Skiing has been a part of the Pittsfield State Forest since the mid-1930s. Two ski trails, the Ghost and Shadow, a wide-open slope called the Lulu Cascade and a ski jump all made their mark. A tragic skiing accident in 1936 led to major changes for skier safety nationwide. And in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a plan to add ski tows, widen trails and make other improvements was approved by the legislature but never implemented.

Ski trails were developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. Initially, one trail, the Ghost, was cleared on the east slope of Pine Mountain. This trail featured a vertical drop of 682 feet 3,000 feet in length, was intermediate in difficulty and rather narrow, just 18 to 35 feet in width. Its twin, the Shadow, was cleared in 1938 and had a similar drop and width. The trails were considered to be “twisting and interesting with a steady descent” in the 1940 Skier’s Guide to New England. A wider slope, the Lulu Cascade, had a vertical drop of 200 feet and was a third of a mile long, it was designed to be a slalom slope. A ski lodge was built by the 125th Company of the CCC in 1937 to best serve skiers.

With the Ghost trail opening for the 1935-36 season, hundreds of skiers soon flocked to enjoy it. It boasted one of the higher vertical drops for a ski trail and was quite interesting. Buses were employed to bring skiers who arrived on the snow trains from the Pittsfield station, a twenty-minute trip.

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