Jiminy Peak 1/28/04

[jimme]

I arrived at 12:00 after a dangerous drive on Rt. 43 from the Albany, NY area. Parking was full, I parked in Lot three. There did not seem as many skiers as the parking lots indicated.

Very few liftlines all day. Longest wait was about 2 min tops.

The snow? Well, there was at least 8" or more on the ground when I got there and it continued to snow all day! About 2:00 it started dumping, then around 3 or so it began puking snow! I've never seen it snow so hard. There was about 3 - 4 inches on my car when I left at 5:00. You could blow it off it was so light!

Needless to say there was ungroomed powder skiing on the entire mountain. Basically stayed away from right side (on map) of mountain because I ski it so often at night. My highlights were:

Out To Sea- Only four tracks when I dropped into the pow.
Whirlaway- Powder with a few scratches. Wind blown on very top. (Stay away from skiers right of the line of pines trees on middle section. Rocks ate my ski base there.
Bear Run- Plenty of deep pow. One of the best
John Hancock- Got my first face shot ever! It was knee deep in spots! I almost got a charlie-horse in my thighs on this one.
Linda's Elbow- Sweet pow.
Wild Turkey- Awful. Snow guns blasting! Ruined Mother Nature's fluff. After the dog leg was nice.
Jerhico- Nice fluff.
Whitetail- Again, more powder
Ace of Spades- Powder. Tracked out but still fantastic.
Grand Slam Chairlift- (not on map)- 12" or more deep pow.
Azalea Path- Gettin' scratchy.

Every atom in my body is sore. Maybe I should be "sick" tomorrow. :wink:

Jimme

 

[Greg]

Thanks Jimme! Great report. As you may know, Jiminy is one of my "home" mountains so I love reading TRs from there. I'm heading up on Sunday and hope there's still some decent snow. Do you think the snow you saw will lead to any nice bump runs? There weren't any moguls there on MLK day.

 

[jimme]

Thanks! Memory tells me if they do go for bumps, they'll be on Cutter, Ace, Upper Fox and North Glade.

I like it when they let North Glade bump up- good practice as I'm just learning to ski them.

Jimme

 

[Greg]

I like it when they let North Glade bump up- good practice as I'm just learning to ski them.

Agreed. North Glade and the Foxes are both the perfect pitch to learn bumps. They also seem to form nicely on skier's right of both those trails. I'll report on the Jiminy bump scene on Sunday night...

 

[skijay]

Thanks for the Jiminy updates. I am hoping to ski there this Saturday. It will be my first time at Jiminy Peak that is not a Good Friday or day in April!

For my 04-05 Seasons Pass purchase I will be comparing Jiminy, Butternut and Berkshire East this season.

 

[Greg]

Thanks for the Jiminy updates. I am hoping to ski there this Saturday. It will be my first time at Jiminy Peak that is not a Good Friday or day in April!

For my 04-05 Seasons Pass purchase I will be comparing Jiminy, Butternut and Berkshire East this season.

Hey skijay - be sure to post a trip report after your outing Saturday. I'm heading up on Sunday. Particularly interested in mogul field locations, if any.

As for the three mountains you're considering. I've been to all three. I ski Butternut and Jiminy regularly, and have been to the Beast twice (2 or 3 season ago). As for the terrain, I prefer Jiminy and the Beast over Butternut. As you know, the overall pitch at B'nut is rather flat, and both Jiminy and the Beast offer a couple hundred more feet of vertical.

B'nut and Jiminy have it over the Beast in terms of snow conditions (B'nut grooms the best, IMO), but the Beast has more of a local feel to it...great if you're trying to avoid a "resorty" ski area. I also prefer Jiminy and B'nut over the Beast as they are both much easier to get to from my house in Northwest CT. So, all things considered, it really comes down to price:

B'nut - $299
Beast - $429
Jiminy - $699

I would say these are roughly priced based on the challenging terrain offered, with Jiminy being a bit on the high side. I would say if Jiminy's was $550 or $600, the cost would be somewhat equivalent based on terrain. Tough choice. See if you can score a deal in the spring or summer on Jiminy's pass.

 

[skijay]

I am minutes off of I-91, so getting to the Berkshires is fairly easy. I take the Pike, it's quicker than going rt 20 to 23. Butternut is about 1 hour and is the easiest to get to. The Beast may be 1 hour 10 minutes. Jiminy is about 90 minutes.

Butternut is the cheapest ($199) when you buy early. I will try to post condtions when I get back.

 

[Greg]

Getting to the Beast is almost two hours for me. 8 South -> 84 E -> 91 N -> 2 W. B'nut is an hour up 63 to 7 and Jiminy is about 1:45. 8 N -> 20 W to 7 N.

 

[skijay]

For Jiminy Peak did you ever try taking the Pike in Lee to the Berkshire Spur exit ? I think it is quicker than going up 7.

 

[Greg]

For Jiminy Peak did you ever try taking the Pike in Lee to the Berkshire Spur exit ? I think it is quicker than going up 7.

Is that the way where you take the pike into NY and then route 22N to Hancock? If so, yeah, I've tried that. It does avoid Lennox and Pittsfield but it's further mileage-wise so I think it's a wash. Sometimes you get lucky with the lights in Pittsfield.

 

[skijay]

That is the way I would take via the Pike..It's kind of strange when you think about that route. I leave CT go to MA enter NY and then back to MA to ski at Jiminy.

 

[threecy]

Grooming at the B-east is a lot better the last two years - new Bombardiers

 

[Greg]

Grooming at the B-east is a lot better the last two years - new Bombardiers

Cool! Hope to get up there this year a few times! Off to Jiminy... 8)