Ski Butternut

Skis were stolen yesterday from the mountain. Staff and ski patrol showed little concern. They should be ashamed of themselves treating a 13 year old the way the did. Don’t patronize this mountain.

Really disappointed in the customer service side and their unwillingness to work with me on a largely benign issue. Having bought two season passes (one for my son — one for myself), we have been met with what will be, in the end, the warmest winter. Of course this is not their fault and I accept that. That being said, I reached out to their staff to inquire if based on weather conditions and the cost negative ending my season pass was going to result in, if they would make the concession to fold the tubing into the season pass. While the email exchange was courteous, it did not sway away from a ‘bottom line’ argument.
I accept that conditions are not ideal for them as a business, but they are also not ideal for me, the consumer. In a lack of vision for the forest through the trees, they remained steadfast in their position to make no concession.
For someone who had paid for two season passes, I believe the request for tubing to be included was more than reasonable — low hanging fruit and an act of good faith that would have gone a long way in memory when the time arises to purchase season passes.
Disappointed.
Ryan D. Price.

My favorite place to go snowboarding! I always have a good time here, the prices are good, the location is good for me, I love going during the week, it feels like YOUR mountain, and tickets are only $ 25!
They have a ski & stay deal that I am very interested in! You get a hotel room and tickets for $ 65 to $ 95, during the week… what a deal!
One time, many moons ago, my husband and I boarded on Christmas day… It was wonderful!

Ski Butternut is hands down a fantastic ski resort! (Plus it’s where I met the love of my life) I enjoy ‘free carve skiing’ the more g force in a turn the better! Their grooming, fall line, snowmaking, and terrain work well for my style of skiing.
A lot of reviewers want to complain about Butternut’s lack of steep terrain, or it’s ‘only a beginners mountain’ while Butternut may not be ‘steep’ their gentle slope certainly works well to ‘hold’ the snow across the entire width and length of the trail. I find a lot of ‘steep’ terrain, especially on the east coast, gets skied off rather quickly, for a variety of reasons, but this in turn can make the trail rather unpredictable. On the other hand, Butternut’s snow holds extremely well while STILL giving you a reasonable pitch to work with. This gives you the confidence to lay it over, without worrying if the edge is going to give out causing a potentially serious injury. If you enjoy making ‘dynamic’ turns Butternut is NOT a beginners mountain. Anyone can always make their turns more dynamic and fun, and thankfully Ski Butternut gives you a great opportunity to do just that!
Thanks to all the fine folks at Ski Butternut for all the hard work they put in to keep the mountain in tip top shape — it’s much appreciated! I feel proud to call this my home mountain! Sue and I will see you again soon!

I am writing this to share my first ever experience of skiing AS A FOREIGNER and to complain about the «1^st timer group lesson» offered by your company. On Sunday (March 29, 2015), I signed up for the 10 a.m. group lesson for beginners under the guidance of an instructor named Lisa. My Butternut ski tag ID was: 414 186. At the beginning of the lesson, I was joined by three other individuals comprising of a teenage girl and two boys aged six and ten respectively.
The main reason I felt that the entire training session was unprofessionally conducted was because the instructor (Lisa) did not go through much basic steps with us and did not attempt to understand our level of mastery. This is the first time skiing in my life and I was pretty nervous since I’m a young adult trying to learn a new sport that should be easier for children to pick up. I have to admit that I am a slow learner and that is the main reason that got me to register for the lesson. After teaching us about the importance of balancing, Lisa immediately got us into gliding with our skis on. As a result of this, I felt down while gliding and hurt my palm because I was panicked and forgot to put my gloves on.
During my first fall, Lisa did not even look at me and continued to teach the other kids. Next, she taught us to walk with our skis and go across the hill. Again, I lost my balance and fell while attempting to do so. This time, she seemed to understand my actual level (zero) in skiing and came to my rescue. After helping me up, she attempted to resume my training without telling me the basic steps (how to stop, how to avoid falling, how to control the ski). I understand that since this is a group lesson, the instructor should be fair to all by focusing on everyone instead of one person yet my conscience tells me that this is not a SKI 101 lesson, it seems like it’s a refreshment course for those who had learned before sometime ago. After that, I fell again and was having more difficulties in getting up.
Next, we proceed to the escalator which brought us to a higher level. She demonstrated how to ski from the top and got us to follow. I was very nervous since I know I could not control the ski well and did not know how to stop. Lisa was aware about my inadequacy but insisted me to get down. As expected, my first attempt skiing down the hill was a disaster because I failed to do the wedges properly and ended up twisted my elbow (it’s still not fully recovered after 1 week). Prior to that, I’ve told Lisa that I can’t do it anymore and wanted to drop by the ski patrol as I was panting. When I was on the ground with my elbow hurt, she just stood beside there without helping me to get up despite I told her how pain I was. Fortunately, my girlfriend and gang noticed me and immediately came to the rescue. I gave up the remaining part of the lesson and went down for a rest. My girlfriend also claimed that Lisa just stood beside when I fell without doing anything. We decided not to make it a big issue at that moment since I wasn’t in a calm state.
While resting, Lisa told my girlfriend that she planned to offer me another lesson with an instructor but the horse has already left the barn and I’ve totally caught phobia after multiple falls. I only decided to relearn the basics with my friends in the afternoon and they even taught me with more patience and the real basics than Lisa did.
I am very disappointed by the professionalism of your ski instructors and I felt that there is a need to let your management know in order to reassess the quality of training given before you go on and lose more customers like me.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to IM me.
Thank you.
Lucas

