I love this they are similar mountains and i think could work very well together. I would hope to see a joint pass. And maybe some glades at the cat. Mountain biking could work there. Berkshire east certainly has the experience. I think it would depend on how much land the cat owns that is not ski resort oriented. Does any other resort that far south have mountain biking other than Platenkill. There is no whitewater around there of commercial value. They have a ropes course although that interfered with a glade run i used to like. It would be nice if they bought out the house at the top of the far left lift and expanded in that direction trail wise.
Not knowing the terrain (skied there 40+ years ago), I have always wondered why no fall-line trails off top traverse trail at Cat. Is it too steep/cliffs? Would set apart as far as challenge in that region.
It is great to see these areas find their niche and thrive. When I grew up racing down there, places like Berkshire East and Catamount were hanging on by a thread.
It seems to me these companies would be wise to build some geographic diversity, like Peak Resorts has done. It's rare that all segments of the North American skiing have a good year, so having some areas in the mid-west, some in New England and even some west of the Mississippi would seem like a reasonable plan to buffer whichever segment had a bad year.
We saw Jiminy take over Brodie, only to kill their competition :-( , but I don't see similar fate planned with the takeover of Blandford or Catamount.
We saw Jiminy take over Brodie, only to kill their competition :-( , but I don't see similar fate planned with the takeover of Blandford or Catamount.
I think we're moving into a new era and away from the practice of buying competition and trimming hours midweek to eventually shutter the operation entirely. Now it feels like mountains are buying into the competition to unite and win together with combined forces. It makes a lot more sense than trying to force people to ski your mountain over another place via hostile takeover type moves in what is a very small industry.
It seems to me these companies would be wise to build some geographic diversity, like Peak Resorts has done. It's rare that all segments of the North American skiing have a good year, so having some areas in the mid-west, some in New England and even some west of the Mississippi would seem like a reasonable plan to buffer whichever segment had a bad year.
We saw Jiminy take over Brodie, only to kill their competition :-( , but I don't see similar fate planned with the takeover of Blandford or Catamount.
The article does somewhat address this. They mention that Berkshire East's client base is mostly Massachusetts and Connecticut and Catamount's is mostly New York. It say B-East is doing this to diversify. Not as drastic as purchasing a mid west area. Baby steps.
Quiz: The article says Catamount is one of four ski areas in the US that are in two states. Another would be Heavenly Valley (CA-NV). What are the others?
Quiz: The article says Catamount is one of four ski areas in the US that are in two states. Another would be Heavenly Valley (CA-NV). What are the others?
Not knowing the terrain (skied there 40+ years ago), I have always wondered why no fall-line trails off top traverse trail at Cat. Is it too steep/cliffs? Would set apart as far as challenge in that region.
They had another steep one year's ago. It dropped straight down the steep face skiers right of Catapult. It started of Ridge Run and ended where Lower Turnpike ends. It was called Steeple. It can be seen on Googleearth. If you can go back on googleearth to older images you can see it before it grew it to the way it is now.
Wilmot, WI/IL. One little sliver of a trail is in Illinois. Trail appropriately called Stateline.
Thanks, I thought there was a 5th that always gets forgotten. I also believe part of Sunshine Village is in BC, same deal, no structures, just part of a bowl I think.
Wilmot, WI/IL. One little sliver of a trail is in Illinois. Trail appropriately called Stateline.
Thanks, I thought there was a 5th that always gets forgotten. I also believe part of Sunshine Village is in BC, same deal, no structures, just part of a bowl I think.
That's a nice 2 some. Ought to put little pressure on the Jiminy and the Catskills.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
Maybe now Jiminy Peak will charge $99 for a midweek ticket instead of $100.
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<p abp="321"><strong abp="322">Ski Conditions Report: A detailed report describing the snow conditions on the mountain the day of your visit. Skiers should become familiar with the following snow surface descriptions: Ice: Packed Powder, Slush: Packed Powder, Frozen Granular: Packed Powder , Packed Powder - A thin covering of snow over bare earth.</strong></p>
I posted this over on the NYskiblog. I thought it would be relevant here as well.
I grew up skiing at the original BEast (Berkshire East) and remember when Roy Schaefer first came to the mountain in the early-mid 70's. I think his (and now his families') management style and philosophy of not biting off more than you can chew has done the mountain great and clearly helped expand, modernize and grow to what it is today , a true 4-season ski area with their mountain coaster and successful bike park. If other small to mid-size ski areas try to emulate what they did, they would be in much better shape and there would be fewer ski areas on the NELSAP list. I just hope that this new expansion into other ski areas doesn't drain their resources away from Berkshire East. It is a gem of a mid-sized New England ski mountain, which unfortunately there are fewer today than when I grew up skiing.
It's interesting that a ski area is purchasing an area larger than itself. How often does that happen?
Peak Resorts bought New England areas that are all bigger than their Midwest areas. The only one they bought that might be smaller than their Midwest areas is Big Boulder in PA.
Comments
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I grew up skiing at the original BEast (Berkshire East) and remember
when Roy Schaefer first came to the mountain in the early-mid 70's. I
think his (and now his families') management style and philosophy of not
biting off more than you can chew has done the mountain great and
clearly helped expand, modernize and grow to what it is today , a true 4-season ski area with their mountain coaster and successful bike park. If other small to mid-size ski
areas try to emulate what they did, they would be in much better shape
and there would be fewer ski areas on the NELSAP list. I just hope that
this new expansion into other ski areas doesn't drain their resources
away from Berkshire East. It is a gem of a mid-sized New England ski
mountain, which unfortunately there are fewer today than when I grew up
skiing.
Straddle areas:
1. Lookout Pass (ID/ Mont)
2. Lost Trail (ID/ Mont)
3. Heavenly (Cal/ Nev)
4. Catamount (NY/ Mass)
5. Sunshine (BC/ ALB)
Per Google maps, Wilmot looks to be 99% in Wisconsin, barely in Ill.
Same goes for the Berlin Mountain area in MA - the landing area for the ski jumps was within feet of NY.