Hunter Trail Improvements This Summer

Came across this picture on Facebook.



The trail is Wayout.  It looks like they are widening the top of it slightly and doing some grading work.  I am guessing this is to allow for snowmaking on both sides a the wider top portion of the trail.  Also some glades being added near the bottom of the mountain.

Nice photo. West is the best.

I liked Wayout the way it was, but that is usually the case with these things. A bottom to true-top on Hunter 1 would be a game changer. Or going to West-west.

Way Out is fun trail..But it needs to be widened a bit. A lot of inexperienced skiers that take the Belt, end up there.
At times it is a bit of a shit show..

ml242 wrote

A bottom to true-top on Hunter 1 would be a game changer.

I don't think that should ever be done.  Hunter One is a great beginner area because it is isolated from the rest of the mountain.  There are no upper mountain trails or more advanced skiers feeding into it.  If they want to expand more, they first need to open Annapurna and Westway EVERY YEAR.  The best place to expand for Hunter is that valley that the zip lines cross.  Install a lift from somewhere in that valley to up on the ridge.  Make sure there's an exit trail that empties into the main mountain and not into Hunter One.

snoloco wrote

I don't think that should ever be done.  Hunter One is a great beginner area because it is isolated from the rest of the mountain.  There are no upper mountain trails or more advanced skiers feeding into it.  If they want to expand more, they first need to open Annapurna and Westway EVERY YEAR.  The best place to expand for Hunter is that valley that the zip lines cross.  Install a lift from somewhere in that valley to up on the ridge.  Make sure there's an exit trail that empties into the main mountain and not into Hunter One.

So put some intermediate trails up there from the top to keep people off of the 6-pack.

consistent westway snowmaking would be nice.

ml242 wrote

snoloco wrote

I don't think that should ever be done.  Hunter One is a great beginner area because it is isolated from the rest of the mountain.  There are no upper mountain trails or more advanced skiers feeding into it.  If they want to expand more, they first need to open Annapurna and Westway EVERY YEAR.  The best place to expand for Hunter is that valley that the zip lines cross.  Install a lift from somewhere in that valley to up on the ridge.  Make sure there's an exit trail that empties into the main mountain and not into Hunter One.

So put some intermediate trails up there from the top to keep people off of the 6-pack.

consistent westway snowmaking would be nice.

You can divert traffic away from the pre-existing network even if a new trail comes into that area just by the way you develop it. Basically keep the trail flowing away from the pod and don't drop it off on top of the lift station.

it's tough here. the mountains don't quite have the vert to not go top-to-bottom, and the existing trail systems are usually quite developed. Only making a single easy way down hunter was probably a mistake because some bad skiers get bored and can cause some real problems on the main routes down. Sno is right that H1 makes for a great learning area, but I don't see the downside of letting them progress up that hill a little more.

JasonWx wrote

Way Out is fun trail..But it needs to be widened a bit. A lot of inexperienced skiers that take the Belt, end up there.
At times it is a bit of a shit show..

It can truly be a shit show. The double fall line, the prevailing wind in your face, and the usual icy conditions from the wind and traffic can make Way Out a mess. I wonder if they will be re-grading it to get rid of the double fall line.

In the late 70's all skiers that arrived on a bus, needed to take a ski test to be allowed on the A lift (now 6 pack)..
It kept a lot of the newbies off the main mountain.. Also the A lift was a slow double, avg wait on the weekends was close to 1hr. It sure kept trail volume down..

ml242 wrote

it's tough here. the mountains don't quite have the vert to not go top-to-bottom, and the existing trail systems are usually quite developed.

If they expand into that valley that the ziplines cross, that would be decent vertical for a run.  That's not quite top to bottom.  It would expand their vertical a little bit as well which would be cool.  Going top to bottom isn't mandatory for a good run.  My favorite lifts at Hunter are D and F because they allow you to stay on the upper or lower mountain depending on wherever the crowds and/or good snow is.

ml242 wrote

Only making a single easy way down hunter was probably a mistake because some bad skiers get bored and can cause some real problems on the main routes down

It's called the geography of the land.  That's why there's only one blue from top to bottom.  There might be potential to cut another on the other side of the 6-pack, but if it was able to be done, they might've done it already.

ml242 wrote

 Sno is right that H1 makes for a great learning area, but I don't see the downside of letting them progress up that hill a little more.

The downside is that if terrain is expanded above where it currently is, H1 won't be an isolated learning area anymore.  It'll be a demolition derby of mixing ability levels.  It won't just allow beginners to move up the mtn more, it will encourage more advanced skiers to go in there who should be on the main mountain.

snoloco wrote

ml242 wrote

Only making a single easy way down hunter was probably a mistake because some bad skiers get bored and can cause some real problems on the main routes down

It's called the geography of the land.  That's why there's only one blue from top to bottom.  There might be potential to cut another on the other side of the 6-pack, but if it was able to be done, they might've done it already.

i.e. exactly what i said.

and the only thing that valley is good for is for looking at from the lift.

I always understood that expansion at Hunter has been stopped by tree hugging politicians downstate.

Benny Profane wrote

I always understood that expansion at Hunter has been stopped by tree hugging politicians downstate.

I mean it is state land.

There are all kinds of stories out there about why land swaps happen sometimes and don't happen in other cases.

I believe there was a swap proposed by the Slutzky family at one time.

Harvey wrote

Benny Profane wrote

I always understood that expansion at Hunter has been stopped by tree hugging politicians downstate.

I mean it is state land.

There are all kinds of stories out there about why land swaps happen sometimes and don't happen in other cases.

I believe there was a swap proposed by the Slutzky family at one time.

About 1/2 the bowl above the zip line is forever wild.

Nothing is forever.

"forever wild" is not the way I would describe a mountain face right next to Hunter and right on Rt. 23.

Benny Profane wrote

"forever wild" is not the way I would describe a mountain face right next to Hunter and right on Rt. 23.

If you own a house, do you own up to the property line where it then becomes someone else's or is there a grey area in both directions until the horizon that goes untalked about? The park is "forever wild" in that region. Just because you can see it from a road doesn't change that. If it was "forever wild" only after the summit and they built an amusement park all over the hill, would you then think the same way about the opposite valley? I mean, "forever wild" is a naming convention to describe all the land contained on that tract.