Berkshire East & Catamount: 3 New Lifts, Terrain Expansions

[xlr8r]

For the past few years all new Leitner Poma detachable quads now come with those chairs. They are the europe design from I think Leitner. The fixed quads still use the older chair design because they are lighter and can be bumped.

 

[Abominable]

Had a great Christmas week at Berkshire East. The new quad is awesome, and awesomely fast. They mountian ops did a great job given the lousy weather and there was enough decent snow to have fun (little kids don't need much.).

I know some of the changes at Berkshire East, Catamount and Bousquet over the past five years are controversial. I have a small list of complaints myself (the new flooring at the bar at Bousquest is DEADLY slippery in ski boots, for one). But the Schaefer's family purchase of Catamount has had such a tremendously positive impact on my life it's hard to overstate it. By wonderful coincidence of timing, I bought a house and began a family just as they took over, and now I have a very well run, and fun, mountain an easy hour and a half away, one that really avoids a lot of the problems at other hills accessible from NY but still has excellent amenities. The folks that work there don't change much each year, and it just feels likely family or a family oriented experience, anyway. It's so awesome that the lady making sure my six year old can get off at the mid-station of the Meadows Triple is the same each year, remembers the kids, etc. Add to that the fact that I get three mountains on a pretty reasonable pass; each offers something a little different. It's been just great for our family and my kids will never remember not knowing how to ski. My youngest can lap the magic carpet on his own all day long at two and a half. We'll ski Bousquet a couple times a year for variety, Catamount a bunch, and then a week or long weekend here and there at Berkshire East (three hour trip).

And while I always assumed we'd sort of 'grow out' of Catamount, the more I ski it I realize there's quite a bit there worth skiing, and the NY side makes for some pretty thrilling lapping on those very rare occasions I don't have kids in tow. And Berkshire East has always skied a little bigger than it is, in my opinion, especially with great snow, and rarely sees the crowds that the bigger SVT places do. And both Catamount and Beast have explansion plans or at least expansion dreams, to go along with all the investments in new lodges and lifts and snowmaking and everything else.

Anyway, sorry for a bit of a love letter, but I was driving home the other night down the dark and beautiful Taconic thinking how lucky we (my familty) got in this instance.

I bet most members of this board have faced the opposite - when that long loved local (or not so local) place goes downhill or worse, you just feel like a punch in the gut. Little Holiday Mountain in the Catskilss was a big part of my life growing up and it was sad to see it deteriorate. And not to gouge a fresh wound, but being a passholder at Magic is quite a rollercoaster. So I'm pretty thankful for developments at Catamount / Bousquet / Berkshire East and the commitment and wherewithal to invest in the future.

 

[Newpylong]

There are always things that annoy people and controversies. But take it from someone who skied at said 3 areas (and 3 more nearby that have since closed), Beast and Catamount were well into life support for a long time there. It is great to see them thriving.

 

[trackbiker]

I bet most members of this board have faced the opposite - when that long loved local (or not so local) place goes downhill or worse, you just feel like a punch in the gut. Little Holiday Mountain in the Catskilss was a big part of my life growing up and it was sad to see it deteriorate. And not to gouge a fresh wound, but being a passholder at Magic is quite a rollercoaster. So I'm pretty thankful for developments at Catamount / Bousquet / Berkshire East and the commitment and wherewithal to invest in the future.

In case you didn't know; Holiday Mountain was purchased by a local this past year and is being brought back to life.
Might want to check it our once they get the place mostly open.

 

[Abominable]

In case you didn't know; Holiday Mountain was purchased by a local this past year and is being brought back to life.
Might want to check it our once they get the place mostly open.

Yeah we talked about that a bit on here. I wish them the best! Man it's hard to see how they can justify putting a lot of money into it though.

A good snow year can make anything seem possible. C'MON ALREADY!

 

[Abominable]

Coincidentally for you fans of the Storm Skiing podcast an interview with J. Schaeffer just released.

 

[Newpylong]

I didn't know Jon was only 43 nor was so hands on. Gives me a new sense of appreciation.

 

[urungus]

Enjoyed the Storm Skiing podcast. It’s cool How Jon lives at Berkshire East and has his own rope tow, if I were the owner I’d definitely set up a fan gun in my back yard, LOL. Also appreciated Stuart bringing up the issue of the clear cutting at Catamount, although the answer didn’t convince me it was really necessary to cut as many trees as they did. FWIW, I’ve been going to Berkshire East for over a decade but I have never heard anyone use “TBar” to refer to the Competition trail, only “Comp”. The TBar was removed 40 years ago in the 1980s, right ?

 

[urungus]

Was at Berkshire East today and they have made a little snow on Ralicki’s Run (upper Minnie Dole), but only below where it crosses the new upper extension of upper Comp. Kind of an odd segment to be working on, as it doesn’t connect to any open terrain at the bottom. Was hoping they would be making snow on the new upper extension of upper Comp instead but no sign of snowmaking (or pipes) anywhere there. One of the four RFID gates still not working on the new lift. Hopefully Ullr will come through for us on Sunday, the place needs it.

 

[RH29]

Was at Berkshire East today and they have made a little snow on Ralicki’s Run (upper Minnie Dole), but only below where it crosses the new upper extension of upper Comp. Kind of an odd segment to be working on, as it doesn’t connect to any open terrain at the bottom. Was hoping they would be making snow on the new upper extension of upper Comp instead but no sign of snowmaking (or pipes) anywhere there. One of the four RFID gates still not working on the new lift. Hopefully Ullr will come through for us on Sunday, the place needs it.

