rgrwilco Posted March 14, 2019 Report Posted March 14, 2019 went to hunter to get my peak pass/check out the new trail pod for the first time. Left southern NJ at around 530 and made it for like 7th chair or something. temps were in the forties when i got there, and everthing on the main face was nice and soft. All the trails on north were not, and I assume its becasue they are in the dark most of the day. Hunter west never opened and hasnt been open for a while. I took the main 6er up, and headed down belt parkway to make my way to the new terrain, which as you guys know has had an eventful first year. Hunter wanted this terrain to expand their intermediate terrain, and it fails to do so. The new trails though are my favorite on the mountain, and it makes hunter feel like a totally different resort. The trails were all open but sleep hollow, which is strangely the only “blue” and not “blue diamond”. first one i hit was the overlook trail. It starts mellow, then is immeditally followed by a pretty steep pitch as seen here. I knew that the north and west side of hunter stay dark most of the day so luckily i remembered to change my lenses. If not i would have gotten pretty hurt. The snow wasnt too edgable, and under each snow gun was a barely visible roller, that if you hit at any speed over 20 will send you airborn. The fall line will send you right off the side of the trail if you get into an uncontrollable slide, which is why im assuming these trails are shit shows for your average “intermediate” skier from the city. After the headwall theres a long runout with really tall edge to edge whales of snow that are super fun. The new lift is stupid fast and steep. After riding it i thought there was no way it was 1k vert, but checked my tracking app and it sure is. The twiglight trail crosses under the lift towards the top. The grooming on this thing was pisspoor with pretty deep trenches. Once you enter the part of the trail thats still in the shade, you cant see them, and this trail also had the large unexpected bumps under the snowguns. there really isnt any room at the top of the lift. you get off and theres a cliff right in front of you. the options you have are to go left and imediately start downhill or go slightly uphill to the right and try and strap in on an area maybe 8 feet wide before heading down wayout. I cant imagine this shit show on weekends. The next trail was rips return. Fun trail. bad grooming. Same as the other trails. Weird almost invisible bumps waiting to throw you into the woods, and without lenses made for flat light, good luck seeing them before 2pm. Didnt take a photo of this but whatever. Now onto the good. It may sound like im blasting this expansion, but I am in love with it. The parking area is 2 miles down the road from the main area. you can tell theres a lot of work to do as the only sign telling you where to go is small and in front of an abanoned farm, leading to a winding dirt road through the forest. I love it. Theres food trucks and a small ticket shack, as well as a bridge from the lot to the lift.Its surrounded by pine trees and smells like pine trees. Its the anti hunter as a self contained 1k vert ski area. The trails feel classic and way less “manufactured” than the main face. But lableing these as any kind of intermediate trail will only result in more deaths. heres a shot of some of the new trails from rt 23 Ill be back a few times this year and quite a bit next year just to lap the new area. Hopefully it snows next year becasue the new glades look stellar. But hunter needs to bribe someone in NY govt because if its real deal intermediate terrain they want, and given the reality of the usual conditions, they can really only expand upwards from hunter one. And for the third or fourth time...The expansion is fantastic for most of us on here, they just missed their own mark. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 8 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted March 14, 2019 Report Posted March 14, 2019 Excellent read Rgrwilco. Thanks for the write up. New stuff seems interesting. 1 Quote
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 14, 2019 Report Posted March 14, 2019 I wonder why hunter west isn’t open. I believe they blow snow on all but one run over there. Quote
toast21602 Posted March 14, 2019 Report Posted March 14, 2019 thanks for sharing this. looks like a good time. Quote
Shadows Posted March 14, 2019 Report Posted March 14, 2019 Looks good. Nice to read reports broken up with pics. 1 Quote
toast21602 Posted March 14, 2019 Report Posted March 14, 2019 1 hour ago, Shadows said: Looks good. Nice to read reports broken up with pics. Where have yours been? 1 1 Quote
indiggio Posted March 15, 2019 Report Posted March 15, 2019 14 hours ago, rgrwilco said: there really isnt any room at the top of the lift. you get off and theres a cliff right in front of you. the options you have are to go left and imediately start downhill or go slightly uphill to the right and try and strap in on an area maybe 8 feet wide before heading down wayout. I cant imagine this shit show on weekends. WTF??? Quote
