Catamount Conditions

[not2brite]

What happened this year??? We had season passes for years when the kids were young. Always a great family mountian. They always had snow and were regularly open until the end on March. Thunder Ridge, an hour south continues to blow as much snow as possible. Do they have staffing issues, mechanical issues.... Sad to see.

New owners and a bunch of projects/upgrades going on that did not get finished in time for the season, specifically upgrades to the snowmaking system and a second lift to the summit. Its been great midweek but a total mess on the weekends. Been to Berkshire East (same owner/one pass for both) about a half dozen times this year and same situations, midweek is great but weekends they always seem unprepared for the crowds. I'll probably downshift to a midweek only pass next year as its just not worth the hassle at either on a weekend.

 

[MarzNC]

What happened this year??? We had season passes for years when the kids were young. Always a great family mountian. They always had snow and were regularly open until the end on March. Thunder Ridge, an hour south continues to blow as much snow as possible. Do they have staffing issues, mechanical issues.... Sad to see.

Combination of factors. For Pres. Day weekend, the most recent problem for snow conditions was a downpour all night followed by a hard freeze.

When were you last at Catamount? Before the purchase by the Schaefers in 2018, who own Berkshire East, Catamount was not able to keep up with needed improvements to the snowmaking infrastructure or upgrading lifts. The old lodge was getting pretty worn too. There were several major construction projects that could not start until 2019. Needless to say, the pandemic disrupted the construction timeline for 2020 and 2021.

New lodge in June 2021

Saturday morning of Pres. Day weekend

Magic carpet busy after 10am

 

[trackbiker]

I skied there last Monday before the super soaker. Conditions were good and though crowded, the lines moved quickly. I think next year with the new lift and improved snowmaking that it will be a much improved experience.
I heard that Berkshire East has picked up a lot of the Mount Snow day trippers due to their insane day ticket prices and crowds. So it's been much more crowded this year than in the past. Good for them and I think they will make adjustments for next year. They are both well run places.

 

[not2brite]

Another off season to finish the upgrades will be a huge help. I look at BE as the template for the finished product and while definitely better the 3 weekends (1holiday w/e) I have been there it’s been a mess. Their website says get tickets they going to sellout, and they still seem totally unprepared for the crowd. They run one lift until it’s already too backed up, then the other lifts constantly go down with issues (guys on ladders up in the towers). It couldn’t be better midweek without all the problems so I probably just downshift to a midweek pass and skip weekends there altogether. I probably do 80% of my skiing midweek anyway.

 

[Brownski]

I truly believe they’ll overcome the hurdles and be firing on all cylinders next year. It’s still an awesome mountain and the owners and management sincerely want to put out the best product they can. Shit happens. The best laid plans and all that….

 

[Moe]

Haven't had passes for 4 or 5 years. Kids grew up and we made whiteface our new home. Was glad to see BE purchased the mountain and glad that they abandoned the condo project. I did a drive by over the summer and the new lodge looks great. Did not like how they clear cut the whole lower mountain.

I hope they pull it all together for next year. It is a great local place and a great ski area for young kids to learn.

 

[tirolski]

Did not like how they clear cut the whole lower mountain.

Did they log it for $?
Why’d they take out the trees?

 

[Brownski]

They expanded the bunny slope above learning area. There’s a new lift going in that looks Like it will feed lots of beginners onto the slope so some expansion there was probably appropriate. Beginners need room to make those big slow turns. They also re-graded it to a beginners’ pitch I believe.

 

[MarzNC]

They expanded the bunny slope above learning area. There’s a new lift going in that looks Like it will feed lots of beginners onto the slope so some expansion there was probably appropriate. Beginners need room to make those big slow turns. They also re-graded it to a beginners’ pitch I believe.View attachment 13478

That makes sense. Compared to Butternut (15 min away), there didn't seem to be much teaching terrain at Catamount with just the one magic carpet handling both skiers and boarders.

The feel of Catamount in June 2018 was of a place that was having trouble staying open. Now it looks like a place in transition. Seemed quite clear there is strong market for what Catamount has to offer. The number of kids on the ski teams was pretty impressive on the Saturday.

Pics from June 2018, a month after the sale to the owners of Berkshire East

 

[MarzNC]

A lot got done at Catamount by March 2020 after the sale in May 2018. Without the pandemic, the other major construction projects probably would've been completed by the 2021-22 season.

March 2020

Catamount ski area bouncing back after sale

The mountain is located half in New York and half in Massachusetts.

www.masslive.com

" . . .
In just 20 months the existing lodge has been renovated and a new lodge was built next to it, a new lift was installed and seven new trails – all of them with snowmaking – have been cut. The area has also purchased two new groomers, 200 snowguns and created four new ponds that will provide more water for snowmaking, said Rich Edwards, marketing director.
. . ."