Berkshire East & Catamount: 3 New Lifts, Terrain Expansions

[urungus]

“Thin Cover” today at Berkshire East - all these trails were open, good luck to anyone going tomorrow for last day of the season

Entrance to Hemlock:


Hemlock:


War Dance:


bottom of Upper Flying Cloud:


top of Lower Flying Cloud:


Comp:

 

[Pez]

wow glad I kept gong tup to mount snow. was thinking about b east one more time tomorrow, but think I'll do stuff around the house instead.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

considering berkshire east via indy pass for saturday. i'm a bit spooked about driving to vt on friday after work or overnight into saturday. driving to berkshire east feels less spooky. its their season opener so any snow that has fallen will be untouched, and the berkshires were the winner of the storm this past sunday with about 10-12". considering it. their web store shows how many indy pass reservations are available, which is nice to know. currently >200.

 

[urungus]

considering berkshire east via indy pass for saturday. i'm a bit spooked about driving to vt on friday after work or overnight into saturday. driving to berkshire east feels less spooky. its their season opener so any snow that has fallen will be untouched, and the berkshires were the winner of the storm this past sunday with about 10-12". considering it. their web store shows how many indy pass reservations are available, which is nice to know. currently >200.

Hey @KustyTheKlown just FYI Berkshire East’s season opener was on Sunday. I stopped by for a while on my way home from Mount Snow. Only a single run open - Outback to Deer Run, plus option to branch off onto Lower Comp. Solid coverage on the open trail, but bare earth elsewhere and they hadn‘t even managed to cover the full width of lower Comp. They’ve promised expanded terrain for the upcoming weekend, but I would check trail report before heading over.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

yea, thanks. i didnt realize they had already opened - their website says 'opening saturday december 17', but i now take that to mean reopening.

what i do know tho, is that its bare ground everywhere that hasnt had snowmaking, and that the berkshires overperformed on sunday mostly after lifts closed - about 10" or more. and that they've been closed and blowing snow since sunday. so if they get another 10" thurs - sat, it wouldnt really matter to me what they decide is open or not since i'll just ski the whole mountain, except for trees, with 20" of snow on trails. rock skis.

 

[Smellytele]

yea, thanks. i didnt realize they had already opened - their website says 'opening saturday december 17', but i now take that to mean reopening.

what i do know tho, is that its bare ground everywhere that hasnt had snowmaking, and that the berkshires overperformed on sunday mostly after lifts closed - about 10" or more. and that they've been closed and blowing snow since sunday. so if they get another 10" thurs - sat, it wouldnt really matter to me what they decide is open or not since i'll just ski the whole mountain, except for trees, with 20" of snow on trails. rock skis.

You might want to check the weather. Rain/snow line…

 

[KustyTheKlown]

You might want to check the weather. Rain/snow line…

Ya, I’m also gonna prob just say fuck it and make it to rutland Friday night. But currently this thing looks to be bullseye on the MA/VT border. But also very low elevation at b.east

 

[RH29]

Forecast looks very promising for this weekend, especially considering that they already have at least 6-7 inches.
Absolute worst case scenario at this point is 5-6 inches of snow, then rain, then 1-2 inches on the backside.
Best case scenario is two feet of pow (although NoVT would get skunked)

If they can get at least a foot and stay mostly above the snow/rain line, I'll be happy. That should be enough, combined with snowmaking, to open big chunks of terrain.

 

[urungus]

Anyone heard anything lately about Berkshire East’s long-promised new chairlift and terrain expansion, off Mohawk down to River Road ? Seems like they have been putting most of their energy into Catamount and Bousquet.

 

[ne_skier]

Despite huge changes and delays with regards to the projects at Catamount, those are coming to fruition - no clue what happened with Berkshire East. I'm not even sure they acquired a lift. I originally thought they'd buy and put in the old Green lift at Okemo, no clue where that lift is either.

 

[Newpylong]

It is the Schaeffer's style to switch gears (and attention) at the drop of a hat so no surprise that got put on hold after taking ownership of Catamount.

 

[urungus]

I believe

Despite huge changes and delays with regards to the projects at Catamount, those are coming to fruition - no clue what happened with Berkshire East. I'm not even sure they acquired a lift. I originally thought they'd buy and put in the old Green lift at Okemo, no clue where that lift is either.

I thought they had acquired a chairlift for the Berkshire East expansion and it’s piled up at the edge of the main parking lot ?

 

[urungus]

Berkshire East Facebook Sunday afternoon:

​

We'll be closed December 19, 20, 21 to continue snowmaking and grooming operations. This will allow us to expand terrain ahead of the upcoming holiday week to give you the best possible experience.​

​

We will reopen Thursday, December 22 at 9am​

Reopened today with significantly LESS terrain than on Sunday. WTF

 

[skimagic]

Latest information
about Berkshire East expansion. One New Summit lift, and relocation of another Summit lift to the new East Side terrain.

Berkshire East to Install High Speed Detachable Chairlift - NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com

www.newenglandskiindustry.com

 

[ne_skier]

Beat me to the punch!
Mountain Top is being relocated to serve the previously-conceived expansion area east of the existing area, and a detachable quad (Leitner-Poma) is to be installed up Competition. Detach goes in this summer, while the expansion and Mountain Top relocation will have to wait until 2024.

Berkshire East Plans Two New Lifts in Two Years

A public hearing is scheduled for next month regarding a proposal by Berkshire East Mountain Resort to install a base-to-summit high speed quad this summer and another new lift next year. The first…

liftblog.com

 

[Newpylong]

As I wrote on nelsap this is my likely unpopular opinion of it:

I'm sorry but the Schaefers are getting ridiculous with these half concocted ideas. From that Promenade triple that they slapped in at Catamount, cutting every single tree down between the Race Slope to On Stage, scaring the front bowl with those ridiculous 200 foot wide boulevards. Then they had Bousquet do the same and removed basically every single tree to put the summit triple in, and now this. Not only does that mountain not need a detachable it surely doesn't need to cut down yet more trees for it. You remove the Mountain Top and put the lift there if it really has to go in. So what if it's a couple hundred more feet from the lodge.

 

[skimagic]

I agree, putting the proposed lift up competition is just going to hack up the still forested summit area. And they're going to have to cut in more wide cat tracks to get it over to mohawk. It will just become another windy summit devoid of trees

 

[RH29]

I'm super excited but also surprised. The Summit Quad is only a 7 minute ride as is. I'll lose my shit if they cut down all the trees between liftline and comp, a la Catamount and Bousquet. Shouldn't be necessary since Comp is a wide trail, but...it's the Schafers. We'll see.


I don't think there'll be that much deforestation involved at the summit. It shouldn't be much more than the areas I have marked in red - the top is pretty flat so not much earth-moving will need to be done. Then again, it's the Schafer's. For all I know they plan to destroy Upper Minnie Dole or something ridiculous.

Either way, this is a huge development for Berkshire East, particularly the (hopefully) concrete plans for the expansion lift. It'll be possible to do 10-12 runs an hour off this if you bomb down Comp.

 

[Zand]

If they think they really need a HSQ, put it in place of the current Summit Quad and relocate the POS SkyTrac to the surface of the sun where it belongs

 

[ne_skier]

Replacing Summit and moving it to the expansion area would cost just as much as removing Mountain Run and moving it, and without the extra permitting hassle to create a new lifeline and cut down a bunch of trees in the process. Then again cutting down trees seems to be the owners' fancy