Wavewheeler
New member
Hunter Mountain
Packed Powder
Sunny, Mid 20s, slightly breezy, some wind
Skied 6.5 hours without a lunch break. It was THAT awesome!
Another great day! It's amazing how a mountain will change overnight. Yesterday was mostly loose powder and lots of bumps. Today was the day for those of us who like groomers. I got to the mountain at 9am and there was tons of corduroy to greet me. Racers Edge was completely groomed but started to get bumped up by mid afternoon. All the double diamonds on West were bumped up again. Clairs was completely bumped as was 44. I skied Wayout earlier today (around 11 am) and it was better than yesterday, mostly packed powder.
I started the day off at 9:30 am with a quick run down Kennedy to loosen up. Then headed up top and went down The Cliff to Eisenhower several times. Cliff was getting skied off at the top within an hour. The wider, lower portion was great until the end of the day. Eisenhower was packed powder and awesome all day.
I headed down White Cloud (very with powder) to Way out and then took Upper K-27 which was groomed and packed powder. I then did several combinations of runs down the east side on Minya, Milky Way and Lower Crossover, Conditions were great..groomed with mostly powder/packed powder. Lower K-27 remained bumped up as did Upper Crossover.
I then switched over to Hellgate. It was nice at first but crowded and soon got skied off by lunch time. I took another run down The Cliff around 1pm and the top was too skied off for my tastes. Like yesterday I took Jimmie Huega for the last half of the day. It was in beautiful shape with the snow being a soft, creamy consistency that I love. I ran down that to Bleeker and Eisenhower for the rest of the day. The crowds started thinning around 2pm (as usual) and I ran down until the last lift ride.
One thing I was surprised that on both days there weren't any glades open. There were a few "shortcuts" through the woods, one from Minya to Hellgate, that was really nice so I don't understand why they didn't open the Milky Glades. Some of the boarders were going into the woods here and there, trying to make their own fun.
It was definitely more crowded today than yesterday. A lot of people who were up for just the day and some starting their weekend early. I was surprised at how many kids there were. I guess a lot of kids played hookey..took a personal snow day.
I found myself avoiding certain trails (like Hellgate) because of the crowds and craziness. It was easy enough to do but I can't even imagine what it will be like over the weekend nor do I care to find out.
The lift lines were longer too and they had attendants directing traffic. It was a definite advantage to be a single. One thing they need to do is teach people how to load and unload onto the lift. I find it amazing that anyone going on top of that mountain doesn't know the right way to get on/off the lift! Almost every ride up found us stopping because someone could't figure out how to get on or off without falling, which was more than a little annoying. Fortunately by the end of the day the crowd had thinned and the amount of time spent hanging in midair lessened.
All in all a GREAT two days with bluebird skies, excellent conditions ranging from bumps, powder, packed powder and corduroy. We still got a lot of winter to go and hopefully this is the middle of a great season yet to come.
Second day pics: Groomed mountain, top at the lift, the bumped up trails..of 44 and Clairs and a compromise with Minya Konka.
Packed Powder
Sunny, Mid 20s, slightly breezy, some wind
Skied 6.5 hours without a lunch break. It was THAT awesome!
Another great day! It's amazing how a mountain will change overnight. Yesterday was mostly loose powder and lots of bumps. Today was the day for those of us who like groomers. I got to the mountain at 9am and there was tons of corduroy to greet me. Racers Edge was completely groomed but started to get bumped up by mid afternoon. All the double diamonds on West were bumped up again. Clairs was completely bumped as was 44. I skied Wayout earlier today (around 11 am) and it was better than yesterday, mostly packed powder.I started the day off at 9:30 am with a quick run down Kennedy to loosen up. Then headed up top and went down The Cliff to Eisenhower several times. Cliff was getting skied off at the top within an hour. The wider, lower portion was great until the end of the day. Eisenhower was packed powder and awesome all day.
I headed down White Cloud (very with powder) to Way out and then took Upper K-27 which was groomed and packed powder. I then did several combinations of runs down the east side on Minya, Milky Way and Lower Crossover, Conditions were great..groomed with mostly powder/packed powder. Lower K-27 remained bumped up as did Upper Crossover.
I then switched over to Hellgate. It was nice at first but crowded and soon got skied off by lunch time. I took another run down The Cliff around 1pm and the top was too skied off for my tastes. Like yesterday I took Jimmie Huega for the last half of the day. It was in beautiful shape with the snow being a soft, creamy consistency that I love. I ran down that to Bleeker and Eisenhower for the rest of the day. The crowds started thinning around 2pm (as usual) and I ran down until the last lift ride.
One thing I was surprised that on both days there weren't any glades open. There were a few "shortcuts" through the woods, one from Minya to Hellgate, that was really nice so I don't understand why they didn't open the Milky Glades. Some of the boarders were going into the woods here and there, trying to make their own fun.
It was definitely more crowded today than yesterday. A lot of people who were up for just the day and some starting their weekend early. I was surprised at how many kids there were. I guess a lot of kids played hookey..took a personal snow day.
I found myself avoiding certain trails (like Hellgate) because of the crowds and craziness. It was easy enough to do but I can't even imagine what it will be like over the weekend nor do I care to find out. The lift lines were longer too and they had attendants directing traffic. It was a definite advantage to be a single. One thing they need to do is teach people how to load and unload onto the lift. I find it amazing that anyone going on top of that mountain doesn't know the right way to get on/off the lift! Almost every ride up found us stopping because someone could't figure out how to get on or off without falling, which was more than a little annoying. Fortunately by the end of the day the crowd had thinned and the amount of time spent hanging in midair lessened.
All in all a GREAT two days with bluebird skies, excellent conditions ranging from bumps, powder, packed powder and corduroy. We still got a lot of winter to go and hopefully this is the middle of a great season yet to come.
Second day pics: Groomed mountain, top at the lift, the bumped up trails..of 44 and Clairs and a compromise with Minya Konka.
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Supposed to warm up at week's end, which is one reason I decided to break open the piggy bank and go enjoy winter this week. Glad I did. If it does SNOW on Wed night-Thursday I might run up to Camelback for the day. 
