Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. My perspective is focused on the actual skiing experience (terrain, crowd, and snow factors), and not so much on the ancillary aspects surrounding skiing. I am a middle-age advanced skier with no interest in jumping off cornices or cliffs. I will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air, but that is about the extent of it. I venture in and out of moderate mogul fields in an attempt to become a better all-around skier, but I tend not to spend a majority of my ski day dealing with the bumps. I love moderately spaced glades, but shy away from the dangers of extremely tight glades. If I had to describe the type of skier with which I most closely identify, it would be a high speed cruiser who enjoys medium to giant slalom turns. During the past Martin Luther King holiday weekend, my granddaughter and I took the opportunity of first visiting Jiminy Peak, and then the following day hopping the border into Vermont to ski Bromley Mountain. Here are my impressions of Jiminy Peak using the 1 to 5 rating scale:

Terrain: Rated 3.0:
Jiminy’s terrain represents a true family ski hill. This could be good or bad depending upon the type of skier you are. My granddaughter was trying out her new skis and felt somewhat tentative, so we stuck to just the novice and intermediate trails, namely the “greens and blues”. The good news is that on the greens, I found no need to do any poling. Almost at every point there was a downward gradation of the trails. Jiminy does have a widely spaced gladed area between two novice trails named “Left Bank” on the left and “Winding Brook” on the right. It was closed and looked like it would present no problems for intermediate skiers. If you take the novice trail called “West Way from the summit, you get a spectacular view of Jiminy’s new General Electric windmill, which supplies some of Jiminy’s electrical needs. The remaining blues were somewhat Ho-Hum, but very appropriate for this family resort. From the summit we passed their signature “double diamond trail called “Jericho” and then a single diamond trail called “Wild Turkey.” I must admit that they both intimidated me somewhat, because their headwalls were steep enough where you could see the vast surrounding countryside in the foreground, but could not see the character or hazards of the trail below unless you took that leap of faith. If the trail was beyond your ability, then it was too late and you are committed and royally screwed. My granddaughter took a break in the afternoon, and I used that opportunity to head straight for Jericho. Guess what? I took that leap of faith….., and discovered that it was the easiest double diamond that I have ever experienced. No heart pounding steepness, no Volkswagen sized moguls, but just a fun moderately steep fall line cruiser. And a cruiser, I definitely am! I took three quarters of its length without stopping. I immediately went back to the summit to take on “Wild Turkey.” and got the same result from that trail, but with just a little less steepness. My thighs were beginning to ache, so I threw in a few turns and semi-schussed it for only about half way down. Jiminy did have an indicated mogul run called “Cruiser”, but I did not get the opportunity to test its mettle.

Service: Rated 4.0:
Considering the crowds that had come to ski on this holiday weekend, any type of delivered customer services would have been welcomed and appreciated. But under those conditions, the Jiminy staff did rather well. There were plenty of parking lot shuttles to board in transit to the main lodge from the far reaches of all the parking lots. On the mountain, ski patrollers would approach skiers after unloading from a lift and ask them if they needed directions or any other assistance. In the cafeteria, the behind the counter serving staff would attempt to get your order while you were on line prior to reaching the specific counter food stations in an attempt to speed things up. A service staff person even convinced me to try a local favorite call a “Blueberry Breeze”. That’s a blueberry flavored beer laced with fresh blueberries. I had an extremely good tasting bowl of chili with loads of onions, cheddar cheese, chunks of ground beef, and a combination of kidney beans and black beans. The only drawback was that the stock was too soupy. Despite the humongous amount of skiers and riders, the main lodge lift line was only approximately 10 minutes long, and that occurred only during the peak hours of 10 am to lunchtime. The remaining mountain lifts were possibly only three to five minutes during those peak hours. The manner in which Jiminy functioned on that day, you could tell that they are accustomed to dealing with holiday crowds.

Crowds: Rated 2.0:
Ridiculous, stupid, and crazy amounts of people. The peak lunch time hours necessitated a wait of about 20 minutes to a half-hour for a cafeteria seat. But with all of that, you could still negotiate some decent turns on the mountain without running over anybody. The fact that the base area and not the trails reflected the ever present mob scene, is the true calling card of a “family” ski resort.

