Berkshire East Marketing

[threecy]

I realize you're from out of state so I'll explain some MA geography. Franklin Country is part of the "Pioneer Valley". That said, I grew up in North Adams and worked in Greenfield for a number of years recently - driving through Charlemont 5-7 days per week. Had a pass many of those years. I am very well aware of who skis there.

The Pioneer Valley is part of Franklin County. Much of "West County" (a 9 town subset of Franklin County) is in the mountains and isn't considered, at least by many locals, to be Pioneer Valley, even despite the tourism signs put up by the state on the Mohawk Trail.

For many years (especially after the closing of Mt. Tom), Berkshire East pulled from Greenfield, Amherst, Springfield, and Hartford. Of those, only Greenfield is in Franklin County. Franklin County, and along with it, "West County," has a very small population. In fact, at least as of a few years ago, "West County" doesn't even have a single franchise restaurant (Subway only lasted a few years on Shelburne) or a 24 hour gas station.

That is great news that they are pulling from further East. I have always wondered how they have survived so long on families and schools for the most part.

Very successfully. Most ski areas envy that type of model. The previous two owners (Parker and Tambussi) had tried more traditional, weekend-based models and were unable to make it.

 

[billski]

Bill: Do Massachusetts ski areas provide club discounts?

They don't have a marketing association the way NH and VT do, which is who orchestrates that. NH and VT areas are much more proactive and have approached me about blocks of tickets outside of the skivt and skinh.

Individually, some do offer clubs discounts for groups of NN, but you get locked into specific dates. Fewer still offer blocks of tickets for members to use anytime. Wa-wa offers a break on one of their passes.

The whole idea of discounts by Massachusetts areas is foreign to most of them. I suspect that may be true of CT areas, but I have no experience there. As was hinted at before, not many of them get people "from away". I'm just beginning to build relationships with some of the Mass areas (BE is coming out to our club meeting in December), but you have to choose carefully. First of all, forget about club discounts from any area within 1 hour of metro Boston. Second, many of the Berks areas are really happy with the Hartford-Albany crowd and still others are so small.

The resorts are getting used to the fact that people are not putting together tour buses full of people the way they used to in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s or the ski trains before that. They are looking at creative ways to do things. Not counting passes, you see a lot more of the direct-to consumer incentives - early season coupon book purchases.

My suggestion is to keep your eye on the ski resort's web site, facebook page and Liftopia. Facebook is finding a place for business-to-consumer marketing. We've been having some pretty interesting office discussions about business and social media lately.

Did I sufficiently avoid answering your question??

 

[Angus]

Did I sufficiently avoid answering your question??

Yes, you did a nice job! I skied at BE once 2 or 3 years ago and had a great time - I think I wrote a TR - but I haven't really been particularly motivated to return given my ability to buy cheaper tickets in NH/VT relative to distance/time commute. Note: I'm a metro-west person.

I'd like to support my home-state ski areas.

 

[Liv 2 Ski]

Bill: Do Massachusetts ski areas provide club discounts?

Ski Butternut in Mass. offfers Ski Club discounts. $35 Lift tickets as well as savings on Rentals and lessons. Must show a valid Club ID at the group ticket window.

 

[The Sneak]

BEast is awesome and I can't wait to hit it on a pow day this year.
In fact, I would like to do a weekend where we hit up BEast and Magic back to back.

 

[2knees]

I think you're thinking about the fixed grip double, which was replaced by a triple last season. The double was ridiculously fast.

I guess it was a double. Skied there only once a few years ago and the main summit lift went down so they fired that beast up. People were getting absolutely tossed. one kid did a full face plant from about 6 feet in the air.

it was something out of a warren miller film.

 

[neil]

BEast is awesome and I can't wait to hit it on a pow day this year.
In fact, I would like to do a weekend where we hit up BEast and Magic back to back.

That's a really good idea actually. Might have to do that combo this season.

 

[gmcunni]

BEast is awesome and I can't wait to hit it on a pow day this year.
In fact, I would like to do a weekend where we hit up BEast and Magic back to back.

That's a really good idea actually. Might have to do that combo this season.

thought about doing this last year but didn't work out. i'd do Magic Sat + BEast on sunday. Would want to stay near BEast on Sat night, hotel/motel options look limited though.

http://berkshireeast.com/hotelsandmotels

 

[Newpylong]

LOL! :lol: :lol: :lol: I can't wait for threecy to set the record straight on that one, ha!

Lol unreal.

 

[Newpylong]

Threecy, you can't "break up" a county to help your argument here. This is the kind of subjective evidence which you kept throwing into that Canon thread a while back that pissed people off. We can debate where Berkshire East draws its skiers from all day long but don't bend geography to make a point.

As I mentioned originally, Franklin Country is part of the Pioneer Valley. End of story.

http://www.pioneervalley.info/towns/franklin-county/franklin-county_id=478

The Pioneer Valley is part of Franklin County. Much of "West County" (a 9 town subset of Franklin County) is in the mountains and isn't considered, at least by many locals, to be Pioneer Valley, even despite the tourism signs put up by the state on the Mohawk Trail.

For many years (especially after the closing of Mt. Tom), Berkshire East pulled from Greenfield, Amherst, Springfield, and Hartford. Of those, only Greenfield is in Franklin County. Franklin County, and along with it, "West County," has a very small population. In fact, at least as of a few years ago, "West County" doesn't even have a single franchise restaurant (Subway only lasted a few years on Shelburne) or a 24 hour gas station.


