Both resort are backbone New England. Both go back to the days of wood skiis, leather boots and dark mohogany lodges. And in both, it's obvious there's a consistent and loyal local clientele that goes wayyyyy back. Very New England. The civility level in the lines would be unseen in the DC area for sure. Without checkers and monitors, people stood in line and maximized the lift capacity.
Jimminy has over 1100 vertical, so it's respectable. Their diamonds are more like challenging blues, but they're straight down and look menacing from the top. Conditions were excellent with snow falling through the weekend. Jimminy and Brodie are only about three miles from each other and were bought by the same company. Obviously they've spent the bulk of the funds at Jimminy including a brand new detachable high-speed SIX-person chair. Jimminy was fairly crowded with Connecticut, Mass and upstate NY folks, including a fair amount of Europeans.
Brodie has over 1200 vertical, more than Jimminy, but it is almost a step back to the early days of skiing. Pomma lifts, dual chairs that go on interminably (I could have read a Tolstoy novel in the time it took to go up all the way...) but with a flavor that was certainly quaint and cozy. But Brodie had some challenging terrain, albeit with less snowmaking than Jimminy. Thin cover was prevalent in some of the diamonds, and some of the trails that paralelled the lift lines didn't even have padding by the towers -- not nice in case of a crash... The crowd was definitely local. And for lunch, I had the BEST New England clam chowdah I've ever had. Definitely home made so thick you'd need a knife to cut through it.
For a weekend visiting friends in Pittsfield, I'm glad I went to Jimminy and Brodie instead of battling the crowds at Mt Snow or Killington. But these are next on my list...
Lou
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