Young skiers near the wind turbine at Jiminy Peak Ski Area in Hancock, Massachusetts.

Marcy, the kids, and I spent our winter vacation week in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts.  This was the first time we spent an extended amount of time in this part of New England and we had a great time skiing, snowshoeing, and checking out the local scenery (and the Norman Rockwell Museum.)  One of the ski areas we tried out was Jiminy Peak in Hancock.



A couple of years ago, Jiminy installed a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine on the mountain, which now produces approximately 33% of the resort's electricity.  According to the folks at Jiminy Peak, the turbine generates 4.6 million kilowatt hours annually, which offsets approximately 7.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide and 10,000 pounds of nitrous oxide (both are greenhouse gases.)  Jiminy has also undertaken major energy efficiency measures that are responsible for reducing their annual electricity requirements by almost 2.5 million kWh.  While alpine ski resorts are often the cause of environmental degredation (especially their real estate ventures,) I have to applaud the attempts of Jiminy Peak to lessen their impact on the environment, and I hope other ski areas follow their lead.


The view from Tyringham Cobble in Tyringham, Massachusetts.

The week before out vacation, I met with my friends at the Trustees of Reservations, a Massachusetts non-profit that owns 99 properties, which preserve almost 25,000 acres of the states most important landscapes.  They own several preserves in the Berkshires, and we visited two: Tyringham Cobble in Tyringham, and Bartholomew's Cobble in Sheffield.  Both were beautiful spots that turned out to be great places to get our kids out on snowshoes for a few hours.  If you get chance, check them out.


Quinn snowshoeing near the top of Tyringham Cobble.

Until next time...
-Jerry

 

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