A Tale of Two Seasons Happy Holidays to all! I wanted to take a moment to update you on various aspects of our operation,answer questions, dispel any rumors and look forward to 2023.Jumping right in, many of you have asked about the status of our two new lifts. We're down to final"punch list" items on both lifts and our partner contractors ar...
Schaefer Family's Investment in Catamount Tops $20 Million since Acquiring the Resort in 2018 Hillsdale, NY/Egremont, MA – October 11, 2022: Expanded night skiing, a new resort website, new base area courtyard and a re-configured learning area will join two previously-announced new lifts at Catamount Mountain Resort for winter 2022/23, includ...
Plans Underway for Continued Growth of Lesson Programs and Seasonal Instruction Options Catamount Mountain Resort, South Egremont, MA (June 28, 2022) -- Catamount Mountain Resort is pleasedto announce that Molly Goodrich has been promoted to the role of Director of Snowsports, effectiveimmediately. Goodrich will manage a staff of over 150 instructo...
A friend of Berkshire East and Catamount, and now yours too! From my seat as an operator of ski areas, I've spent the better part of 15 years trying to get 6 inches of snow made on mountains that had a mile of ice on them for the better part of the last 100,000 years. An effort that is challenging, irrational and phenomenal all wrapped into one. In...
Hi all. Jon Schaefer here. I run Berkshire East and Catamount. My family has owned Berkshire East since 1976, and Catamount since 2018. When we bought Catamount in 2018, we committed to revitalizing it and haven't stopped. Admittedly, these improvements haven't been easy, and there have been some real challenges. In June 2020, we discovered s...
"Three yards and a cloud of dust" Dear Catamount Ski Family, As a Michigan-born ski area owner, it pains me to quote Woody Hayes, the all-time great Ohio State coach who used the term "three yards and a cloud of dust" to describe his offensive strategy. What he meant was that in order to be successful a team would have to commit to a play-calling s...
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Catamount Mountain Resort! Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Catamount Mountain Resort. As we move towards the start of the 2021/22 ski season, we want to give you an update on the status of many of our improvement projects and tentative completion dates as they relate to our early season and opening day plan...
With ski season approaching, Catamount ready to debut new features... The Berkshire Eagle Highlighting Catamount's New Features! "The Schaefer family has spent more than $15 million upgrading Catamount Mountain Resort since purchasing the ski area three years ago. Some of the most visible improvements will be on display for skiers this year. Catamo...
New Lifts, Snowtubing Park and Restaurant Options Highlight Substantial Investment in Catamount Mountain Resort for Winter 2021/22 Schaefer Family's Investment in Catamount Tops $15 Million since Acquiring the Resort in 2018 Hillsdale, NY/Egremont, MA – October 4, 2021: Two new lifts will greet Catamount Mountain Resort guests for winter 2021...
JON SCHAEFER accepting the SAMMY award! Click here to read the full article! Jon Schaefer began working at Berkshire East on June 10, 1980. He was born the day before. Floating in and out of all things ski area operations between the ages of 0 and 19, Jon found his way to Middlebury College by way of ski racing. The sport of ski racing connected hi...
Berkshire Sessions Podcast with Jon Schaefer and Stuart Winchester Check out the first edition of the Berkshire Sessions podcast with Jon Schaefer and Stuart Winchester where they dive into the past, present, and future of Berkshire East, Catamount and the North East ski scene at large.
Mike Walsh with the Powder Report As the saying goes, never call last run. Not even when you weren't even sure there was going to be a first chair. I didn't think that a couple snowshoe hiked laps at Bousquet two Wednesdays ago, after operations had shut down and while the newborn baby napped at home, would be my farewell to the 2020-21 shred seaso...
CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE! The 2021 SAMMY Leadership Awards honor four individuals for their positive impact on their resorts, local communities and industry at large. This year's class includes: Katie Brown, an involved mentor, promoter, and champion for female leaders; Robert McClendon, a coach and jack-of-all-trades; Jon Schaefer, an innovator...
Catamount winter season ends, prepares to open Summer Zipline and Adventure Park! That's a wrap! Catamount has decided to close for the season and we couldn't be more proud of our team and our community for the incredible season that we had despite all of the crazy challenges we all faced. Our sister mountain Berkshire East has closed as well so it...
Getting Catty An Article by: Albert S. Neubert Click Here to see the full article! We experienced the first major thaw of the season last week when temperatures soared into the 60s across ski country and right up to the Canadian border. The warmth combined with bright sunshine vaporized all of the natural snow in the lower Hudson valley but there i...
