually, I'm the last person skiing in the clip, a friend traded helmets with me for one run.

Berkshire East was bought by the longtime manager and his son a couple years ago. He's invested a lot in the place, new snowmaking and grooming. If it's been 25 years since your last visit, you'll be very happy with the changes.

I just uploaded the video, in a couple hours YouTube should have a "watch in HD" button available if you have a fast connection.

The camera is new to me, I'm still trying to figure out how to get the best quality for uploading. I'm not sure that the highest resolution on the camera is necessarily the best for posting online after compression.... any ideas?

 

[Jisch]

Nice, I was thinking of heading up to the BEast on Saturday night... I was wondering how the conditions held up.

John

 

[Warp Daddy]

Welcome !!! BTW great vid never skied the Beast looks like it may be worth the trip when i'm visiting my kids in the 495 region , could hit it on teh way home !!

 

[Jisch]

The BEast is a great little ski place. Its not super small like WaWa or (gasp) Sundown, but its not big either. IMHO they have the best deal going on Saturday nights. 3 family members, 6 hours of skiing, $49, how can you beat that? Never waited in a line all last year. I can't say why I haven't been up there this year yet...

John

(oh and welcome - even though I'm not sure I've been "here" long enough to extend that welcome... :-D)

 

[Greg]

Welcome LR! Great video. Nice quality. Try tossing that up on vimeo.com. YouTube brutalizes high rez video. Blizzard Island looked good and Cloud looked really nice. Gotta get up to the BEast this season. Need Liftline and Jug to open up though.

 

[billski]

xllent! So how busy/crowded was it, given this is mass school vacation week?
great place, still a secret.

 

[RISkier]

B'East is a terrific area, IMO. The front face is served by a relatively slow triple. Sometimes they run a parallel double if lines at the triple are excessive. Lift lines are rarely more than 3-5 minutes. And the slopes never feel crowded. It's pretty retro. The lodges are basic but have a warm welcoming feel. Main lodge has large windows looking out on the slopes. No high speed lifts. The vibe is friendly. Terrain is interesting and varied. Some fairly challenging terrain. My sense is they've really improved snowmaking but it's probably not the place to go immediately after a rough weather cycle. Midwinter it's definitely become my favorite area within reach for a day trip.

 

[TheBEast]

Welcome to the show Mr. LiftlineRedcoat! ;-)

Hope to see you on Sunday!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

nice video

 

[Superbman]

'Bout time someone got to wear your helmet and get you on video as well!

You're getting good at these Helmet videos!

WElcome to Alpinezone, LLRC

Liam