Berkshire East Conditions

[Ripitz]

Empty with flurries. This place is rad.

 

[Ripitz]

Most trails are open with great coverage. Like other places to the south of the last storm they need a little more snow for the woods to be skiable. These warm temperatures sure make it feel like spring skiing.

 

[MarzNC]

Won't have a conditions report until tomorrow, but here's some unfortunate news for Berkshire East. The wind turbine will be out of commission for quite a while. The high winds managed to shop one of the blades . . . completely broke it in half. See the BEast FB Page for a video that Jon Schaefer did soon after going up to see the damage first hand.

Operations were normal on Sat, Feb. 19. BEast and Catamount were closed on Fri, Feb. 18, after the rain and windstorm in order to let the water drain, and probably snowmaking to start as soon temps were low enough.

Feb. 18, 2022

Wind turbine blade snaps at Berkshire East

CHARLEMONT — One of the three blades of Berkshire East Mountain Resort’s wind turbine snapped in half on Thursday morning, likely resulting in a lengthy repair, though the incident will not disrupt the outdoor adventure center’s operations.Jon...

www.recorder.com

"
CHARLEMONT — One of the three blades of Berkshire East Mountain Resort’s wind turbine snapped in half on Thursday morning, likely resulting in a lengthy repair, though the incident will not disrupt the outdoor adventure center’s operations.

Jon Schaefer, whose family owns Berkshire East as well as Catamount Ski Resort in Hillsdale, New York, said his staff called him at home around 8 a.m. to inform him of the incident, presumably caused by a heavy gust of wind. There were no injuries.

“Things like that don’t break without, you know, it really throwing off your morning. Sometimes you have to run into Dumpster fires and, you know, that was mine yesterday,” he said Friday. “(Staff members) heard a bang, looked around, looked up, and saw it.”

The top half of the broken blade was still dangling Friday afternoon.

Schaefer, who said he has insurance, went to the site and recorded a video, which marketing manager Nathan Marr posted to Berkshire East’s Facebook page to share with the world. The 900-kilowatt-hour wind turbine can be seen in the background over Schaefer’s right shoulder.
. . ."

 

[tirolski]

“(Staff members) heard a bang, looked around, looked up, and saw it.”

The top half of the broken blade was still dangling Friday afternoon.

Don’t look up.

 

[MarzNC]

Don’t look up.

Haha. They kept people away from the area for a while. Today's update on FB noted that the Thunder (green) was open. It goes the closest to the wind turbine.

 

[MarzNC]

Had a very good time at Berkshire East today. Regulars said the number of people was about the same as a normal Sunday. Very few people riding the lifts before 10am. Plenty of parking up close before 9am. I arrived about 8am, driving an hour from Lee, MA. Met up with a couple Ski Divas, along with the Diva sharing the condo with with.

Most of the day the lift lines for the Summit quad and triple were okay. Apparently right around 9:30 the quad line got long enough that free muffins were being given out. My friends and I were over on the other side after taking the long green and then riding the Wilderness Quad. After a break to warm up, the line was reasonable by 11:00.

Sun came out mid-morning. Definitely helped to soften up the snow. Two nights of snowmaking clearly made a difference. While there were icy patches, it was pretty easy to find edge able snow. Mostly stuck to greens and blues. Did one fast run down a black and that was enough for me. I'm definitely not a northeast skier comfortable with hard pack snow.

All lifts were running. Plenty of trail options. Even a section of woods that a few people making tracks in that feeds into Thunder.

Not the best view of the broken blade. Thunder (green) was open even though it goes below the wind turbine.

Views in the afternoon

 

[MarzNC]

Heading back to BEast today.

As of 8am, here are the number of Indy reservations left for the rest of the holiday week and this weekend:

Tue-Fri, Feb. 22-25: 212, 233, 235, 231
Sat-Sun: Feb. 26-27: 210, 228

All the ski areas in the Berkshire region, as well as West Mountain, have holiday rates for day tickets for the entire week.

 

[MarzNC]

Had a good time at BEast on Tue, Feb. 22. Possible that the incoming rain kept people away, but temps in the high 30s, low 40s meant the snow conditions were quite good. Everything was easily edgeable, including the steepest blacks. We didn't arrive until about 10am. Never had more than one group in front of us for the Summit quad. The triple wasn't running, per usual during midweek. Perhaps a few more families around because it's a school vacation week but not many. Snow tubing was sold out apparently. Light rain didn't start until 2:30.

The way the Indy Pass reservations work, still need to stop by the ticket desk to get the 2nd day added to an existing RFID card.

Closer view of the broken blade

Sweet Spot in the lodge near snow tubing serves Belgian waffles. Normally only open on weekends, but open all week Feb. 21-25. Nice to have a lodge near the short double used by beginners. That's a real wood fire on the left.

 

[trackbiker]

Had a good time at BEast on Tue, Feb. 22. Possible that the incoming rain kept people away, but temps in the high 30s, low 40s meant the snow conditions were quite good. Everything was easily edgeable, including the steepest blacks. We didn't arrive until about 10am. Never had more than one group in front of us for the Summit quad. The triple wasn't running, per usual during midweek. Perhaps a few more families around because it's a school vacation week but not many. Snow tubing was sold out apparently. Light rain didn't start until 2:30.

The way the Indy Pass reservations work, still need to stop by the ticket desk to get the 2nd day added to an existing RFID card.

Closer view of the broken blade
View attachment 13210

Sweet Spot in the lodge near snow tubing serves Belgian waffles. Normally only open on weekends, but open all week Feb. 21-25. Nice to have a lodge near the short double used by beginners. That's a real wood fire on the left.
View attachment 13211

I was there yesterday as well. Wish I knew you where coming I would have tried to have met up for a few runs. We also got there around 10:00. I was with my daughter, son-in-law, and 15 mo. old grandson. It's hard to get an early start with a toddler. I agree that the conditions were quite good. a few icy patches here and there but they were easy to avoid. Everything else was really carveable. It's a shame what happened to their windmill last week.
We were at Catamount on Monday. It was crowded but the conditions held up well and the lines moved quickly. The tripples were a chair or two wait if not ski on. I thought both places did a great job grooming with what they had to work with.

 

[MarzNC]

I was there yesterday as well. Wish I knew you where coming I would have tried to have met up for a few runs. We also got there around 10:00. I was with my daughter, son-in-law, and 15 mo. old grandson. It's hard to get an early start with a toddler.

Sorry to have missed you.

We made a morning decision about where to go. Having checked out Catamount and West Mountain, made the most sense to hit Berkshire East again. The terrain is more interesting than West. Also a shorter drive from where we're staying near Stockbridge.