Hunter Mountain - 2/27/2006 (AZ Gathering)

Date(s) Skied: Monday, 2/27/2006

Resort or Ski Area: Hunter Mountain, New York

Conditions: Machine made packed powder. Sunny, cold, windy at the summit.

Trip Report: bvibert and I arrived at the mountain shortly after 10 am. We booted up and got in one run before the planned meet-up at the summit at 11 am. After our first run, we saw JimG. and boarded the lift with him. Already waiting at the summit was kingslug. Within a few minutes 2knees and YardSaleDad arrived and we were off.

JimG. acted as our tour guide and showed us around the mountain. We skied several runs on the front of the mountain and really enjoyed the fresh manmade. We were all amazed how much snow they were making. The smooth manmade surface was fantastic. We did several runs on Eisenhower which worked out well as those that wanted to hit the bumps could, while the others could ski the groomed section on skier's right. Today proved how well an AZ gathering with skiers of all ability levels could work. Great job keeping us all together, Jim!

All in all another great AZ gathering. There were a total of six of us: Greg, bvibert, JimG., 2knees, kingslug and YardSaleDad. Great to meet kingslug and YSD. Brian, Pat, Jim - always a pleasure. Thanks for the great day guys! Here are some pics:

2knees on Eisonhower bumps:




JimG.:



JimG. and 2knees:


kingslug:


YardSaleDad:


bvibert:

Nice...Looks like you guys had a good trip.

Nice pics Greg, you got better ones than me. I'll post mine up when I get a chnace.

It was nice to meet Jim, YSD, Slug, and 2 kness. Jim did an excellent job showing us around the mountain! :beer: Thanks for putting this together Greg!

Great day for sure. Not as cold as i had feared. Sorry for sticking to eisenhower all day, i had a one track mind. And i'm paying for it today. Hunter is a cool mtn for sure. I'd love to go back when the west side has better conditions, that stuff looked like it had serious potential. One side note, K27 was apparently a death trap on the top 1/3 so we bailed on that one. It was great meeting bvibert, yardsale, kingslug and Jimg. Thanks for the pointers jim, now i just need more time on the snow. And greg, a pleasure again. We'll have to get a sundown night again soon.

A day of great fun everyone! Let's all thank Hunter for all the snow they blew and continue to blow as we speak. That's probably the first time I've seen them blow snow on the bump course the day after a bump comp. That made the day!

Pat, I don't blame you for sticking to the bumps, but I wanted to show everyone else around the rest of the hill. I almost convinced Greg to try Lower K27...it was pretty sketchy for the first 5 turns or so, but then pretty nice. Not really a death trap unless you're not a confident skier.

Unlike those morning pics, the bumps got fairly huge in the afternoon. Our last run down in flat light got everyone's attention I'm sure. Still, the course held up great.

Nice to meet Pat, Tom, Ira, and Brian. Greg, your skiing has improved alot since last season...keep it up!

Now I'm gonna go find some rope so I can tie my legs together in those bumps. Everything else looked pretty good except for the space between my legs!

Nice pics!

JimG. said:

A day of great fun everyone! Let's all thank Hunter for all the snow they blew and continue to blow as we speak. That's probably the first time I've seen them blow snow on the bump course the day after a bump comp. That made the day!

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No kidding. The entire mountain held up well. Even that run over towards the back side without any snowmaking was typical 15 degree weather hard pack, but still very edgeable.

JimG. said:

Pat, I don't blame you for sticking to the bumps, but I wanted to show everyone else around the rest of the hill. I almost convinced Greg to try Lower K27...it was pretty sketchy for the first 5 turns or so, but then pretty nice. Not really a death trap unless you're not a confident skier.

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I'm glad I opted out of Lower K. After my final feeble attempt of the bump course, I'm sure I would have struggled. You should have got me right before lunch - that's when I was feeling my best.

JimG. said:

Unlike those morning pics, the bumps got fairly huge in the afternoon. Our last run down in flat light got everyone's attention I'm sure. Still, the course held up great.

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Oh yes. I got pulled down twice. Fatigue+flat light =

JimG. said:

Nice to meet Pat, Tom, Ira, and Brian. Greg, your skiing has improved alot since last season...keep it up!

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Likewise. Always great to meet new AZers. Thanks for the kind words. Like I said, it's all about the miles. As a father with young kids, I certainly don't get out as often as many, but I did get 25 days in last season and it looks like 20 will be a reality this year so that helps, as do your tips, Jim. Gonna work on the elevated hips thing for the rest of this season, especially on the groomers which I hope will translate into the bumps. I'm a crouch master.

JimG. said:

Now I'm gonna go find some rope so I can tie my legs together in those bumps. Everything else looked pretty good except for the space between my legs!

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Don't let the pics sway you. You always look confident in the bumps, Jim. I think Brian has some videos that maybe he'll post. I'm sure they'll do more justice!

Looks like a great time! Wish I coulda joined you guys ...

Greg said:

Jim. I think Brian has some videos that maybe he'll post. I'm sure they'll do more justice!

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Yup, here they are:
2knees
JimG.
Greg
There are some more, but they were from too far away so they didn't come out too good. The files are a little on the big side, so it might work better to save them to your computer before viewing.

Here's some pics:
JimG and Greg

Greg (the guy who slid half-way down the mountain is in the background)

JimG.

2knees

Greg

JimG.



There's a couple more in my gallery, I think. I didn't get any of YSD, I guess because we were always skiing close to each other. I could never pick out kingslug's jacket from the bottom of the bump run, thats why there are none of him.

OK, that's the way I see myself skiing bumps. Nice video Brian.

Amazing how the shutter always snaps at the worst time in skiing pics, especially ones taken of me!

JimG. said:

OK, that's the way I see myself skiing bumps. Nice video Brian.

Amazing how the shutter always snaps at the worst time in skiing pics, especially ones taken of me!

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Glad you liked the vid Jim. Thanks for the tips yesterday, I'll be working on keeping the hips up/foward as well as the hands the rest of this season.

bvibert said:

Glad you liked the vid Jim. Thanks for the tips yesterday, I'll be working on keeping the hips up/foward as well as the hands the rest of this season.

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Perhaps we will hook up again this season and work on those things.

JimG. said:

Perhaps we will hook up again this season and work on those things.

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A definite possibility!

Catul said:

Looks like a great time! Wish I coulda joined you guys ...

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Bummer you couldn't make it, it was indeed a great time! Maybe next time..

Looks like a great day - and like you had the place to yourselves. Thanks for posting the pix and vids.

and that's why i dont get air anymore. Nice skid out on the landing. DOH! thanks for the videos brian.

2knees said:

and that's why i dont get air anymore. Nice skid out on the landing. DOH! thanks for the videos brian.

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Good recovery though!

A wonderful day

Great pics!!! Thanks to everyone for a memorable day. The conditions and company were great. I look forward to more AZ outings.


Am I the only one whose butt is dragging today?

YardSaleDad said:

Am I the only one whose butt is dragging today?

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Nope! I'm practically falling asleep at my desk...

You two need to get in shape!

Drill sargent JimG. reporting for butt kicking duty.