During the 1930s the CCC cut three down-mountain ski trails on Mount
Greylock:  the Thunderbolt and the Bellows Pipe on the east side and Stony
Ledge on the west side.  The Thunderbolt is the best known because of its
significance to ski racing during the 1930s and the 1940s.  The other two
have sunk into relative obscurity.  The Bellows Pipe sometimes is used as
an alternative route up to the Thunderbolt.  Nowadays hardly anybody skis
the Stony Ledge Trail.

More than a decade ago I skiied Stony Ledge on Asne Tourlangren cross
country skis and low-cut leather ski shoes.  (Surely Dana has a pair of
those skinny all-wood antiques in his basement.)  I fell dozens of times
because there is no easy way to control your downhill speed on such flimsy
gear.  I am lucky to have survived the experience.

Today my friend Bill and I skiied Stony Ledge with beefy telemark skis and
plastic boots.  What a difference the modern free-heel gear makes!  We were
in control all the way and had a ball.

Our route up began on the Roaring Brook Trail, on state land next to the
Mount Greylock Ski Club.  Some snowshoers had packed the first half mile of
trail, but the rest of the Roaring Brook Trail was 8-12" of untracked
powder on a deep base.  We skinned up that trail 1,400 feet to the Sperry
Road.  Snowmobiles had packed Sperry Road.  We headed northwest along that
ridge-top road to the top of the Stony Ledge Trail.

It started snowing as we pulled the skins off of our skis and prepared for
our descent.  The Stony Ledge Trail was untracked.  The original trail was
about 25 feet wide, but saplings now grow in the middle.  The snow was so
deep that we had little trouble with the saplings.  Bill and I took turns
swooping down through the soft snow.  The fall line was not consistent.  In
places the trail dropped steeply and in other places it was quite flat.
Beefy free-heel skis were perfect for this kind of trail.  We could
diagonal stride along the flat sections and could make parallel turns down
the steep sections.

A few photos from our excursion are located at the following URL:
http://mtgreylockskiclub.com/stony_ledge_photos/index.stony_ledge.htm

Regards,
Jeff Strait
http://mtgreylockskiclub.com/

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