Was thinking of going this weekend, would you expect any new snowmaking trails to open?

 

[Newpylong]

Enjoyed the Storm Skiing podcast. It’s cool How Jon lives at Berkshire East and has his own rope tow, if I were the owner I’d definitely set up a fan gun in my back yard, LOL. Also appreciated Stuart bringing up the issue of the clear cutting at Catamount, although the answer didn’t convince me it was really necessary to cut as many trees as they did. FWIW, I’ve been going to Berkshire East for over a decade but I have never heard anyone use “TBar” to refer to the Competition trail, only “Comp”. The TBar was removed 40 years ago in the 1980s, right ?

I also was curious because while no regular I did race there consistently in the early 90s and never heard reference to T-Bar once. Always been Comp. I think the Schaefer's perhaps let their nostalgia run amok on the naming. Their hill but silly name IMO.

 

[drjeff]

I also was curious because while no regular I did race there consistently in the early 90s and never heard reference to T-Bar once. Always been Comp. I think the Schaefer's perhaps let their nostalgia run amok on the naming. Their hill but silly name IMO.

One of my friends, who raced for UMASS in the late 80's/early 90's and grew up racing the Tri-State USSA league for Jiminy, told me last week that she did remember the T-Bar name, and actually had some great fun riding the new lift on New Years Eve when her youngest son was racing at Berkshire East

 

[Newpylong]

Yes, if she was there back then, the removal of that lift wasn't too far in the past, so that makes sense. I was in Tri-States there from roughly 90 to 94-ish, first on the Brodie team and then Bousquet and it was quite gone and not mentioned. My first Super-G started at the top of Upper Comp, and ended at the bottom, with a massive jump on the flats. Pucker factor high.

 

[drjeff]

Yes, if she was there back then, the removal of that lift wasn't too far in the past, so that makes sense. I was in Tri-States there from roughly 90 to 94-ish, first on the Brodie team and then Bousquet and it was quite gone and not mentioned. My first Super-G started at the top of Upper Comp, and ended at the bottom, with a massive jump on the flats. Pucker factor high.

Yup, she started tri-state racing back in the EARLY 80's, and I like to poke fun at her that even though I raced in VARA back then, she was always 1 J grouping ahead of me beause she's OLD!

 

[Newpylong]

It was an eye opener when I was #1 in my age group and we went to Gore for the Eastern finals. The VARA kids kicked our butts, not sure why GMVS still wanted me after that lol.

 

[drjeff]

It was an eye opener when I was #1 in my age group and we went to Gore for the Eastern finals. The VARA kids kicked our butts, not sure why GMVS still wanted me after that lol.

Had a similar experince about 4 yrs ago, when the ski team at my kids highschool 1st started up. The head coaches son, who actually went on to race for UMASS the last few years, was consistently finishing in the top 10, often top 5, in Tri-State races, and was expecting to dominate the CT Highschool racing scene. In the 1st race, he finished something like 13th, and was wondering who most of the guys infront of him were. My daughter, who grew up racing VARA, told him that that guy was from Killington, that guy from Okemo, that guy from Stratton, etc It was the case where the big fish in a little pond suddenly became the little fish in a big pond!

 

[urungus]

Was thinking of going this weekend, would you expect any new snowmaking trails to open?

Not from what I saw yesterday. Conditions report says snowmaking operations are back underway, and some activity is visible on webcams, but no new trails are mentioned. Should be getting 6”+ of natural on Sunday morning which will make things look much nicer but I don’t think it will be enough to open additional terrain

 

[SkiNewEngland.net]

I also was curious because while no regular I did race there consistently in the early 90s and never heard reference to T-Bar once. Always been Comp. I think the Schaefer's perhaps let their nostalgia run amok on the naming. Their hill but silly name IMO.

Competition was referred to by mountain ops and racing as "T-Bar" throughout the 1990s and 2000s, similar to how a GS start on Upper Competition was referred to as "Hedco Road" decades after a Hedco was last in use there (Hedco Road was eliminated with the 2023 modifications). That said, lift names tend to evolve there (the quad in Exhibition is onto its third name at this point), so it wouldn't be out of the question to see that one change over time.

 

[RH29]

Something happened at Berkshire tonight.

Around 8:30, I skied past what (from a respectful distance) appeared to be a couple people down on Exhibition, with other skiers and patrollers standing around them. An ambulance had just rolled up and was sitting by the West Lodge with the doors opened, but at that point there didn't appear to be any movement of people off the mountain. Another ambulance and a fire truck rolled up soon after.

Fast forward a half hour to a few minutes after close, when the sound of a helicopter rattled the base lodge. Went out to my car and a medical helicopter had just landed in the trail map-designated landing area on the edge of the main parking lot, with the fire truck and second ambulance around it.

The original ambulance stayed by Exhibition and was still sitting there at about 9:30 when I left, but with doors closed and the slope cleared. At about 9:45, after sitting on the ground for 35-40 minutes, the med helicopter took off and flew to Baystate Medical Center in Chicopee.

I don't know any more specifics about if it was a collision, crash, heart attack, or something and I thought both the fact that the ambulance just stayed at Exhibition and the helicopter not leaving until at least an hour and 15 minutes after the incident were both odd. My hope is that it was a drill. If it's something more serious, my prayers go out to all involved.

EDIT: The conditions tonight were "New England Packed Powder" - a very firm but not icy hardpack base with some loose granular on top. Good conditions for fast carving and racing, but fairly easy to lose control on too.

 

[urungus]

Nice day at the B’East today. They had someone helping put groups together to fill chairs on the new lift, first time I’ve seen that at Berkshire East, and it made a big difference.