Hunter Mountain, NY Jan 13, 2015

I hadn't been to Hunter in a long time (5-6 years), and with an online midweek ticket price of $46 and now low gas prices, it was time to make a return.

On the 12th, they had mixed precip and temps in the 30's, so the snow had become wet, then froze hard that night as the arctic front moved through. However, with grooming, conditions were mostly decent, though you could tell what trails were groomed first when the snow was wet, and then later, when it had frozen. The earlier trails had a lot of true frozen granular, while the later ones were carveable groomed snow. This was the type of snow where you hear everybody's turns.

The weather was sunny and cold, temps in the low teens at bottom, single #s on top, and moderate winds. Most of the main mountain trails were open and they had some open on the west side. This was the first time I had been there since they put in the six pack (is it the Kaatskill Flyer or Kaaterskill Flyer? I saw signs for both at the bottom of the chair). That's a fast lift, and you can make a lot of vertical on it, especially considering there were no lines. I was able to get in 24 miles of skiing due to the fast lift.

I had forgotten about how some trails there are perpetually in the shadows this time of year, like most of White Cloud, Belt Parkway, Drop. They see no sunshine, and combined with the firmer snow I thought Belt Parkway was more difficult to ski then say Cliff or Hellgate. Lots of low intermediates here going down in death wedges, and snowboarders randomly spinning around and falling down - which makes it tough to ski on the narrow section. I'm sure with more snowmaking and grooming the skiing improved this week, not that it was all that bad on Tuesday.

I was impressed that the food in the cafeteria was not excessively expensive - i.e. I had chicken stir fry with rice for $10. Parking was close to the lodge which was a plus. Lift attendants were friendly, saying hi, asking how the runs were going, if we were having a good time, etc.

I know Hunter can be very busy on the weekends - but weekdays, you can have the mountain nearly to yourself.

Enjoy some photos, Jeremy

View from the base


Looking up towards the F Lift (not open)


Summit


Milky Way


Fordham Road- a surprising narrow beginner run


E Lift, a classic Hall double


B Lift

We love Hunter and it had been our home-mountain for years and years..  Probably the best in terms of lift capacity and snow making. What does hurt the mountain are the crowds, lack of good skiers and boarder that think it's OK to try the Cliff, Hell Gate, Racers Edge or Claire's Way in that death wedge you were speaking of.  Also, I find that many of the boarders that go there have NO respect for skiers which to me is odd, given that most of the ones with an attitude aren't all that good.  Maybe it's me only but, I doubt it.  

After skiing Plattekill, Belleayre and now skiing at Pico, we are debating how to use our Hunter Passes. We love the place but, our kids and us parents are just done with the crowds on weekends though, that is when we can ski it. In the spring the place can be had to yourself and maybe we will just use them then; we will see. Or maybe like you, just pull the kids out of school one day during the week to make turns.

Seeing your pics certainly certifies this place is a REAL mountain, with a solid front side that can be had to yourself during the week for sure.

Hunter can be a fantastic place. They really pay attention to what counts, snow. They have made yeoman attempts to bounce back from some crappy weather events, and unlike many New England areas do so right away without the eye on whether or not they are close to the next weekend crowd. While there are many excellent skiers, some quite up there in the age factor, there is something about the place that seems to give snowboarders a license to be reckless. I wish the patrol would take more time to see what some of the snowboarders are doing. I know many families are now going to Hunter, and I worry about some clown going 50 mph on a board smacking into a 7 year old kid. That said if you get a weekday off, and live downstate or in Jersey Hunter is your best bet for good skiing.

Great place, great snow, never had a run in. Saying.

I joined this blog last year...haven't seen many trip reports for Hunter until recently. I'm happy and a little surprised to hear such positive and factual reports. Hunter has been my home mtn. since 1980 , in part because I inherited a home there but mainly because it is a great place to ski!! Skied hunter on jan.13 too ...got there late (1pm) so not as sunny as your photos Jeremy  and skied off...Still found great skiing where they were making snow, but overall some of the worst conditions I skied all year! (29 days hunter,1 gore) I do try to pick the best days and mostly midweek. Conditions improved each day last week as they recoated all the trails with fresh man made. The climax of the week was the opening of 44 (westway) on sat. Crowds weren't that bad sat. until z-lift broke down at 12:30. In general crowds haven't been that bad for years...as for the quality of skiers...the last few weeks they've been discounting tickets for college kids which added to the number of unskilled out of control skiers/boarders. JP was right there are many excellent skiers at Hunter and many excellent older skiers. As one of those older skiers I'm good at avoiding out of control skiers/boarders so they didn't bother me much while skiing...watching from the lift was a little scary though

Welcome professor and thanks for posting.

Thanks for the TR JD.

Personally I love the way mgmt runs Hunter, committed and courageous.