Above: Jiminy Peak at night, as seen from the Berkshire Express. Photo by Dylan Longton. 

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese.

The drive from Albany, NY to Jiminy Peak used to take forever. Granted, I was eight-years-old when I first started snowboarding there. I’d carpool after school with my brother, Jake, and our friends, the Ushkows–together we were an impatient bunch. To ease the suffering of the dreaded, seemingly endless 45-minute drive to the mountain we would hook up a bulky Zenith TV and VCR to a converter in the Ushkow’s SUV and play VHS tapes of early Mac Dawg videos. Despite the carsickness it caused, I’d look on every time. As snowboarders, we can all recall those key moments that helped shape our love for this sideways standing lifestyle. For me, those memories begin with twilight turns at Jiminy Peak.

ABOVE Jake, just off the top of the Berkshire Express. Photo: BSK.

At home in Albany for the recent holidays, Jake and I decided we’d pay a visit to the ole stomping grounds. Under a golden-pink upstate sunset we hopped on NY State Route 43 and set off eastbound towards Hancock, MA. We left the VCR at home, and the drive went by in a flash. We laughed a lot. We laughed at how our perspective of the drive’s duration had changed, and how antsy we had been to ride in those weekend-warrior days of the past. And we laughed at how, after years away, nostalgia would play as big a role as edge control during our first few runs back down Jiminy Peak.

As we got off at the top of the high-speed Berkshire Express six-seater there was already an unspoken agreement that we were riding Left Bank, the fast track for Jiminy Peak night riding with its abundance of well lit, poppy side hits. We let the resort’s hard-packed slopes dictate our flow and stayed away from the park, opting instead for hot laps down Left Bank and its connecting runs. Remapping the trails that we used to frequent came naturally, as if the location of each bonk, stump and jump had been branded permanently into the cores of our minds.

ABOVE Under the lights on Left Bank. Photo: BSK. 

ABOVE Jake paying homage to an old cherished side hit. Photo: BSK.

We lapped the resort again and again, with more warm memories emerging through the crisp air of the cold, dark night. There was a fondness in the familiarity. And while the exact date of our recent trip to Jiminy Peak has already been forgotten, the moments we enjoyed there won’t be. They’ll be stored in the memory bank for us to reminisce over the next time we come back.

Clap, clap. Jake finds an icy wallie opportunity midway through Left Bank. Video: BSK.

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Thanks to Ben Sweet for help getting up the hill and to the whole Jiminy Peak staff for the warm western Massachusetts hospitality. There are fast, fun times times to be had in the Berkshires. Go up and get yours.