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Peak Resorts To Do/Don't List - Hunter Mountain

catskillman

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Thought it would nice of us to help them out with this. May save them some time & money. I'll start with the obvious: Do: 1. Do not raise the Prices (on anything) 2. Do keep/earn the title of the snowmaking capital of the world 3. Fix the Clocks 4. Fix the water fountains 5. Do something about the run out on the West Side (it is better this season however.) Don't: 1. Raise the prices 2. Stop making snow
 

Scruffy

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Plant trees on 44 for a wind break and little glade action and blow snow there. Blow on Anna too. X trail, get it going. Don't encourage beginners on the west side :-D
 

Funky_Catskills

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Hunter, NY
DO - Continue to hire my and other local bands for the lodge..

Third Rail - Hunter Base Lodge January 30th... :)
 

millerm277

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Actually open everything unless it's a complete disaster of a season. They've gotten better about this lately, E Lift/Highlands + 42nd St have been seeing snowmaking regularly, but there's no reason why 44 AND Annapurna shouldn't see snowmaking in a normal year.

The zero snowmaking on Lower Taylor's has never made sense, it's a good lower difficulty escape route from the face of Clairs (exactly what they need) and it doesn't get wind-blasted to hell. And it's not even that wide to have to cover. So I don't understand why it's continuously ignored.

The West Side HSQ doesn't help with their trail crowding issues when they've only got 2 runs open over there and winds up making Belt even worse when there's nothing else to ski but Clairs and Wayout.

And do some more work on windbreaks, making tree islands, or something similar on 44 so it gets less windscoured.

-------------------

Summit Lodge could use an exterior facelift. I like the interior, the worn exterior doors, walkways and such could all use work.

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Pave the road to the West Side, add some parking and a steel building with bathrooms, a gear up area, and a ticket window. Gate it off during the week if you don't feel like having to have a ticket checker at the lift.
 

180

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mahopac, ny
1. build the west side pipeline
2. open on time
3. leave racers or ike with some moguls
 

catskillman

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Yea - the Summit Lodge is great! Nice place to warm up and the food is good. Also - keep the museum open!! It is classic and interesting. And WHY do these kid race programs ski with up to 20+ kids?????? The groups are too big, they clog up the trail and it is dangerous!!
 

drjeff

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DO - Continue to hire my and other local bands for the lodge..

Third Rail - Hunter Base Lodge January 30th... :)

A lesson a friend of mine, who plays Southern VT gigs a bunch learned, is that while it's OK to question Peak Policies to individual people in a face to face type setting, doing so in an letter to the editor in the local region weekly newspaper doesn't go over very well. He hasn't been asked back to play a Mount Snow event since
 

drjeff

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My hunch based on what I've seen Peak do.

Pass prices, if they go up, it will be because of infrastructure expenditures directly back into the mountain.

They raised prices at Mount Snow somewhere between $100 to $150 when they bought it from ASC - granted those ASC passes had an artificially low price point at the time. Since then they have done very little to pass prices. How Hunter will play into the ASC Eastern pass portfolio, who knows (we'll historically find out around March 1st)

The rest of the suggested items could be reality in the coming years. Peak tends to be about first and foremost the snow surface, and then generally some evolutionary (not revolutionary) upgrades to existing facilities
 

catskillman

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Keep the museum - interesting and quirky, but could be cleaned up a bit. And the packs of race rat kids. No instructor/coach should have more the 8 kids. These kids ski in packs of 20 and sometimes more. Add the periodic parent day and it is very dangerous.
 

BenedictGomez

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Thought it would nice of us to help them out with this. May save them some time & money. I'll start with the obvious: Do: 1. Do not raise the Prices (on anything) 2. Do keep/earn the title of the snowmaking capital of the world 3. Fix the Clocks 4. Fix the water fountains 5. Do something about the run out on the West Side (it is better this season however.) Don't: 1. Raise the prices 2. Stop making snow

So essentially you want them to spend money, but not raise prices. Got it.
 

catskillman

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So essentially you want them to spend money, but not raise prices. Got it.
fixing the clocks will not cost a thing - get a free branded clock..... again all of the others except the water fountains ($45 at Granger) are what the family were already doing!!!!
 

JimG.

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DO: always make snow on Annapurna whatever that may entail regarding infrastructure upgrades.

DON'T: ever groom Annapurna, EVER. If the moguls get icy blow more snow. Better yet, schedule snowmaking sessions there throughout the season to top off the bumps. Elk Mountain does that with their mogul runs.
 

andrec10

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Sep 22, 2008
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Hyde Park, NY...Hunter on Weekends in the Winter..
DO: always make snow on Annapurna whatever that may entail regarding infrastructure upgrades.

DON'T: ever groom Annapurna, EVER. If the moguls get icy blow more snow. Better yet, schedule snowmaking sessions there throughout the season to top off the bumps. Elk Mountain does that with their mogul runs.

Some us actually like Purna groomed!
 

deadheadskier

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DO: always make snow on Annapurna whatever that may entail regarding infrastructure upgrades.

DON'T: ever groom Annapurna, EVER. If the moguls get icy blow more snow. Better yet, schedule snowmaking sessions there throughout the season to top off the bumps. Elk Mountain does that with their mogul runs.

This should be policy at all mountains in regards to mogul trails.
 

goldsbar

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Jan 26, 2004
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1. Groom better - random trenches and death cookies are not acceptable in 2016 (poor weather conditions excluded)
2. Groom less - I'm guessing the family must have been listening to four or five crusty old pass holders that can't handle bumps. Almost every other area has some real bump trails now. Jim G. is right, 'Purna should NEVER be groomed. Setup a section of seeded intermediate bumps in that huge area in the middle of the mountain (Broadway or Kennedy, don't recall).
3. Woods - Hunter has been slow to the party, but at least there are some official glades now. A little more wouldn't hurt.
4. Agree about the instructor-kid ratio. I've never seen another place put so many kids with one instructor and their lessons aren't exactly cheap.
4. The place is generally in good shape, but there are some obvious maintenance items others have mentioned.

That's about it. I wish the weekend crowds were less, but it's a business and they need to make money. The attitude of the patrons and staff has improved a lot over the last 20 years.
 
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