JFskiDan Posted March 15, 2019 Report Posted March 15, 2019 37 minutes ago, indiggio said: WTF??? They hire ex-penndot employees to groom. they cant help but make everything look like a speed bump. 2 1 Quote
indiggio Posted March 15, 2019 Report Posted March 15, 2019 3 minutes ago, JFskiDan said: They hire ex-penndot employees to groom. they cant help but make everything look like a speed bump. Or an unfilled pothole! 1 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted March 15, 2019 Report Posted March 15, 2019 The more I read, I have less and less desire to skip Belle for Hunter when going to the Skillz. 1 Quote
PSUFrankenstein Posted March 15, 2019 Report Posted March 15, 2019 Nice report. Grooming looks terrible, but the new terrain looks like it could be fun Quote
rgrwilco Posted March 15, 2019 Author Report Posted March 15, 2019 Nice report. Grooming looks terrible, but the new terrain looks like it could be funThe front Side of the mountain was perfect. My guess is this side froze hard and never softened up enough to groom it right.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
momskeeztoo Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 So, Peak owns all these resorts. Where’s all the money going? JFBB probably a worse dump than it used to be. Mt Snow did not impress me this year. I saw absolutely no change from when I was there in 2013, before Peak owned it. I would much rather drive past Hunter, and go to Belleayre, just my opinion. 1 Quote
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 1 minute ago, momskeeztoo said: So, Peak owns all these resorts. Where’s all the money going? JFBB probably a worse dump than it used to be. Mt Snow did not impress me this year. I saw absolutely no change from when I was there in 2013, before Peak owned it. I would much rather drive past Hunter, and go to Belleayre, just my opinion. Hunter is past belleayre. Quote
momskeeztoo Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 Belleayre is further off NY thruway. So I think it takes longer to get there. 1 Quote
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 3 minutes ago, momskeeztoo said: Belleayre is further off NY thruway. So I think it takes longer to get there. Correct 6 minutes longer based on google maps. Who has that kind of time these days. 6 minutes 6 minutes 6 minutes Dougie fresh your on. Quote
RidgeRacer Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 Not sure about from the LV but there's a baller route to Belle, at least there is from the Poconos, that bypasses the Thruway altogether and is about 40 miles shorter than it would take to get to Hunter. 1 Quote
rgrwilco Posted March 16, 2019 Author Report Posted March 16, 2019 Mount snow is way better after peaks. West lake snowmaking, so there is legit like twice as many trails opening day as before. New Corinthia lodge, widening and regrading big long john to help with crowds. The money is going to snow and hunter.However they are screwing over attitash as they have been without a summit lift a lot of this season. Jfbb are stuck in time man.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
toast21602 Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 2 minutes ago, RidgeRacer said: Not sure about from the LV but there's a baller route to Belle, at least there is from the Poconos, that bypasses the Thruway altogether and is about 40 miles shorter than it would take to get to Hunter. Oh? How long does it take? Quote
momskeeztoo Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 Yeah, I’d be interested in this. Anything to stay off 287 and NY thruway. Quote
momskeeztoo Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 13 minutes ago, rgrwilco said: Mount snow is way better after peaks. West lake snowmaking, so there is legit like twice as many trails opening day as before. New Corinthia lodge, widening and regrading big long john to help with crowds. The money is going to snow and hunter. However they are screwing over attitash as they have been without a summit lift a lot of this season. Jfbb are stuck in time man. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yes, I forgot about the Carinthia lodge. It was nice, think I was in there about 15 minutes to pee and warm up. I don’t know, just wasn’t really impressed with the whole place in general. Quote
momskeeztoo Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 I would really like to go back to Wildcat. Any idea what Peak has done there? Quote
rgrwilco Posted March 16, 2019 Author Report Posted March 16, 2019 I would really like to go back to Wildcat. Any idea what Peak has done there?Nothing. And they won’t replace attitashs triple that’s been down all year. No summit access.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
toast21602 Posted March 16, 2019 Report Posted March 16, 2019 Just now, rgrwilco said: Nothing. And they won’t replace attitashs triple that’s been down all year. No summit access. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Wait, for real? Quote
rgrwilco Posted March 16, 2019 Author Report Posted March 16, 2019 Wait, for real? https://www.attitash.com/blog/lifts-/new-blog-61/And they call out peaks as being unwilling. It’s a good read.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 3 Quote
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