Hunter Mountain, NY: 1/24/16 (Annapurna)

Annapurna was so awesome.  Fresh man-made snow and bumps that were not only skiable, but more fun to ski than anything else on the mountain.  I was already pleased with Peak Resorts because of their Mount Snow discounts, but opening this trail made me totally impressed with them.  Hopefully this is a yearly occurrence.

They really cranked out the snow..Thanks for the report..

That run is rarely open. Wow.

There's a new sheriff in town.

Great job Sno. Glad you got your fix.

Nice post sno. As a English professor once said -terse, concise and pithy.

JasonWx:  They weren't messing around with the snowmaking on this run.  They blew snow constantly from Thursday afternoon up until just before opening today.  The trail opened yesterday, but they still were making snow.  There is a huge amount of snow on the very top and bottom.  They also have a lot of coverage in the middle steeper portion, but not quite as much.  Guns were still hooked up on the middle portion, so they may blow snow in there for another night.  They should have at least a 3 foot base once the whales are pushed out at the top and bottom and probably closer to a 2 foot base in the middle, unless they blow more snow.  It should last till the spring, no question.

Skiray:  It didn't used to be seldom open.  It was open every year with snowmaking up through 10-11.  The bad winter of 11-12 meant that they didn't blow snow on it or Westway.  In 12-13, 13-14, and 14-15, they half-assed Westway instead of opening Annapurna.  This was a bad move IMO because Westway doesn't have as much firepower for it's size, and it gets windswept really easy.  Annapurna seems relatively wind protected.  With the same or less snow as they put on Westway the past few years, they were able to open Annapurna with much better conditions than Westway ever had.  I'd love to see both open completely, but if I had to chose one, It would be Annapurna every time.  In a good year, they might have tried for both as Peak Resorts seems to have noticed the unrealized potential in the West Side.

A couple of years ago I hit Purna right after it was groomed..
I was one of the fastest craziest rides ever!!!

Purna was open last year on Natural snow.

No it was not.  They had these signs up.  In case you can't read them in the picture, they say "We're not kidding.  Go back or lose ticket"

Nice goin' Sno, that looks fun.

Peak Resorts seems to be one of the best operators around when it comes to making craploads of snow. I think that's in part thanks to their background as operators in the Midwest, some in areas that get only 14" of snow a year and limited windows of cold air opportunities for snowmaking.  At those ski areas, when they get cold air they have to act fast and hit it hard.

There's probably some element of new owners building goodwill as well here, so I wonder what people's observations of Mount Snow, Crotched, etc., have been over the past few years, and how they measure up against the others.