Really weird to me to think of a way that both Belleayre and Windham are 20 minutes further of a drive than Hunter. Coming from the north I could understand Belleayre being longer, but then Windham would be shorter. Coming from the south, Hunter and Belleayre are mere minutes of a difference (Windham is definitely a good 20 minutes further than either Belleayre or Hunter though). And in reality the road to Belleayre once you get off the thruway is much better than the one to Hunter.
While I haven't skied Belleayre in a while, I always loved the terrain. You may not have quite the challenge of the Hunter West trails, but considering many of those are rarely open these days I'm not sure how much that matters in reality. Belleayre also has the advantage in terms of glades and as danimals pointed out, they get significantly more natural snow than Hunter. I'd also offset the fact that some of Belleayre's lifts are slower by the crowds and lift lines being less. This could have changed since I was last there, but Belleayre's lift lines were often shorter than Hunter's. So you make up for the slow lifts by waiting less in line.
If the ORDA pass existed back when I skied Belleayre, that 100% would have been my choice. Day trips to Belleayre plus a couple weekend trips to Gore or Whiteface all on one pass would have been hard to pass up.
