Our History
HIstory Is Important to us
The berkshire's Local Mountain Since 1932
Our present
We are locals. We are skiers. And we love this mountain.
Bousquet Mountain is a long-treasured wintertime gem in the Berkshires, and everyone working towards its enhancement aims to keep it just that way. Local devotion to Bousquet is a special thing, and we want your experience this winter to feel both familiar and fresh. We can’t wait to welcome you back home to Bousquet, where we can continue our ski traditions and build new experiences together as a growing Bousquet community.
Our Past
Established in 1932, Bousquet Mountain is The Berkshires’s oldest existing ski area. Before it was a ski area, the property was a mink farm belonging to Clarence J. “Clare” Bousquet.
After his mink farming operation failed during the Great Depression, Bousquet allowed the Mount Greylock Ski Club to cut a 750-foot ski slope up to the northern summit, and Bousquet’s Ski Grounds was off and running.
The installation of Bousquet’s first rope tow in 1935 brought more visitors and prompted Clarence to increase the ticket price from 25 cents to one dollar.
Bousquet was also the inventor of the rope tow gripper, which protected the arms and hands of the skiers using the lifts. Bousquet marketed and subsequently sold 500,000 of his grippers.
He was also the first to introduce night skiing, having floodlights installed on poles in 1936 to light the runs, thanks to a local partnership with General Electric.
By 1938, Bousquet had installed four rope tows, and The Hartford Courant declared the area “one of America’s finest ski developments” with the longest rope tow in the world.
Our future
