Catamount Ski Area News

[jaytrem]

It had very fun terrain. Lack of natural snow and decent snowmaking did it in. A real shame as it was so convenient to 91. Had it been done right, it could have been a nice low key family alternative for folks in CT and western Mass who desired a bigger hill than what is in the Berkshires, but didn't want to deal with the southern VT big resort crowds and expense.

I always thought this was interesting...

Steve and Susan Plausteiner purchased Ascutney at auction, beating the owners of Smugglers Notch and an equipment liquidator. Ascutney reopened in December of 1993.

Wonder how things would have turned out if Smuugs had managed to buy it. Anyway, it is what it is, and hopefully the T-bar will be up and running soon.

 

[Abominable]

Catamount pass holders get 15 dollar day tickets to BEast. Pretty good deal for the Westchester / Putnam county crowd. If the kid(s) were a little older..... (currently 16 months and negative five months).

 

[ss20]

New used chairlift coming from Berkshire East to Catamount-

https://liftblog.com/2018/08/21/catamount-to-build-fifth-chairlift/

A new triple chair will soon improve the beginner experience on the Massachusetts side of the mountain. The lift is a 1987 Poma Alpha model which began its life in Vermont as Magic Mountain’s Sun Corner lift. Magic went dark only four years later and the triple flew south to Berkshire East, where it was the Summit lift. Skytrac replaced it with a quad in 2014 and the Poma has sat awaiting a new home ever since. Ironically, a used chairlift from Stratton will finally return lift service to Magic’s Sun Corner this fall after 27 years.

Catamount’s new 1,600′ lift will run up up the Esplanade trail. I suspect this will be a 2019 project but there’s a chance it could happen sooner.

I kinda think it's redundant with the Meadows lift and upgrading the summit Quad to a carpet-loader would've been a more useful improvement.

 

[Newpylong]

They already own the Triple, so they must see the operational need for it in their Learning programs.

The bigger question becomes, what will serve Berkshire Easts expansion if not this lift now?

 

[urungus]

The bigger question becomes, what will serve Berkshire Easts expansion if not this lift now?

Bummed to hear about this. I was already losing hope that the Berkshire East expansion was going to be finished this year, but given this news I wonder if the project will ever be completed. The new Thunder and Bolt trails opened last year are pretty useless IMO if they are not going to connect to anything new.

 

[benski]

They already own the Triple, so they must see the operational need for it in their Learning programs.

The bigger question becomes, what will serve Berkshire Easts expansion if not this lift now?

It will serve esplanade, I guess this allows people to ski it without skiing a blue as currently required for the upper half.

 

[jaytrem]

Bummed to hear about this. I was already losing hope that the Berkshire East expansion was going to be finished this year, but given this news I wonder if the project will ever be completed. The new Thunder and Bolt trails opened last year are pretty useless IMO if they are not going to connect to anything new.

I had the opposite reaction. My thoughts were "oh good, that means Berkshire East will probably get another brand new lift".

 

[bdfreetuna]

Berkshire East "expansion" is nice minor regional hype but realistically there's only so much mountain to work with. Make more snow, cut more glades, that's all folks.

The backside (behind Outback trail) could potentially hold some shorter more interesting runs and I assumed this would be the next frontier for Berkshire East if they can make it happen. There's a second smaller peak back there with enough pitch to get creative.

I'm glad Berkie is selling that triple... I've rarely seen it used (not that I frequent B-East as much lately) and it goes too far up the hill. The off loading spot of the current Quad chair is the best location to start from the top. We don't need chairs that are almost never used just rusting on the hill when they can be sold and better future plans made.

Berkshire East optimally would have 1 high speed quad to the top. The current quad is slow, and the triple is rarely used. Berkshire East is typically a ski-on situation and maybe 10 chairs wait at the worst.

 

[Newpylong]

I think perhaps you're confusing lifts. This is the pre-quad Summit triple that's been in storage. The Mountain Top triple is not going anymore. It would be foolish to remove it regardless it's not about capacity but redundancy.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I think perhaps you're confusing lifts. This is the pre-quad Summit triple that's been in storage. The Mountain Top triple is not going anymore. It would be foolish to remove it regardless it's not about capacity but redundancy.

