By Mitch Kaplan
Snow Chronicles Correspondent

HANCOCK, Mass. -- Jeez. These high-speed chairlifts will be the death of my legs.

I mean, who can keep it up when reaching the top takes but a few seconds? Makes a geezer long for the good old days when chairlifts ran at a snail’s pace and a body’s quads could rest on the ride.

But, no dice. Here I was last winter flying uphill on Jiminy Peak’s damned Berkshire Express, a six-seater of all things (and who ever heard of any 1150-foot-vert hill running a six-pack?), for what had to be the four hundredth run of the afternoon, and my legs were crying for mercy. Alright, alright, maybe it was only the twentieth run. Or the tenth. Who knows? I’d long ago lost count. But, whatever the exact number, I was getting in more runs - more vert - in a few hours than I did in nearly all of the 1970s.

That’s not to say that too much vert is a problem. Exhausting, yes. But, a problem, no. It is to say that a few hours at Jiminy will make an ageing boomer leave the high-flying to the kids and think about other diversions. Diversions that’ll maybe let a guy catch his breath.

And maybe that’s one of the elements that makes Jiminy stand out. The other things to do here. Set just 2.5-hours from New York City - or my home in northern New Jersey - Jiminy’s array of activities gives a small, family resort here in the Berkshires the feel of many much larger resorts set further north. And, I’m not talking about slugging beers at the base of the hill (although Christansen’s is a fine place to do just that).

Indeed, the last time I’d come here, my friend Jim and I dragged our weary gams to nearby Williamstown to exercise our minds. We spent an inspiring hour in the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), one of the country’s finer college art museums, taking in some modernist sculpture, some cartoon art, and a retrospective of the museum’s permanent collection. That included pieces from some very famous painters who, even though they probably couldn’t ski, could wield a brush with the best of ‘em.

WCMA is just the tip of the area’s cultural iceberg. Just down the street, so to speak, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute houses one of the most impressive collections of the great impressionists’ works you’ll ever find. Not to mention a preponderance of classical works in various media.

Toss in the Berkshire Museum, the Crane Paper Company exhibit on
currency papermaking, the Hancock Shaker Village, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (the largest museum of its kind in the nation), the Norman Rockwell Museum and the Harrison Gallery of fine art and you’ll have absorbed so much artistic stimulation, your mind will be telling you to return the burden to your legs.

Of course, if you’re ready to get back outdoors but your legs still can’t carry the load, you can slide on over to the Brodie Mountain tubing hill to slide on your bottom. Or, if you’ve chosen to lodge in the base area’s Country Inn, you can soothe all aching mind and body in the hot tub or heated outdoor pool.

Or, if you simply want to slow down, you need not ride that six-pack. The Triple Chair and the Q1 quad reach the top more slowly; Widow White’s Quad services some nice cruising blues on skiers’ right, as well as a pair of short, friendly glades called Hot Wheels Glade and Winding Brook.

Indeed, to slow things down a bit, I routed myself through those glades and rode Widow White’s for a while. With time to think on the uphill ride, I pondered that if Jiminy snowsliding has traditionally had a weakness, it’s been a lack of variety. Everything groomed smooth, all trails uniformly wide. That’s changing, however. Moguls have been added this winter. You can find them on black-rated Cutter, where new tower snowmaking guns will keep them nicely dressed; and intermediates can practice bump technique in a machine-made mogul field set on upper Grand Slam, just above the intermediate-rated terrain park.

And speaking of terrain parks, rail and hit ravers are better served here than ever. A new terrain park and halfpipe are now found on Coyote Ridge, augmented by expanded snowmaking, and they will be accessible via the Grand Slam double chairlift, which will run most twilight periods, plus weekends and holidays.

Nothing has changed with Jiminy’s kids and learning programs. That’s a good thing. They still rank among the best.

As does the area’s GETSkiing/Snowboarding program for never-evers. And the base village, expanded last season, remains a pleasant and efficient environment that allows easy access to ski school, rentals, food outlets, customer service and the slopes.

Well, okay, my fatigued legs -- wearily supporting ski boot-clad feet -- complained that the base village required walking too many steps. But, hey, who said I had to ride and ski that six-pack non-stop till my quads were screaming? Then again, who could resist?

Mitch Kaplan is the author of “The Unofficial Guide to the Mid-Atlantic with Kids,” and has been skiing for 30 years. He is a past president of the Eastern Ski Writers Association.