A Letter From Jon Schaefer Dear Catamount and Berkshire East Passholders and Guests, Ahh, March in Massachusetts, thou art more lovely and more temperate than… than… than, the arctic? Anyway, I am confident that soon enough we will settle into the business of spring skiing -- at least for a few weeks. Or maybe longer? I'm happy to announce that we ...
A Letter from Jon Shaefer Happy New Year to every one of you who make up our awesome community! 2020 started in an inauspicious way at Catamount and Berkshire East. As 2019 wound down, a severe ice storm shut down the ski resorts on December 30, and on the 31st our crews worked tirelessly to reopen the mountains. For me, I spent New Years Eve in th...
Prepare to Mask Up, Social Distance, Be Patient Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend! The conditions were great and we loved seeing our community enjoying the outdoors! We would like to remind all mountain visitors that you need to purchase your tickets on our www.catamountski.com website BEFORE you arrive at the mountain. As our holiday...
GOGGLES FOR DOCS FOUNDERS GET RECOGNIZED IN OUTSIDE MAGAZINE AS OUTSIDERS OF THE YEAR Jon Schaefer and Mike Halperin Click Here For Outside Magazine Original Article The skiers who collected goggles to protect health care workers On March 12, Jon Schaefer, owner and operator of the Berkshire East and Catamount ski areas in Massachusetts and New Yor...
A Letter from Jon Shaefer On Thursday, March 12, 2020, Berkshire East and Catamount became the first ski areas to shut down for COVID. Within 100 hours, most ski areas in the country had followed suit. The next 16 days were full of uncertainty, nervousness, and fear. At both mountains, we concluded that we would approach the year dynamically. We wo...
Road Trip Rx for Skiing the Northeast This Winter Winter '20-'21 will undoubtedly be different for those of us that must travel to reach desired skiing destinations. If you're trying to avoid flights, and save money, this road trip to Indy Pass ski areas in the Northeast could be the perfect solution. Your total cost to ski these 8 amazing ski area...
Hey there Winter Lovers! This letter is to address the COVID-19 elephant in the room. It is time to shed some light on what we are planning for this winter. Without question, we are raring to open for the 2020/2021 season. Yes, there will be recommended COVID-19 state guidelines that we will follow. This will result in a change to the face of your ...
Looking ahead to the 2020/21 winter season The ski industry values the health and safety of its employees, guests, and communities. The Berkshire East and Catamount teams demonstrated this commitment in March when we led the ski world into shutting down with several weeks left in the season. This was painful for our business, our staff, and our gue...
CATAMOUNT MOUNTAIN RESORT Covid-19 Prevention Statement COVID-19 and the risk of viral contamination have fundamentally changed the recreation industry and we have been planning accordingly to operate in the safest manner possible under our states(NY and MA) and CDC guidelines. We had a 6-month summer and fall season where we followed strict guidel...
26 days ago, on March 28, 2020 at 8am, a single email appeared in my inbox. This simple moment initiated a series of actions that galvanized the ski and action sport worlds into a focused, global effort to bring protective eye wear to health care workers practicing 'battlefield medicine' in the war against the coronavirus. Our organization has work...
Catamount and Preparation for Opening DayEnter heading here... The safety and well being of our guests, employees as well as the community remains our highest priority. We believe we have a part to play to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Our states(NY and MA) continue to order the closing of all physical spaces of non-essential busin...
THE VIRAL TRAJECTORY OF GOGGLES FOR DOCS As reported by www.vtskiandride.com On the night of March 11, Jon Schaefer read an article about the spread of COVID-19. He turned off the lights and went to sleep. "Five minutes later, I woke up and knew what we had to do," he said. Schaefer, who runs Berkshire East (the ski area in northwestern Massachuset...
Dear Seasons Pass Holders and Friends, As I am sure that many of you have seen, on March 12, 2020 we made the decision to close Catamount and Berkshire East Resorts for winter operations due to the Coronavirus. On that day we chose to lead the ski industry into its early close. Believe me when I tell you that decision was one of the hardest d...
Closing for the Winter SeasonEnter heading here... To our Berkshire East and Catamount Guests and Employees: Berkshire East will close for the season today, Thursday, March 12 at 4pm and Catamount Ski Area will not reopen this weekend. COVID-19 has been discovered in the surrounding hill towns and multiple people are being quarantined. To be clear,...
