Catamount Ski Area
Catamount Ski Area is a ski resort located on Mount Fray of the Taconic Mountains in Hillsdale, New York and South Egremont, Massachusetts. Catamount is one of three ski areas in the southern Berkshires; the others are Butternut in Great Barrington, and Otis Ridge in Otis. It is one of the few remaining family-owned ski areas in New England. In addition, Catamount is home to one of the largest youth ski race programs in the Northeast. History Fray Mountain was discovered as a potential ski area by John (Jack) Falconer Fisher in 1937/38. After earning his pilot’s license at the age of 16, Fisher flew over mountains in the region, imagining where he might create either a golf course or a ski area. Jack was from nearby Salisbury, CT, and had helped bring Lime Rock Race Track and the Salisbury Ski Jump to fruition. He had many Scandinavian friends who were ski jumpers and skiers. After talking with his friends he decided to buy a farm (Fray), and called it Catamount. In 1937/38 Jack and his friends camped out for the summer at the base of the mountain, creating trails and deciding on a vision for what would become one of the first ski areas in the country. Catamount opened for business in 1939, with three rope tows, run by a car engine with a bull wheel attached and a rope around it, pulling skier up the hill. Many skiers came up from New York City on the train that then ran to Hillsdale, New York. When the skiers arrived, trucks with hay bales in them for seating met the arriving skiers and delivered them to Catamount. In 1953 Jack married Florence (Flukie) Kendall from New York City and they had two children, Katherine and Barrie. In 1958 Florence started the ski shop. The lodge was decorated with two large fireplaces, a gravel floor, and picnic bench tables. Additions over the next 20 years included the Ski Cat Club (modeled after "Club 10" at Sugarbush Ski Area), a racing trail with a race shed for the racers, snowmaking, four chairlifts, one T-Bar, and one J-Bar. Brothers Bill Gilbert, Sandy Gilbert and business partner Don Edwards purchased Catamount in 1974 and took over management, adding more trails and increasing snowmaking 25 to 98 percent. After they retired, their sons, Tom Gilbert and Rich Edwards took over management. In 2006, the summit double chairlift was replaced with a fixed-grip quad chairlift from Belleayre Mountain Ski Center. In May 2018 the Schaefer family of Charlemont MA, longtime owners/managers of Berkshire East Mountain Resort, purchased Catamount Ski Area. During the 2018-19 season, the main Berkshire Lodge was renovated and a new triple chair was installed on the Massachusetts side. In the summer of 2018, Catamount introduced the Zip Tour on its Catamonster, the longest zipline in America. In the 2019-20 ski season, the new Catamount Lodge opened, with additional seating, a store, and ticketing operations. Four new trails (with snowmaking) also opened with varying