Very successfully. Most ski areas envy that type of model. The previous two owners (Parker and Tambussi) had tried more traditional, weekend-based models and were unable to make it.

Bill, they certainly have done what they! It's hard to see today's Berkshire East as the modern relative of the mountain it used to be. For many years most people around here either didn't know they were still open or didn't bother to stop by. It's awesome to see them thrive when a lot of little guys have gone under in the past decade.

My first Super G was down Competition from the top at a camp a long time ago. Talk about a you know what puckerer when you were 13!

I don't know anything, but I'll tell you what the "locals" told me first hand. You can guess who that is.

In the past 3 years my family has
rapidly expanded the infrastructure of our mountain, including a new
summit lift, a major expansion of snowmaking, some of North America's
largest zip lines and a soon to be completed 900 kw wind turbine, which
will power all our energy needs."


(I'm wondering what the wind turbine will do to the pow...)

 

[riverc0il]

Lol unreal.

LOL is on you, man. Threecy used to work at Beast if my memory is correct, so I suspect he is very familiar with the market. :wink:

 

[threecy]

Threecy, you can't "break up" a county to help your argument here.

West County is a very different animal than the rest of Franklin County.

As I mentioned originally, Franklin Country is part of the Pioneer Valley. End of story.

Considering most of the geography in West County is not in a valley...

Also, if you go to the ultimate source of everything in life, Wikipedia, you'll notice that neither Charlemont nor Hawley are included in the map of "Pioneer Valley"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Valley

If you ask someone in West County where Pioneer Valley is, they'll likely tell you its the area around the Connecticut River.

Also, a fun fact, Berkshire East is generally not considered to be part of the Berkshires. Prior to going bankrupt, the previous ownership changed the name from Thunder Mountain to Berkshire East, in part to attempt to get out of some legal obligations, and in part to climb to the top of the snow conditions reports.

 

[Newpylong]

Like Berkshire Brewing Company! I always find it funny that's not brewed in Berkshire County lol.

Subjectiveness again though, Berkshire East is most definitely part of the Berkshire Range which as far as I know (and I lived there for 22 years) extends from east of Albany to Greenfield. Alas, the ultimate source reveals:

"As a physical geography, the Berkshires extend from the Housatonic River and Hoosic River valleys in western Massachusetts, to the Connecticut River valley in north central Massachusetts, and to the foot of the lower Westfield River valley in south central Massachusetts. In Connecticut, they extend from the upper Houstatonic River valley in the northwest part of the state, south along the western border of the state, east to the Farmington River valley in north central Connecticut, south to the Quinnipiac River valley in central Connecticut, then southwest to the Housatonic River valley in southwest Connecticut.

Culturally, however, the term "Berkshires" includes all of the highland region in western Massachusetts west of the Connecticut River"


Where are you seeing that geographically the Beast isn't in the berks? Or is that also what the "locals" say?

West County is a very different animal than the rest of Franklin County.


Considering most of the geography in West County is not in a valley...

Also, if you go to the ultimate source of everything in life, Wikipedia, you'll notice that neither Charlemont nor Hawley are included in the map of "Pioneer Valley"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Valley

If you ask someone in West County where Pioneer Valley is, they'll likely tell you its the area around the Connecticut River.

Also, a fun fact, Berkshire East is generally not considered to be part of the Berkshires. Prior to going bankrupt, the previous ownership changed the name from Thunder Mountain to Berkshire East, in part to attempt to get out of some legal obligations, and in part to climb to the top of the snow conditions reports.

 

[threecy]

Where are you seeing that geographically the Beast isn't in the berks? Or is that also what the "locals" say?

It's more of a cultural thing...Mt. Institute isn't in Berkshire County, nor is it part of what people tend to associate as being the Berkshires (the summit is over 1,000 feet lower than Crum Hill, etc.). My guess is that if you walk into Averys and ask a local, "what's it like to live in the Berkshires?" they'll likely say "I think you're lost..."

Random piece of trivia...Berkshire East has been the only public ski area in Franklin County for the better part of 3 decades.

 

[madskier6]

I have skied a lot at Berkshire East over the last three years. Last year my 12-yr old son participated in the race program for the first year & really enjoyed it so I was there every weekend from early Dec through late Feb. I now consider it my home mountain (at least for now) & really enjoy the terrain as a close option geographically. I will be there a lot again this season.

I live equidistant between BEast & Sundown so while I miss skiing at Sundown with the AZ Bump crew regularly, I enjoy the greater variety of terrain at BEast. I'm not knocking Sundown at all, just explaining why I've migrated to BEast since the drive time for me is the same.

BEast also has a fantastic youth race program with a long tradition of producing excellent racers. I was never all that into racing personally but my son has really immersed himself in racing & so I've come along for the ride. While he is racing, I get to enjoy the great terrain at BEast.

 

[threecy]

I was never all that into racing personally but my son has really immersed himself in racing & so I've come along for the ride. While he is racing, I get to enjoy the great terrain at BEast.

That's great to hear! Over the past three to four decades, Berkshire East has produced some of the best racers in New England.

 

[billski]

Ski Butternut in Mass. offfers Ski Club discounts. $35 Lift tickets as well as savings on Rentals and lessons. Must show a valid Club ID at the group ticket window.

Forgot about that one, great catch! Gave them a call this morning, got our Club deal locked and loaded!