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The Past
The Early 60s
Thunder Mountain opened in 1961-62 at the top of the Massachusetts ski industry. With a solid thousand foot vertical drop, a double chairlift, challenging terrain, and snowmaking on the lower trails, Thunder had very little competition within the state. A sledding hill and an outdoor ice skating rink were also available.
Early 'celebrities' on Thunder's slopes included Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody and Senator Edward Kennedy.
Drawing comparisons to Mad River Glen due to its expert terrain, Thunder Mountain added a second Mueller Double Chair for the 1962-63 season in effort to appeal to novices. For 1963-64, the novice T-Bar was moved to a new slope cut adjacent to the new double chairlift.
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The T-Bar on present day Competition
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Thunder Mountain in its opening winter
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Things did not go smoothly, however. There were bills to pay, equity issues, and some bad winters. In the fall of 1965, Richard Tambussi bought over half the voting stock in Thunder Mountain and thus took over. Starting that season the new Natur Teknik of parallel skiing was taught by the ski school. In addition, a J-Bar was installed to replace the recently moved T-Bar on the new novice slope.
The mountain was renamed "Berkshire East" for the 1969-70 season, for ski conditions reporting and credit purposes. Most of the trails were also renamed, following more of an indian theme.
One interesting addition in this time period was the construction of a second lodge - directly in front of the Main Lodge. This was done to force the owners of the Main Lodge to sell to the ski area's lease. Once accomplished, the lodge was moved and became the West Lodge.
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The Rise and Collapse of the Early 70s
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