Good routes and this place is really good if you are a ski person. Snowboard folks please look at catamount. There are so many place with flat grounds that you would have to drag up board for a long time.
I was here for 2 days. With good snow, this place can be awesome especially if you coming down Main Street. It has a great view. On a nasty day like below freezing, the snow turns to ice and it can’t be fun.
If you just start, make sure you check the snow and temperature. They have great staffs and food is ok. Huge hot dogs. Also go to the upper lounge which has LOT more space to chill than the lower.

Great first time experience for the kids. Get there early to avoid the rush later, even during the holiday week it was busy but manageable.
Kids did first time ski and snowboard lessons and the instructors were very patient, friendly and the kids enjoyed their experiences. Prices were reasonable, better than some of the other places and its a good size place for decent skiing.
Also returned for tubing which was fun and exhausted the kids.

This is a great, family friendly mountain. Slopes are great and almost always well groomed. Ski school and ski lessons are fantastic as well. My kids progressed so quickly through their instruction. The guys that run the paddy wagon lift are great w kids and my kids learned how to ride a lift independently through their patience.
However, lunch time the place turns to chaos because the lodges don’t have enough seating to accommodate everyone. And on race days people come at 8−9am and camp out all day holding tables. It isn’t uncommon to find families eating on the floor in the hallways. Lodges, generally speaking, are run down and the bathroom in the lower lodge gets disgusting pretty quickly.
It’s a shame because I really like this mountain but the experience in the lodges takes away from a pleasant skiing experience.

Let me open by saying that I am NOT an expert skier, but I have been to many ski areas/​resorts some AWESOME and some not so great. I took the day off this past Friday to get in some skiing with my family and some friends. Apparently this was a terrific idea as weekday skiing is just $ 25 at Butternut (and it was not crowded).
The mountain is not challenging (which didn’t matter much to me), but the trails were nice and wide and very well groomed. This is a great family mountain, and a good place for kids and adults learning how to ski better. The lodge was simple yet clean and well organized. The drop off area was also easily accessible and well-​marked.
For lunch/​snacks — my son enjoyed the reasonably priced (and generously sized) pizza, candy and Gatorade and my husband and I enjoyed a nice cold beer along with a wonderful spread of assorted salami, sliced apples, cheeses and pâté that our friend brought with him. It was very delicious and relaxing.
As for the employees — the lift operators were friendly and very accommodating and helpful. The ski patrol and other employees were approachable and seemed to quickly answer any questions that people had.
At the end of the day there was a cool place outside the lodge with picnic tables, and seating/​benches where you could cop a squat and relax while watching people as they came down the final stretch of the mountain. It was a great place to bask in the sun and relax after a long day of skiing. If they just had a few of those portable heaters or a fire pit, it would have been perfect.

Totally impressed, as I was expecting much less out of this ski area.
Decent size mountain, very family and wallet friendly. Not overcrowded and decently quick lifts.
Will return
–1 star, need a bigger lodge/​changing area…

Great spot for a day of skiing.
Butternut is the perfect local ski hill — affordable, friendly service, great people skiing and reliably good snow conditions.
It is especially a great place to learn to ski or for families with young kids.

It was my first time going to Butternut even though it is fairly close to me, a little over an hour away. I’m glad we went (myself, 13 yr old daughter and 11 yr old son.) I thought the whole experience was excellent, we got there early to avoid possible crowds as it was a nice day in early March, that worked out well because it did get busy as the day went on.
I liked the fact that they have plenty of outdoor seating near the two lodges and also at the Cruiser sundeck. We usually go to Berkshire East and they don’t have much for relaxing/​taking a break outside, a nice thing when the weather permits. Everybody I dealt with was very pleasant as well.
The bathrooms were fairly clean, I have low expectations at ski resorts however. The lodges seemed fine too, the upper lodge seemed much nicer than the lower; we packed sandwiches/​snacks and ate lunch on the Cruiser Sundeck which saved us a few bucks. Note — there was a family there who actually brought their own portable grill and had a full blown BBQ, nice idea. There are plenty of picnic tables as well I might add.
The trails were great, my kids are still riding mostly green trails and there was a good variety for them, they especially enjoyed the Pied Piper-​Crosstown-​Cruiser combo. I was happy with the rest of the trails as well, they were challenging enough for me, an intermediate skier. There were a lot of families there and the learning area was on pretty crowded at times but we didn’t spend any time there, just noticed that. It was not too long of a trip between all of the lifts either, this is something I was happy about.
All in all, Butternut is a fun place that is close to home and the kids skied for 8 hours, 8 to 4, so we definitely got our money’s worth. I would go back again for sure. The prices are reasonable, and being a veteran, the kids

