Bousquet Mountain

Bousquet Ski Area in 2017.

Bousquet Ski Area is a 200-acre (81 ha) ski area located in on a northern summit of Yokun Ridge in Pittsfield, Massachusetts within the Berkshires cultural region. The resort features a vertical drop of 750 feet (230 m), a lift-top elevation of 1,818 feet (554 m), twenty-four trails, five lifts, one terrain park, and 75% snowmaking capacity.

History

Created in 1932, the resort is the oldest existing ski area in The Berkshires. Prior to its use as a ski area the property was a mink farm belonging to Clarence J. "Clare" Bousquet. After his mink farming operation failed during the Great Depression, Bousquet, responding to the interest of the Mount Greylock Ski Club who had been using a steep pasture on his property as a practice run, allowed the club to cut a 750-foot (230 m) ski slope to the northern summit of Mahanna Cobble (part of Yokun Ridge) in 1933. The ski area was successful. Bousquet sold the ski area in 1956; it has changed hands twice since then.

Bousquet was the inventor of the rope tow gripper which protected the arms and hands of skiers using rope tow lifts. Bousquet marketed and subsequently sold 500,000 of his grippers. He was also the inventor of night skiing, having floodlights installed on poles in 1936 to light the runs, thanks to a local partnership with General Electric.

References

• "Conniff, Fry, Jalbert, Leich, Lund honored at ISHA Awards Banquet" www.skiinghistory.org. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
• Barile, Mary and Joanne Michaels (1997). Let's Take the Kids! Great Places to Go with Children in New York's Hudson Valley Macmillan: New York.
• "Resort Report for Bousquet Ski Area" (2009) WCVB-TV (ABC) News.
• Puliafico, Laurie "Clarence J. "Clare" Bousquet: The founding of Bousquet Ski Area, Pittsfield, MA" www.teachski.com. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
• "Bousquet Ski Area, Massachusetts" Goski.com. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
• Yokun Ridge (2005). Berkshire Natural Resources Council. Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

External links

• Bousquet Ski Area