PITTSFIELD — For Perry Powell and a few of his friends, the rush to get to Bousquet Mountain on Monday morning was simple: the powder — and boy, was there a lot of it.

“It’s just a lot of snow, and you don’t get it as fresh [as this]," said Powell, a rental manager at Bousquet.

On Monday, hundreds of people of all ages made the trek to Bousquet Mountain Ski Area, along Dan Fox Drive, to enjoy skiing, tubing and the ski area’s Drifters full-service restaurant and bar. People battled frigid conditions and light snow that began in the morning, but still managed to hit the slopes for some snow day fun.

“We have a lot of locals here today, which is super fun,” said Eliza Lindberg, marketing and program development manager. “I was out on the mountain earlier today taking some pictures, and I got to hear some hoots and hollers out there from all of them.”

Established in 1932, Bousquet is The Berkshires’ oldest existing ski area, according to its website.

The weekend storm dumped a foot or more of mostly lightweight, fluffy flakes across most of the Berkshires. The highest amounts reported to The Berkshire Eagle and to the National Weather Service office in Albany, N.Y., included 16 inches in Mount Washington and in Sheffield, as well as 15 inches from weather observers in Pittsfield and Savoy.

Lindberg said Bousquet workers were keeping track of whether schools would be open as they try to cater to their local audience. Bousquet typically opens at noon on weekdays, but on Monday, they decided to move it up to 10 a.m. with a closing time of 8 p.m.

“We thought it was important to open up and allow the community to come out and enjoy the fresh snow [because] we only get [this much snow] once every four or five years,” Eliza Lindberg, marketing and program development manager said.

“We thought it was important to open up and allow the community to come out and enjoy the fresh snow [because] we only get [this much snow] once every four or five years,” Lindberg said, adding that she was hoping for around 700 guests on Monday.

On Sunday, Bousquet was open during the storm, but Lindberg said the crowd was quieter. To ensure safety for its staff and guests, the mountain closed at 4 p.m. so “everybody could navigate home safely.”

Lindberg said that one of the fun parts of the storm is that it generates more excitement about winter.

“The past few years, it’s kind of been dreary with the lack of snow,” she said, adding that with snow in everyone’s backyard, it shows the beauty of winter.

On Monday, friends and families were excited to be on the mountain, sharing laughs and bundling up in winter attire. Two skiers wore football jerseys — one a New England Patriots shirt and another a Seattle Seahawks jersey — fitting after both teams punched their tickets to the Super Bowl on Sunday.

On Monday, hundreds of people of all ages made the trek to Bosquet Mountain, along Dan Fox Drive, to enjoy skiing, tubing, and the ski area’s Drifters full-service restaurant and bar. “We shoveled last night and then drove here,” Perry Powell said. “Definitely [worth it].”

Powell, who had just gotten done skiing, said that the snow currently on the mountain is not the best for speed, but that you can fall into it and "just not get hurt.” He said that he and his friends were on one of the first chairs of the day and went on roughly four or five runs.

“We shoveled last night and then drove here [this morning],” said Powell, who is from Ghent, N.Y. “Definitely [worth it].”

When skiing on fresh snow, Lindberg said it's important for people to hold back a little bit and you “almost want to ride your tails more than you’re used to … just to let the tips of your skis float on top of the powder.”

So far, winter has been great for Bousquet, Lindberg said.

“There comes a point in the season where we can’t continue making snow,” she said. “We shut snow making down, and so the more natural snow we can get, hopefully [the] longer the snow will last into the spring, and we can stay open even longer.”