Hunter 2-26-2017

On the heels of last week's disastrous Warm weather and the subsequent cool down on Saturday night, I didn't know what to expect from the Catskills on Sunday. After thinking it over I decided to head for Hunter. I figured if anybody had the manpower and the equipment to recover quickly it would be them. Still I was skeptical. After getting off the Thruway, I saw a couple of cars coming the other way with fresh snow on them; made me feel better about the day's prospects. Arrived at Hunter just after nine; the mountain looked pretty good. Temps were in the high twenties and here and there blue sky was peeking through the clouds.



I got my ticket and jumped on the Kaatskill Flyer. Conditions were not half bad, all things considered. You could definitely see the effects of the recent weather but there was a little bit of fresh snow on top of the refrozen stuff and the groomers had been out. The skiing was not bad. Crowds were pretty light for Hunter. I took advantage of the singles line so it was pretty much ski-on for me all day but even for the bigger groups, lifelines were not bad.




I committed myself to skiing everything that was open, which I think I accomplished. They never got the West side open unfortunately. The thaw/freeze combined with high winds all day long was just too much I guess. The front side of the mountain had some icy spots but there was plenty of nice corn snow to make your turns in. I love corn snow.



I think Hellgate would have t be my pick of the day but just about everything skied nice.  The Cliffs was in good shape too and the Blues on the front side were fun also. Around one thirty I took a break and ate a light lunch on the tailgate of my truck, trying to decide if I wanted to keep going or not. Skiing by myself, zipping through the singles line, not waiting for anybody to catch up at intersections... It's awesome but the down side is you can wear yourself out pretty quick. I decided I wasn't done yet and kept at it til some time after three.




It turned out to be a pretty good day. I stopped by the info desk and confirmed that they're planning to make snow later in the week when good temps return. I guess reports of this winter's demise were greatly exaggerated. I can't wait to get back out there.