Jorge, Clark and I upped the value of my parent’s house by copious, yes copious, amounts on Sunday. 271 View Drive, is no longer a cute home on the side of Lenox Mt. but a prime “ski in ski out” property. The three of us made the first ski descent (so we will forever believe) of Lenox Mt. MA. The trail, while clearly a CCC trail, also (solely) functions as power line that runs up to a burnt out fire tower about 600 vft above the house I grew up in. The unofficial trailhead begins at the base of my parents driveway.
The snow was a thick crust of punchy ice that made some of the most horrifying whoomphs I had ever heard but luckily Lenox Mt. rarely gets steeper than 30 degrees and is well anchored. While the snow didn’t look promising we finished the ascent and spent some time on the summit messing around on the fire tower and I did my best playing tour guide, pointing out the landmarks that run up and down the MA/NY border.
The first descent of the fire tower trail turned out to be a one hit wonder (Clark and I found a cliff band and send it!) and was enough to encourage us to head back to my house. We skied into my backyard and jumped in my car so we could try a local hot spot after my secret stash didn’t exactly pan out.
About an hour north, is Petersburg Pass, a closed ski area on the border of Williamstown, MA and Petersburg, NY and is where we would earn the rest of our turns. I had heard tales of this closed ski area and had done some research which made it even more exciting to finally put my boots back on and start skinning up the remains of PP’s main trail. The snow was still crusty but not nearly as gnarly (yes, that is a derivative of gnar!) as the snow behind my parents’ house and made for some decent turns.
I was glad that Jorge and Clark had decided to give up the great snow NH was getting and meet me in the Berkshires for a shot in the dark. The snow may not have been the best but we earned a first descent (I don’t want to hear about it if you’ve heard otherwise) and found what could make for an awesome day of up and downs (yo-yoing?) if we get there before summiting a Mt. an hour south.
The snow was a thick crust of punchy ice that made some of the most horrifying whoomphs I had ever heard but luckily Lenox Mt. rarely gets steeper than 30 degrees and is well anchored. While the snow didn’t look promising we finished the ascent and spent some time on the summit messing around on the fire tower and I did my best playing tour guide, pointing out the landmarks that run up and down the MA/NY border.
The first descent of the fire tower trail turned out to be a one hit wonder (Clark and I found a cliff band and send it!) and was enough to encourage us to head back to my house. We skied into my backyard and jumped in my car so we could try a local hot spot after my secret stash didn’t exactly pan out.
About an hour north, is Petersburg Pass, a closed ski area on the border of Williamstown, MA and Petersburg, NY and is where we would earn the rest of our turns. I had heard tales of this closed ski area and had done some research which made it even more exciting to finally put my boots back on and start skinning up the remains of PP’s main trail. The snow was still crusty but not nearly as gnarly (yes, that is a derivative of gnar!) as the snow behind my parents’ house and made for some decent turns.
I was glad that Jorge and Clark had decided to give up the great snow NH was getting and meet me in the Berkshires for a shot in the dark. The snow may not have been the best but we earned a first descent (I don’t want to hear about it if you’ve heard otherwise) and found what could make for an awesome day of up and downs (yo-yoing?) if we get there before summiting a Mt. an hour south.
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