Berkshire East was selected as the first location of the AlpineZone.com Meet Up. Seven forum members meet Sunday morning at Berkshire East in Massachusetts to share some turns, tales, and fun. A good time was had by all! As always, it is always fun and interesting to put some names to forum member handles in addition to getting to know some folks better. Plus, it sure beats skiing alone and is a lot more fun too boot! Especially considering the lack of trails open at Berkshire East this weekend due to a recent rain storm. What normally would have been an awfully boring day on the slopes was turned into a really fun day with some great folks. A group photo can be found at AlpineZone.com. Greg Blasko, founder of AlpineZone.com, is the photographer of all pictures on this page.
Despite a recent dumping of snow fall that opened The Beast up to 100% in early February, a recent rain storm closed almost half of the mountain. Flying Cloud and Big Chief were the only two decent trails open and we spent most of the afternoon cycling these two trails. Competition was closed all day due to a J3-J4 race and the rest of the open trails with exception of War Dance were rather flat and too easy for our group.
Flying Cloud started off good every where but later in the day was scraped down the center. I continuously opted for skiers right under the Double Chair which was not operating. Conditions ranged from really firm bumps too really nice and soft man made powder and loose snow in the sun. Some vegetation and sticks were poking through the snow in places keeping other skiers away and the snow fresh! I enjoyed many laps down this section throughout the day.
Over on Big Chief, we all alternated between the edges of the trail on skiers right and skiers left. A lot of snow was being pushed away from the center making for loose frozen granular and soft snow on the sides. One spot skiers right was especially sweet near the bottom of the run. Several opportunities for air presented themselves as well.
Overall, we had a fantastic afternoon with bright blue skies, lots of sun shine, and a fairly warm day. Great turns and great company despite the lack of open terrain. We did duck into a pair of closed turns to sample the goods and found out they were closed for good reason! Still, a day of skiing would not be nearly as complete without a little adventure to keep things interesting and lively.
