Snow Business: An Uplifting Experience At Berkshire East

CHARLEMONT, MA — The wait is officially over at Berkshire East.

That is, the new high-speed quad right smack in the center of the mountain is a game-changer.

"Really, a high-speed lift?" said one customer this week at New England Ski & Scuba in Vernon when the lift came up. "That should really make a difference."

And it does.

Let's all admit one thing, Berkshire East has always been an appealing destination for families. Its mixture of longer green runs and fun blue cruisers with some blacks mixed in has always provided a full day.

Add a traditional lodge with good services and a great base area restaurant (and arguably the best fries in the industry), and it always seems like an easy choice from most parts of Connecticut.

It's only about an hour-and-a-half from Hartford, up Interstate 91 and a short distance on Massachusetts Route 2. It has plenty of parking not far from the base lodge and and a new service building makes picking up tickets easy. A spruced-up base area lends a nice touch. Yes ... fries on an Adirondack chair in front of a fire makes the breaks fun.

One never minded a slower lift system at Berkshire East because the mountain gave off a good feeling. The ride up never really seemed bad.

But oh how things have changed.

Yes, back to the new lift. It is situated just a few steps from the exit doors of the base lodge and it's no coincidence that has been placed front-and-center. The chairs are comfortable and the ride is just three-and-a-half to four minutes to the top.

"What a difference," one skier said on the ride up last week. "It truly makes a difference."

One definitely realizes that about two-thirds up the hill. It's, like, who we're almost at the top.

"It was a great decision to put this in," the same skier said.

The other great thing about the lift is that it hasn't replaced anything. It just adds capacity to the uphill system.

Here's one example. Two teens an an adult on skis were joined by a single snowboarder. The loading process was smooth and the quick ride up made a very cold day an afterthought. The four jumped off and the teens headed right toward Outback, a green cruiser with some length to it. The adult followed. Who knows what happened to the snowboarder.

The snow was smooth — yes conditions have been good despite the weird and fluctuating weather — and the trip down was a pleasure.

Then, the sequence repeated itself, again and again. It wa a full day even before lunch.

Yes, that lift has changed the face of an already enjoyable mountain. Now go experience it.

See more on Berkshire East here.

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Chris Dehnel is a patch editor who has been writing about skiing and snowboarding since 1999. He is a past-president of the Eastern Ski Writers Association. His Snow Business column runs periodically during the season.