Pine Hill Trail - Massachusetts

I just got back from a mountain bike ride at Mt. Wachusetts in central
Massachusetts.

Therre were signs at the state forest administration building saying that
the Pine Hill trail would be temporarily closed for repairs. The Pine Hill
Trail was designed by Charles Proctor and cut by the Civilian Conservation
Corps in 1933. It was originally 45 feet wide and achieved a maximum slope
of about 25 degrees. It was used as the site of the Massachusetts downhill
championships in the 1950's.

For a while, it was unofficially maintained by a group of local backcountry
skiers, although its width has decreased to about half the original. I've
been skiing and riding it since the early '70s

I naively asked the staff if it was being brushed out for better skiing and
snowboarding. Ha! The state is doing work on the Pine Hill Trail to
narrow it with the specific intent of making it unsuitable for ski and
snowboard use. Specific posting of signs stating that it is not a ski trail
is being considered.

I talked to several staff members and a local law enforcement officer about
the rationale for this change. One staffer thought the trail was too
dangerous to allow skiing and boarding and said that he would never climb it
in winter without crampons and an axe. While the staff denied any
responsibility for or control over the decision which was made by the state,
I read between the lines that this may be part of a compromise that allows
the ski area on the north side of the mountain to expand into some
controverial terrain (old growth forest) while protecting the same kind of
terrain in another part of the reservation.

Clearly the track of this trail is not old growth forest.

It looks to me like the interests of the small group of backcountry skiers
and boarders who use the trail were easy to sacrifice to be able to brag
about conservation intentions while letting the ski area have its way.

Tommy T.