Having tried various ski areas not far from NYC with mixed results, I was completely impressed and walked away from a full day at Ski Butternut with a smile across my face!
If you have young kids who are just learning, please do yourself a favor and bring them here. If coming from the NYC region, the extra drive is well worth it (and the drive itself is not bad!). We signed our two kids (8 and 9 years-​old) up for all-​day «Adventurers» lesson packages. The instructors were friendly, great with kids, and provided constructive lessons (including a full debrief by the instructor that pointed out each child’s strengths and weaknesses, and a marked report card). My wife and I were able to enjoy ourselves the rest of the day without worrying about the kids.
The same goes for adult beginners. The instructors are top-​notch, and take their time to start from very small basics and progress through more advanced techniques, which will allow you to get down the hill on day one. The atmosphere was friendly, relaxed, and made for a truly enjoyable day.
I would also like to add that all of the staff we dealt with were very helpful and friendly. We started early, and the rental process was a breeze. Returning equipment was also a welcome surprise. I’ve been places where the lines are out of control at day’s end, but Butternut has all of their equipment tagged with barcodes that made returning skis, boots, and helmuts a painless experience.
At the end of the day, my kids were going down the beginner slopes on their own, and begging to return (this, after a terrible experience at a NY hill that essentially «stole» our money for the kid’s private lessons — they didn’t teach a single thing, and the kids left in tears). We are now contemplating season passes at Butternut for next year, as we will most definitely return!
Also be sure to spend some time in Great Barrington, the small town next to Butternut. It is quaint, and filled with fun shops and restaurants. I just read that it was ranked #1 in the Smithsonian Magazine’s 2012 list of «The 20 Best Small Towns in America». A great family destination where you can’t go wrong…

I have been coming to Butternut for about 15 years now and it has always been one of my favorite mountains to board on in the immediate area.
I went yesterday with a few of my friends for the day and went into the lower lodge to buy our lift tickets. I went up to the counter and right off the bat, the girl was completely rude. An attitude when she talked and the best yet, she proceeded to throw my credit card back toward me like i was pissing her off? So that kind of made me a little mad to start my day.
We went out on a few runs and went back inside to the same girl to buy a park pass. Yet again she was rude saying she was only there for 10 mins. We filled out the waiver. Which includes a short quiz. We filled it out but her and another girl behind the counter continued to be rude to us. Telling me my answers were wrong. I started to give her a little taste of her own medicine. She shut up real quick.
No need to be rude to customers who come here to spend money and have a good time. It just really made me mad an idk when i’ll be going there next. I love the mountain but she rubbed me the wrong way.

Worst Customer Service Ever!
You would think a mountain that depends on not only vacationers but also local traffic would at least make an effort concerning their customer service. They are truly the worst ever.
Do not attempt to rent equipment. They may have 4 or 5 people in the main office mulling around making small talk, but go into the rental building and you will find winding lines out the door and one lone girl taking peoples information. And confusion sets in as you try to make it down the tiny corridor as people try boots on and children are crying and the employees running the rental booths look like they would rather be any where else than where they are. Scowls and grumbles meet your inquiries.
Also the extra $ 50 they charge local students for signing up «late» for lessons leaves a bad taste in my mouth. As a working parent who arrived with cash on hand on the the first of December to pay for the lessons and was turned away so the mountain can simply squeeze more money out of local parents is terrible, especially on a busy holiday weekend.
As someone that works at an upscale local hotel I can tell you right now that I will no longer be sending our customers to Butternut.
Save your and money and your sanity and visit Catamount in nearby Egremont, MA instead.

Me and the posse came here for a hardcore day of… TUBING. Actually it was more like an hour and a half until we were freezing and were in need of some adult beverages.
It’s $ 18 per person and you get two hours of tubing — a hefty tube and use of the small tube lift. We felt lazy using the lift so we walked up the hill… only once and then after loved the lift b/​c our fat asses did not need that sort of exertion. Once at the top of the hill there are 5 or 6 lanes where u can shoot down but be aware that dumb-​ass kiddles will jump in front of you and are basically like clydesdale’s with blinders on. It’s no biggy that they jump in front of you really, except for when you can’t stop on the slippery ice and you plow into them at the bottom. Parents REALLY need to teach more manners in this society, oy.
It was fun enough and damn was it more of a work-​out than you think. My arms felt like I was a trollop left in the stocks for 48 hours, they were killing me from hauling the tube and holding on on the way down the slope slides.
For ppl who don’t know how to ski/​board, or dont have the equipment or dough to shell out, tubing is cool enough to do for two hours. I snowboard myself but i’m still used to my backwoods slopes, not the ski terrain. I also can’t stand the snow and cold for more than two hours so tubing was perfect.