Hunter Mtn, NY: 3/9/13

Saturday was a special day. Blue skies , temps in the upper 40's and every single trail open. I have been skiing Hunter for 36yrs, and I have never seen both Westway and Annapurna opened together. Perfect day and lifts were ski on except for the 6 pack

ANNAPURNA




WESTWAY(44)

See, everyone? Jason's the most positive, optimistic guy on this forum!

That does look good. How warm did it get?

When I left the mountain, car thermo was 49..
skiing with a black helmet on, it felt like 99...

"I have been skiing Hunter for 36yrs, and I have never seen both Westway and Annapurna opened together." ........ I'm guessing you never made it there in 2010 when the area had 7 feet of snow fall over 5 days which had everything on the hill open for several weeks . That was some of the best skiing I've ever had at Hunter , never mind some other epic dumps I've experienced in my 25 years skiing there .

That was the weekend of the famous Baton Death March from the Westside..

Over the past 36yrs I'm sure there have been times both of the trail have been opened together, but it is one rare event..

Nice photos. Thanks for the report.

After the huge weeklong dump in Feb 2010, Jason was at Plattekill on 2/27/10. Hence his avatar:



It wasn't what I would call easy skiing, but it was really cool.

Couldn't find any pics of the baton death march - that name is funny tho!

Sorry for the drift.  

JasonWx wrote

That was the weekend of the famous Baton Death March from the Westside..

Over the past 36yrs I'm sure there have been times both of the trail have been opened together, but it is one rare event..

I found it strange you would say the 2 are hardly ever opened at the same time and it was only a couple seasons back that there was some of the best skiing ever on 'Purna & 44 at the same time . I lucked out that day regarding the march from the west side. I was just about to give Clare's a go & saw that the lift had just stopped so I stayed on the frontside . I can still picture the exhausted faces on people that got stuck walking from the west side entering into the locker room at days end !

"Couldn't find any pics of the baton death march - that name is funny tho!"

Harv - I found some. The Z LIFT DEATH MARCH 2.27.2010



I got text from Shea. "Don't ski the west side". Then I saw the 2 lift mechanics zooming up the belt. I knew there was trouble. Everyone had to walk back from the West Side. No buses were available. I called Robin. She said she would continue to ski the pow and I should take care of Shea. I shoveled the truck out, found someone to hold my spot and I drove around and shoved 20 kids in the pickup truck. I was scared I would be mobbed. The pictures say it all:

http://picasaweb.google.com/huntermt2/ZLIFTDEATHMARCH2272010#

I heard that Lift ops did not want to run everyone out of there, but management said they must. Our chief snowmaker arrived with a can of gas to keep Z lift running and promptly poured it on the manifold causing a fire. No more Z lift start walking.

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/73311-Hunter-2-24-28-One-for-the-Ages
 

nice find!!

Big D wrote

The Z LIFT DEATH MARCH 2.27.2010

One of the best AZ TRs ever.