And that's what happens when I try to re-read things a 3rd time to make sure I got it. Nevermind !

 

[Newpylong]

To be fair Beast has made a lot of moves with both of their summit lifts in the past decade lol.

 

[urungus]

Berkshire East "expansion" is nice minor regional hype but realistically there's only so much mountain to work with. Make more snow, cut more glades, that's all folks.

The backside (behind Outback trail) could potentially hold some shorter more interesting runs and I assumed this would be the next frontier for Berkshire East if they can make it happen. There's a second smaller peak back there with enough pitch to get creative.

I'm glad Berkie is selling that triple... I've rarely seen it used (not that I frequent B-East as much lately) and it goes too far up the hill. The off loading spot of the current Quad chair is the best location to start from the top. We don't need chairs that are almost never used just rusting on the hill when they can be sold and better future plans made.

Berkshire East optimally would have 1 high speed quad to the top. The current quad is slow, and the triple is rarely used. Berkshire East is typically a ski-on situation and maybe 10 chairs wait at the worst.

Actually there is a fairly major expansion planned for the “north shoulder” of Berkshire East, from last year’s new Thunder/Bolt runs down to River Road. You can read about it here:
http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=563

I sent an email to the New England Ski Industry webmaster this morning and he claimed that Berkshire East actually has two unused triple chairlifts in storage (in addition to the currently installed “Mountain Top” Triple) so it would appear they will be able to use one for the Berkshire East expansion, and one for Catamount.

 

[urungus]

Different article from today about Catamount with a few additional details: http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=711

 

[danimals]

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=756

They started cutting the new trails. I like this new boom of expansion in recent years (Waterville, hunter, catamount,etc)


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[skimagic]

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=756

They started cutting the new trails. I like this new boom of expansion in recent years (Waterville, hunter, catamount,etc)


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I'm very impressed with the money being spent at Catamount. The west expansion area has a pretty consistent pitch and will be a great addition to that side.
I did notice a new concrete box like structure to the east of the entrance to catapult a few weeks ago and thought it was for a new lift terminal, but the diagram in the link does not show a lift there. Maybe something with snow making?

 

[Killingtime]

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=756

They started cutting the new trails. I like this new boom of expansion in recent years (Waterville, hunter, catamount,etc)


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On the rare occasion I day trip from Long Island its always been to the Catskills. Never skied Catamount because some friends said it wasn't worth the time saved vs. going to the Catskills or Poconos. Will the new trails make enough improvement that its in the same league with say Windam or Belleayre?

 

[skimagic]

On the rare occasion I day trip from Long Island its always been to the Catskills. Never skied Catamount because some friends said it wasn't worth the time saved vs. going to the Catskills or Poconos. Will the new trails make enough improvement that its in the same league with say Windam or Belleayre?

I'd say no, the Catskill areas are a bit better. The west side is the only side worth skiing at Catamount, and that's only a few trails with about 950 vertical

 

[Newpylong]

Catamount is a great little area, one that certainly has done a 180 since my racingsl days there in the early 90s.

Concrete enclosures on hill are usually valve stations.

 

[ss20]

Believe the concrete boxes are for ziplines. Catamount skis bigger than 1000vrt as the trails are pretty twisty and lots of pitch varieties make it fun. I hope they build the trails off of Ridge one day...those would be 500-600vertical feet of legitimately steep terrain.

 

[ss20]

Believe the concrete boxes are for ziplines. Catamount skis bigger than 1000vrt as the trails are pretty twisty and lots of pitch varieties make it fun. I hope they build the trails off of Ridge one day...those would be 500-600vertical feet of legitimately steep terrain.

Hahaha yeah baby! Per Facebook...

It might be hot now but the snow will be flying before you know it. When it does we'll be opening this new double black diamond from the summit!

They posted a video and it appears to run parallel to Catapult and drop into On Stage to the skiers right of the little double. That's really freakin' steep if you don't know the mountain!