Hunter - 1/21/2008

Date(s) Skied: Monday, 1/21/2008 , 10:10 pm - 3:30 pm

Resort or Ski Area: Hunter Mountain, New York

Conditions: Manmade powder bumps, bluebird sunny skies. No wind. Cold with temps in the single digits to the teens.

Trip Report: Plan today was Hunter. After the awesome day on [thread="22889"]Friday at Sugarbush[/thread], I wasn't expected too much. I knew there was a bump course on Eisenhower so I figured I could at least play on that. I started on Hellgate to Broadway to Ike. Broadway had sweet and soft new snowmaking. The bump course was fun, but it was technically closed so I only hit it once. Racer's was great with new snowmaking. I jumped into Upper Crossover and instantly regretted it. Big icy bumps. I singled ejected and tweaked the lower back. Ouch! :-? I noticed F Lift was running so I hit that. I saw many people coming down the K27 runout so that was the next run.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a ton of snowmaking on the now open Lower K27. The snow was soft and deep. It was like skiing in a blizzard. I called JimG. to report and he suggested trying Claire's. I soon hooked up with Grassi21 and his buddy Joel for a few runs. I talked Chris into trying both K27 and Claire's. Claire's was the pick of the day. It was in the best shape I've ever seen it. Almost top to bottom snowmaking with soft bumps and tons of loose snow. I think I did 9 runs over there and 5 on Lower K. Only managed to hit Racer's once, but it was nice too.

My only complaint was the ski choice today. I brought the bump skis, but really wish I had the Legends. They would have been a blast in the soft snow. Some pics:

Ike Bump Course:


Lower K27 snowmaking (the shadows are from the snowmaking plumes!)


Claire's from Z Lift:


Soft bumps on Claire's:


View from Upper Claire's:


Hunter is a very crowded mountain, especially on a holiday, remember? The lift lines were unbearable.


Soft bumps on Milky Way from F lift:


All pics:
http://forums.alpinezone.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/832

All in all a great day and better than expected. The double diamonds with active snowmaking were sweet! Overall, Hunter is primed up and in great shape right now.

Great time today. It was my buddy Joel's first day out. He had boot issues which led to two long breaks. Great getting out with him and skiing a couple of runs with Greg. Thanks to some friendly peer pressure I tried Lower K and Claire's. Very glad I got a taste of some steeps. I did swap out my skis for something fatter at lunch. I'm glad I did. I was loving the bumps on Milky Way. We knocked out three quick runs on Milky before hitting the road early. Hunter's snow making was impressive today.

Wish I knew you guys were there. I was staying in the Lake George area and skied Gore on Sunday. My original plan was to go someplace in Southern VT on Sunday before heading back to NYC, but decided it just wasn't worth it. I'd have gone to Magic if they had some expert stuff open. I had no interest in Okemo or Stratton. I thought of Mt. Snow (never been there), but that would be 2.5 hours to Mt. Snow and 4 hours home, whereas Hunter was 2.5 / 2.5. So I went to Hunter. I figured some AZ people would be there and checked the trip planning board last minute, but didn't so anything. Next time :-(

While Greg's report was much better than mine, seems like Greg, Grassi, and I all had the same favorite runs..And Jim too from his report from earlier in the weekend. Pretty funny.

kcyanks1 said:

Wish I knew you guys were there. I was staying in the Lake George area and skied Gore on Sunday. My original plan was to go someplace in Southern VT on Sunday before heading back to NYC, but decided it just wasn't worth it. I'd have gone to Magic if they had some expert stuff open. I had no interest in Okemo or Stratton. I thought of Mt. Snow (never been there), but that would be 2.5 hours to Mt. Snow and 4 hours home, whereas Hunter was 2.5 / 2.5. So I went to Hunter. I figured some AZ people would be there and checked the trip planning board last minute, but didn't so anything. Next time :-(

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Ack! :-? I saw your TR. I only got 2 runs in with Grassi and the rest were solo so it would have been fun to meet up. We likely crossed paths on Claire's at some point. It's good to do a semi-solo day from time to time though. I was all about fast paced skiing on some sweet soft steep bumps. Good stuff.

Greg said:

Ike Bump Course:

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giddyup!

so how was this?

kcyanks1 said:

While Greg's report was much better than mine, seems like Greg, Grassi, and I all had the same favorite runs..And Jim too from his report from earlier in the weekend. Pretty funny.

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Not really. The active snowmaking runs today were phenomenal. The others were just blah. Typical scratch and LSGR.

2knees said:

giddyup!

so how was this?

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Fun. Claire's was a million times moreso though.

Greg said:

My only complaint was the ski choice today. I brought the bump skis, but really wish I had the Legends. They would have been a blast in the soft snow.

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Rember Greg, it's the carpenter, not the tools...

ozzy said:

Rember Greg, it's the carpenter, not the tools...

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think of the difference between a run of the mill hammer and a nail gun.... ;-)

The mountain was simply amazing today. Wished I had seen you guys. I don't think we will ever get a repeat of K, Clairs and Racers all with the sweetest snowmaking powder ever.

kcyanks1 said:

Wish I knew you guys were there. I was staying in the Lake George area and skied Gore on Sunday. My original plan was to go someplace in Southern VT on Sunday before heading back to NYC, but decided it just wasn't worth it. I'd have gone to Magic if they had some expert stuff open. I had no interest in Okemo or Stratton. I thought of Mt. Snow (never been there), but that would be 2.5 hours to Mt. Snow and 4 hours home, whereas Hunter was 2.5 / 2.5. So I went to Hunter. I figured some AZ people would be there and checked the trip planning board last minute, but didn't so anything. Next time :-(

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I have to start proof reading my posts. Tons of typos. Well, forgive me if I don't (As all of you probably figured out, I meant to say, "My original plan was to go someplace in Southern VT on Monday."

Greg said:

Ack! :-? I saw your TR. I only got 2 runs in with Grassi and the rest were solo so it would have been fun to meet up. We likely crossed paths on Claire's at some point. It's good to do a semi-solo day from time to time though. I was all about fast paced skiing on some sweet soft steep bumps. Good stuff.

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I've been doing the solo thing for at least partial days a lot lately, but it's still skiing Maybe next time we'll be able to meet up. Glad you had a good day!

Looks sweet! I'm bummed that I missed it. I've never been on Lower K or Claires and the one time I was on Racers the conditions were pretty poor. I would have liked to give those trails a shot under such good conditions...

ozzy said:

Rember Greg, it's the carpenter, not the tools...

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To some extent, I agree with you, but the difference between skinny and soft bump skis and the Legends is significant and I would have enjoyed myself more on the wider ski.

Greg said:

To some extent, I agree with you, but the difference between skinny and soft bump skis and the Legends is significant and I would have enjoyed myself more on the wider ski.

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Swapping out 67mm underfoot for 78mm made a huge difference for me.

Great day. Looking back, I wish I hit Claire's one more time. Not to snub Lower K but the man-made blizzard combined with the pitch and bumps had me rattled.

Grassi21 said:

Not to snub Lower K but the man-made blizzard combined with the pitch and bumps had me rattled.

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It's good for you!

Claire's was the pick of the day. Not often can you say that.

And I was at Belleayre.....damn!