Another reflection (#7)

[Phil]

The list continues (with a couple of nods to WMBA on this post)....

Beartown S.F. – Never been but, like Ascutney, this is the winter I will go. List criteria: Public (state forest) land, parking is good (from what I've been able to gather from the social media feed), t:e awaits more in-depth analysis. Another category for the list just occurred to me: historical value. Beartown would definitely rate a check mark in that category.

Bellows Pipe Trail – Another one with a check mark in the historical value column. Since the link that the Thunderbolt Ski Runners directs one to for a description of the Bellows Pipe calls the trail the “Thunderbolt Uphill Route,” this trail is less likely to be used for traveling down than up these days. Not sure even how the current etiquette treats the occasional downhiller on this trail. Is it like trying to descend on the Tuckerman Ravine trail? Would folks tell you you should take that to the Thunderbolt (or Sherbie in the latter case)? Do you now get a “tsk, tsk,” for skinning up the Tbolt (like you get for skinning up the Sherbie)? Since it's been more than three years for me over that way I'm assuming it's a “yes” to both of those questions. List criteria: state reservation, good parking, good t:e ratio. I liked it as a downhill trail but I guess that has to remain just a memory. Back in the days B.C. (Before Crowds) Gordie Soule and a companion were climbing up at the same time I had opted to descend because the Big Bend was blown bare. I came around a turn and the surprise at seeing them directly below me blew my concentration. A yard sale ensued. It was embarrassing but nothing was injured except my pride.

Berkshire Snow Basin – The second nod to WMBA and also another check mark for historical value. My connection with it goes back to the old t-bar days. It was a really good ski area at which to practice tele turns. There was an attitude among Alpine skiers and some downhill ski areas, in the early days of the Telemark revival, such that you weren't particularly welcome to ride the lifts or use the trails in Nordic gear. I never felt that way at B.S.B. After they shut down operations I made a couple of trips to thread my way down through the growing brush. Joe J. was someone who also skied it in then and tried to muster some interest in keeping the runs open. Of course, it would have been all ad hoc when he was pitching the idea in 2010. With WMBA as the sanctioned agent for that activity now, one should volunteer for one of their work days if you want to help. List criteria: state wildlife mgmnt area, o.k. parking (follow the request to go elsewhere if the lot isn't yet plowed), t:e ratio is good.

[Robert M]

Good list and comments.  I also have Bellows Pipe as a downhill route on my CCC ski trail list (although its CCC connection is debatable). It doesn't seem right to relegate  this 1930s classic to uphill only.  I am prepared for the jeering from the uphill hordes.

[Phil]

Bob,

I agree, of course. I also looked at the description of the B.P. in the Skiing in the East, Fed. Writer's Project guide, copyright 1939 in which it's referred to as the "new" Bellows Pipe. So, obviously it was in existence by that year. In the publication: THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS, Shaping the Forests and Parks of Massachusetts A Statewide Survey of Civilian Conservation Corps Resources (2001) they reported that: "CCC Camp SP-7 (Company 107), originally established at Savoy State Forest, was moved to Mount Greylock in fall 1933. Construction of Notch Road was an ongoing task for this camp, with much of the road blasted through ledge on the very steep site. The project was not completed until 1939. Bascom Lodge at the summit of the mountain provided a destination point and a full range of amenities including overnight accommodations. In addition to roads, the CCC also built an extensive network of trails for hiking and equestrian use. Ski trails were also constructed, notably [the] Thunderbolt Trail which was renowned for its difficulty." I think Stony Ledge S.T., on the west side of the mountain, is widely considered a CCC project. Bellows Pipe could logically be considered another one of the ski trails the company constructed prior to their departure. 

For all of these trails, in the time when they would have seen their widest popularity in the days before lift-served skiing, I doubt any one of them would have been off-limits for also skinning up. Skiers in those days would just have been more attuned to the possibility that others would be coming up while they were going down. Speeds were probably slower though, so the argument could be made that the "times have changed."

Phil