Berkshire East is a four-season mountain resort on Mt. Institute (about 1,540 ft, on the Charlemont–Hawley line in Franklin County), about a mile south of the Deerfield River. The mountain has been a ski area since the 1950s and was renamed Berkshire East in the late 1960s when the Schaefer family took it over; it remains family-owned.
Winter
The alpine ski area has a vertical drop of roughly 1,180 feet served by chairlifts and surface lifts, with a mix of beginner, intermediate, and steep expert terrain. The latter is cut on the old northwest face that the original 1950s area was built around. Night skiing runs much of the season. Like most Berkshire-area mountains, snowmaking covers nearly all of the trail network.
Summer
In the warm months Berkshire East operates a mountain coaster that threads down through the woods, a zip-line course of multiple runs, scenic chairlift rides to the summit, and the Thunder Mountain Bike Park, a chairlift-served downhill mountain bike network designed by Gravity Logic. The summit lodge serves food and drinks with a long view east down the Deerfield valley.
Wind turbine and solar
A 900-kilowatt wind turbine went up on the ridge in 2011, and a roughly 500-kilowatt solar array was added a few years later. The resort says it is the first ski area in the world to generate 100% of its power from on-site renewable energy; the turbine and the solar field are both visible to anyone driving in. The slim white tower on the summit in the hero image is the turbine.
Visiting
The resort is at 66 Thunder Mountain Road, Charlemont, off Route 2 a couple of minutes west of Charlemont Center. Hours, ticket prices, and which summer activities are running on a given day all vary by season, so check the website before driving up.
Berkshire East pairs naturally with the rest of the Mohawk Trail: Charlemont village, the Deerfield River whitewater run, and Mohawk Trail State Forest just up the road.