Activities: Rated 2.0:
The trail map did indicate three terrain parks, but my granddaughter was looking for a half pipe, and we certainly did not find one. Pittsfield, Massachusetts is not too far away and neither is the town of Williamstown. On the whole, I didn’t see anything special in the way of activities. But who the heck am I? I just came to ski.

Value: Rated 2.0:
Let’s keep some things in perspective. The food was overly expensive. I paid $32 for a burger, fries, chili, a yogurt, and two drinks. An adult holiday lift ticket at this 1,150 vertical drop mountain is right up there with the big ski hills.

In summary, if you are an expert or advance skier and are skiing Jiminy as a member of a family, then you are doing your family duty of ensuring quality recreation time with those you love. But if you plan on ripping a challenging mountain with some of your hot shot male or female friends, then I suggest you find another ski hill.

I've been skiing at jiminy every year since I was five, and I always come back. It is a great family mountain where everyone likes to go to enjoy their winters. There might be a crowd but that just goes to show how many people have come to love jiminy and return every year!

And if you aren't into crowds then come in the morning or during the week..you'll have no one around and all the runs will be peaceful.

I'm so excited for them to open on Saturday, it’s easy to get to. I've skied all over New England but its always nice to come back to your home mountain.

And so what if the conditions get icy occasionally? That is mother nature and there isn't much we can do about that! Winter is here and lets just be happy we have snow and get to the mountain.

I had a season pass here back in the epic winter of 2000-2001 (first year they put in the six pack). I liked it a lot then-it was busy on weekends (but not miserable) but very pleasant on the Holidays. However, then came the rise of 'Vacation Village' and a host of other big time resort 'improvements". I know a lot of folks go for that stuff, but the problem is, Jiminy is small, there's a critcical mass that it can handle and once exceeded it gets unbearable. Well, during the season-weekend or weekday-it's like that a lot. The big six pack just pumps person after person onto the hill, and with NO challenging terrain, short vert, they never get spread out. And there's no where to hide, the used to have a few fun glades (remeber willie's gulch??) but they clear cut that to build more lame blue cruisers. There are no bump runs to hang out it-just groomers none of which are hard enough to scare off the hoi paloi.

It's a very Corporate and sterile place, but it does serve up a lot of what many travelers are looking for.

The Main trails off the lift are, pretty swell trails, however, if you like and only want grooers-Jericho, Whitetail, whirlaway, on a rare quiet day are a delight to rip big, long, high-edge angle GS turns down. The Berkshires are very beautiful so nice views are plentiful.

I will say this, Jiminy has GREAT DH mountain biking in the summer if that's you're bag and you're looking for something different from Plattekill or Mount Snow.

I held a season pass at J.P. for three years (04 - 07). First of all....All this talk of it benig very icy is very inaccurate...There is no more ice here than at any other mountain in the North East...Here is the lowdown...

Terrain: It is what you make of it....Pretty much the same as most North East Areas but smaller...Don't let others fool you...Just because it is not VERMONT does not mean it is not good....Advice..Ski mid week and get there early as runs often get skied off (hence the ice)...Best Trails...Wild Turkey...Upper and Lower Fox..Hint...Hit the woods next to the Triple Chair on a Powder Day for brief but steep and open glades
Lodging/Food: Yes...It is an expensive mountain...I would suggest bringing a lunch to offset the cost of the lift ticket which is now close to $60.00...Try John Harvard Brewery located in the hotel for some awsome Blueberry Ale (So good)....Want to go and stay overnight...Do you self a favor and drive 15 minutes down the road into Pittsfield or the other way to North Adams to stay at much cheaper place (Holiday Inn in NA is very reasonable if you are coming from far out of town)
Apres: Christensens is good but the food and drink are way over priced and is usually filled with wanksters from Albany...Good for a quick one at the end of the day but I would suggest driving 10 minutes South on Route 7 and try the Ole Forge....A beer selection in the hundreds and the best chicken wings I have ever had..
Overall...J. P. is a great place if you just avoid getting sucked into using all of their services on the mountain...There are not many places where you can have the entire mountain to your self on a weekday morning..(Weekends are packed!) I would recomend this mountain...Just follow my guide or it could turn into a $100 day.