{"id":10861,"date":"2021-03-11T17:55:05","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/v2.mappyhour.org\/blog\/?p=10861"},"modified":"2021-03-11T18:00:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T23:00:39","slug":"backcountry-in-the-berkshires-mount-greylocks-thunderbolt-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mappyhour.org\/blog\/2021\/03\/backcountry-in-the-berkshires-mount-greylocks-thunderbolt-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Backcountry in the Berkshires: Mount Greylock’s Thunderbolt Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Berkshire
The Berkshires<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mount Greylock<\/a> is the highest peak in Massachusetts and it\u2019s home to the very popular Thunderbolt Trail<\/a>. I\u2019d done this itinrary a few times before, but on this day we opted for the \u201calpine start\u201d and got on snow by 5:30AM on a Sunday morning because I had work at 11:00am\u00a0and a 90 minute commute from the mountain. We could make that happen, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Berkshire<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Skin Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The skin up was beautiful and we had the pleasure of being joined by sunrise not too long after we left the Gould Parking lot. The Adams area seems to consistently get more snowfall than many of the nearby zones so even without any new snow in the past week, things were looking up. As we started to make our way up the main Thunderbolt uptrack things got slick. Apparently there was a SkiMo race the day before, and the skin track was pretty beat in & iced over.\u00a0One thing I will say about Thunderbolt and Greylock in general is that things are extremely well marked. It\u2019s pretty intuitive to know the route you want to take but if you don\u2019t there is a ton of trail signage, kiosks & other markings that make the uphill smooth sailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took us about an hour and a half to summit, maybe a bit longer. We hung out and transitioned over in the shelter up top, which on a windy day is a MUST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Descent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Okay, so normally this is the best part, but on this day it was absolute garbage until the last 500 feet. It was an iced over mogul field and honestly, that was fine with us. The views on Greylock are beautiful and the terrain is excellent even if the snow wasn\u2019t ideal. The best part was skiing the old lift line toward the bottom where things had softened up a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Strava
My Strava from that day (I forgot to start it until about a \u00bd mile in)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Recap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All in the adventure took us 2 hours and 20 minutes (according to my Strava) and I was back home with time to spare to head into work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a must-do especially if you\u2019re localish, and are looking to test yourself in some relatively safe backcountry terrain before going up further north. The up is hard, but it\u2019s not a death march, just pace yourself. The terrain down is somewhat challenging and varied but very minimal avalanche\/slide risk. So grab a ski partner and get after it! If you\u2019d like pointers or even want to get out for a lap, shoot me an email at Adam@outofpodcast.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Start Mount Greylock is the highest peak in Massachusetts and it\u2019s home to the very popular Thunderbolt Trail. I\u2019d done this itinrary a few times before, but on this day we opted for the \u201calpine start\u201d and got on snow by 5:30AM on a Sunday morning because I had work at 11:00am\u00a0and a 90 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":10877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[878],"tags":[885],"yst_prominent_words":[410,474,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-10861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-backcountry-touring","8":"tag-backcountry_skiing_stories"},"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n