Berkshire East 2/23

[2knees]

Date(s) Skied:2/23

Resort or Ski Area:Berkshire East

Conditions: Powder/Loose/Hardpack/Ice

Trip Report: Decided on the beast cause i've never been there and they were in the snow band from yesterdays storm. Went up with my brother and met Zand right around 9:30. He took us over to blizzard island, a very low angle glade. First run, powder was boot deep but the hardpack (ok, ice) was still totally noticeable underneath. Took a few runs and met up with madskier6 and his buddy Gabe. Small world, Gabe turned out to be the husband of an old work friend of mine. Anyway hit all the open runs. East Glade, tomahawk, liftline, jug and everything else. Snow was nice but the incredible damage done from mondays event became more evident and as the day went on, it was powder piles, death cookies and ice. a very weird surface.

The place is legit for sure.

We didnt poach Beast but based on some of the tree runs we did hit, i really doubt it would;ve been much fun. I took one really nice header and f'ed up my thumb pretty bad. As the afternoon wore on and the surface became more unpredictable, we ended up in the bar and put back a few. Nice day and great company.

gabe and jeff and liftline.

 

[Greg]

We didnt poach Beast but based on some of the tree runs we did hit, i really doubt it would;ve been much fun. I took one really nice header and f'ed up my thumb pretty bad. As the afternoon wore on and the surface became more unpredictable, we ended up in the bar and put back a few. Nice day and great company.

Zand is a little young to be drinking, isn't he? :lol:

Nice call on skipping Beast. I've skied it when the other glades were skiing pretty good and it was still miserable. That run is good for about 4 hours right after an epic dump, it seems.

BEast is legit. Sucks to hear it is still not primed. Maybe a miracle will happen and Tuesday will bring everything back to quality status.

 

[Superbman]

9:30 start? C'mon man-you know when there''s a little snow on the hill you got to get it as early as possible:grin:

Anyway-nice day at the Beast-snow was nice on top, and yes, the hard pack underneath was part of the experience (however, it's what solid coated the nastiness below, and what allows skiing in glades with only 6 inches of new snow)- good day for big skis with lots of metal! But, soft snow was around (the groomers were down right creamy until about noon) and the sun came out bright and strong around 11.

The snow on Tomahawk stayed good until about noon, groomers were very soft in morning and got bumpy by the afternoon--which is more fun than corduroy anyway.

Upper east glade (off of mohawk) was skiable (still had to tip toe around the rocks under the hemlocks, but about a third of the way down it was pretty good.)

Horace's grove had great coverage-

Left side of Umass skied well up till 4:00pm (when I finally called it quits)

Took a nice long tour of Roger's World (where the snow was copious and deep! First time making that run..and the hike back! Incredible coverage in that sheltered glen)-

By around 2pm the sun had softened The Cloud (and with the new snow) made a pretty great proto-bump run down the right side (under the double chair-and yes, it was running today!-so no messing up!).

Yeah, the rain events have been a challenge this year-but we've had good coverage (if not always good surface conditions) since early December-so on the whole it's been a good year.

Let's hope for a break on tuesday with more snow and no rain!

Oh-as for skiing Beast-if you're not one of the first 3 people down it-use someone else skis (It's outrageously ledgy in there especially the 1st third)!

 

[2knees]

9:30 start? C'mon man-you know when there''s a little snow on the hill you got to get it as early as possible:grin:

Anyway-nice day at the Beast-snow was nice on top, and yes, the hard pack underneath was part of the experience (however, it's what solid coated the nastiness below, and what allows skiing in glades with only 6 inches of new snow)- good day for big skis with lots of metal! But, soft snow was around (the groomers were down right creamy until about noon) and the sun came out bright and strong around 11.

The snow on Tomahawk stayed good until about noon, groomers were very soft in morning and got bumpy by the afternoon--which is more fun than corduroy anyway.

Upper east glade (off of mohawk) was skiable (still had to tip toe around the rocks under the hemlocks, but about a third of the way down it was pretty good.)

Horace's grove had great coverage-

Left side of Umass skied well up till 4:00pm (when I finally called it quits)

Took a nice long tour of Roger's World (where the snow was copious and deep! First time making that run..and the hike back! Incredible coverage in that sheltered glen)-

By around 2pm the sun had softened The Cloud (and with the new snow) made a pretty great proto-bump run down the right side (under the double chair-and yes, it was running today!-so no messing up!).

Yeah, the rain events have been a challenge this year-but we've had good coverage (if not always good surface conditions) since early December-so on the whole it's been a good year.

Let's hope for a break on tuesday with more snow and no rain!

Oh-as for skiing Beast-if you're not one of the first 3 people down it-use someone else skis (It's outrageously ledgy in there especially the 1st third)!

yeah, i bet first chair must've been something special. Dont get me wrong, i thought conditions were excellent. groomers were even fun today. We hit tomahawk and east glade from higher up. they were both doable but scratchy underneath. fun but challenging. the double chair was a trip. never seen a lift load at that speed. The cloud was nice but a bump run? not in my book.

 

[Superbman]

yeah, i bet first chair must've been something special. Dont get me wrong, i thought conditions were excellent. groomers were even fun today. We hit tomahawk and east glade from higher up. they were both doable but scratchy underneath. fun but challenging. the double chair was a trip. never seen a lift load at that speed. The cloud was nice but a bump run? not in my book.

I do believe I called the cloud a 'proto-bump run', that is, a bump run in the formative stages-and only under the chair at that!

Ah the double chair-I believe they call that the fastest fixed grip lift in New England-but who can verify such a thing? It's fast and furious (it's not often that a lift-and not the runs it services-gets an 'experts only' sign!)

Even the first chair today required some hunting to get the real goods (jug was mixed right from the get go-but the duck into tomahawk paid some dividends), best sustained powder I found on first run down Umass along a ten-foot wide strip orunning the whole left side.

Honestly, We haven't had a real 'epic day opening' since the new year's eve storm-man, we're due.

 

[2knees]

I do believe I called the cloud a 'proto-bump run', that is, a bump run in the formative stages-and only under the chair at that!

[\QUOTE]


whoops sorry i missed that.

 

[madskier6]

Great day. Fun to ski with you guys. Despite the icy base on the natural trails, still a lotta fun to ski them. The groomers were real nice since the base on those trails wasn't as icy. Very good base on the groomers.

It must have been last week's rain storm that messed things up because I skied BEast on Tues. 2/12 & did not experience the icy crust on the natural trails. There was some ice on those trails but not as much as yesterday. Still a great day with all the fresh fluff & nice weather conditions. The sun came out around lunch time & made for nice afternoon skiing.

I've never seen that place as crowded as it was yesterday but I'm not complaining. Yesterday was good for BEast's business. They need several days like that. The most I waited in line was 5-10 minutes which still isn't bad. First time I had ever ridden the Express Double up Flying Cloud. That lift can be hazardous to your health!

My son Kevin & I took 2 more runs after I left you guys in the bar. We did Liftline (one more time) & Big Chief. Liftline was pretty good. It had softened up in some places but it also developed the death cookies that all the natural trails seemed to develop yesterday as the day wore on. We tried to take one more run after Big Chief but the lifties were looking for night tickets & we didn't want to pay more since we had had a full day.

I'm glad 2knees got to experience BEast. Hopefully, there'll be another good powder day later this season there & the icy base will have disappeared.

 

[2knees]

heres a 20 second vid. of blizzard island. my brother then madskier.

wish i had taken more video but i just never took the damn thing out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeU-LsF585k

 

[bvibert]

Glad you made it out to give BEast a shot Pat! Sounds like you made the best of it, despite a less than optimal base.