Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. I am a middle-age advanced skier who will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air. I will venture in and out of short mogul fields hoping to enhance my mogul skiing technique, and then often duck in and out of moderately spaced 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 (MLK) holiday weekend, my granddaughter and I took the opportunity of skiing Catamount (“The Cat”) as our first trip and very late start for the 2011 – 2012 ski season. Here are my impressions of “The Cat” using the 5 point rating system:

Terrain – Rated 3.0:
The one thing that even the best ski resort management team cannot change is the topography and geographic features of the mountain in which they manage. “The Cat” management team has been blessed with a 1,000 ft. vertical (which is not bad for a Berkshire/Pocono/ Catskills mountains ski hill), but unfortunately they only have 130 acres with which to work. There are some smaller mountains, such as Plattekill, that just happen to be blessed and reside in a great geographical area. But “The Cat” just “ain’t” one of those blessed areas. “The Cat” is split between the state of New York and Massachusetts. As you face the mountain, the New York side is on the right, while Massachusetts is on the left. “The Cat” has just about two legitimate expert trails; “Catapult” (Appears to always be closed and some claim that it is possibly the steepest in the east, which is doubtful and yet to be experienced by me) and “Upper” and “Lower Alley Cat.” “Ridge Run” is a good intermediate trail but tends to remain crowded for most of the day. It is the only summit descent to the beginner trails on the Massachusetts side of the mountain. “Ridge Run” is very conducive to serious cruising, but if you really let your skis run, you are in serious jeopardy of running over downed novices and beginners. Upon making a left hand turn off of “Ridge Run” and onto the intermediate trail called “Mountain View, you can then step on the gas pedal some, and get in about 600 vertical feet of accelerated cruising. “Upper” and “Lower Side Winder” are intermediate trails on the New York side of the mountain, and do give you a summit to base cruising experience (if it is not too crowded). It’s a very good chance that a decent advanced skier can exhaust all trail options in about three quarters of the ski day, and there lies the problem. As a weekend destination resort, your advanced and expert skiers will become bored out of their minds, but on the other hand, it becomes a great place for families with small children or novice and beginner skiers. By the way, in this day and age it is extremely rare to find a ski resort that lacks at least one gladed trail. Hey Cat management! What’s up with that ?! Can’t you cut at least one trail with glades?

Service – Rated 4.0:
The lift ticket booth is outside of the main lodge. I found that the staff that dispensed the lift tickets in temperatures hovering in the single digits was courteous and cheerful. I was amazed that during the crowded cafeteria lunch hour, there were delegated “Cat” staff that swept the cafeteria floors and cleaned vacated table spots in order to keep the cafeteria spotless during the lunch hour mayhem. Since the temperature that day was in the single digits, I had decided to buy my granddaughter some new and more protective mittens. The staff in the ski shop readily gave us their personal suggestions and assisted in fitting her with the perfect mittens and protective wicking hand liners. I presume that “The Cat” management’s mantra is, “If you can’t dazzle them with superior mountain topography, at least inundate them with great customer service.”

Crowds – Rating 4.0:
When we arrived at The Cat, it was 8:30 am, and the parking lot had so few cars present, that we were able to park in the second row adjacent to the main lodge. Since it was a cold but sunshiny Sunday prior to the Monday celebrating MLK day, I was pleasantly surprised that the longest liftline that we had to endure was about two minutes directly after lunchtime. The remainder of the day and prior to the post lunchtime crowds, it was a no wait experience on all the lifts. Although the small cafeteria in the lodge was somewhat crowded, we had no problems finding space for us to enjoy our lunch. “Ridge Run was the only trail where I experienced a little traffic. Once I made the left onto “Mountain View” I could then “strut my stuff” without the fear of running over anybody. In the afternoon when I chose the expert trails of “Upper” and “Lower Alley Cat”, I found that by the time I reached Lower Alley Cat, I was a solitary skier having the trail all to myself.

Activities – Rating 2.0:
“The Cat” has what appears to be one terrain park. The town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts is nearby, but it is a small town and I am not sure what it has to offer. Also nearby is another ski hill called “Ski Butternut,” but that is even smaller than “The Cat.” Otherwise, there may be little else to do but ski and board in the Hillsdale, New York/Great Barrington, Massachusetts vicinity.

Value: - Rating 3.0:
Lift tickets at “The Cat” were somewhat lower than many mountains of similar size. The lunch prices were within the normal range of what is expected at ski areas, but not outlandish.

In summary: “The Cat” is good for early season tune-ups for advanced and expert skiers and for a daytrip only. It is also good for weekend or mid-week trips for families with kids and/or intermediate or below skiers during mid season. Don’t get me wrong! A day of family skiing at “The Cat” is still a good day of skiing. Your novice spouse, kids, and/or grandkids will love you for it. But if you are an advanced or expert skier, just remember; keep it to one day only. In the final analysis, “The Cat” served as a season beginning “kick-off” option. My granddaughter and I got our ski legs going and we had a pretty good time. We will probably return to ski “The Cat” in the distant future, but definitely not at any time this ski season (which is already very late in starting).