Family of former skier questions Hunter's safety

[Not Sure]

So..opinion
if Huegas, Cliff, Eisenhower, and hellgate are blacks..and upper K is a double black..How are these runs blue..now with a diamond..
upper K a double is a joke for sure
Thoughts....

Hard to make a legal case if the skier was an "Expert" as he should have been able to handle the conditions. Maybe an intermediate skiing above their level on a trail that should have been rated higher ?

If it goes to court how many on the Jury will be skiers?

Sometimes people rip down a slope blindly assuming the conditions will be the same all the way down . Better to take a recon run first .

 

[legalskier]

His mother is upset that an earlier report by the same news outlet suggested he wasn't wearing a helmet. "Brown is distressed by the implication the coverage made about her son." It looks like this (second) account is just intended to clear that up.

Hard to make a legal case if the skier was an "Expert" as he should have been able to handle the conditions. Maybe an intermediate skiing above their level on a trail that should have been rated higher ?

​

The story says that he learned to ski at age 4 and that he'd skied double blacks earlier that day. None of the North Side trails are double blacks so he should have been able to handle them, whether they're called blacks, or blues, or "Huntermediate."

 

[So Inclined]

"I don't claim to have any answer. But 2 of my co-workers were at Hunter this past weekend. They said they were terrified by the condition on Sunday! "Icy" was their description. "Terrified" on the blue groomers was their reaction. These are 20 year old male who only ski a couple weekends a year. "Social" skiers. They don't have the experience to infer condition from the weather."

I feel terrible for the families and friends of both the young men who died recently, and hardly want to say anything that sounds crass or insensitive, much less like it's "blaming the victim."

That said, like many others here, I'd call myself an "expert" skier on most days, if things like experience, skills, confidence that I can handle most anything on most mountains and PSIA certs mean anything. I ski at Hunter often, and it sometimes "terrifies" me too. "Terrifying": that's literally the word I find myself using on weekend afternoons, when the crowds are bustling all over the place, when you've always got to keep an eye out for the kids and adults straightlining it with little or no control, hell-bent for leather; when the trails off the top and especially the easy ones off B lift are skied off, when things get rutty and choppy and gross in flat light - like it was around 3:45 this afternoon when I said "enough."
"Terrifying" doesn't mean "I can't ski this" to me; more like "both the risks and consequences of a mistake - by me or someone else - are really high now, and so this isn't even close to fun anymore."

That's when whatever expertise a person's got ought to lead them to seek out something emptier, better-surfaced or (more likely on a weekend at a place like Hunter) call it a day. Expertise - in my opinion, anyway - isn't just about how nice you carve or whether you can "do" double-blacks; it's about knowing when to get away from/out of danger spots. Of which there are plenty of on Hunter, just like almost any other mountain.

Also, as others have said, Hunter North trails are something more than chill blue cruisers, but aren't so hellacious that a truly expert skier needs to take long deep breath and think twice before turning down them.

 

[Not Sure]

Shitty year!!! I'm sure that contributes as well .Equipment makes a difference , I skipped tuning my skis this year and have noticed a big difference just wondering if that was a factor . I see lots of kids grinding rails in the parks and it's like nails on a chalkboard to me . I can't help but think " You might need those edges later?

 

[raisingarizona]

An accomplished skier makes decisions based on current conditions, not trail ratings. Mom needs to accept the fact that her son f-d up and shit happens.

 

[RichT]

An accomplished skier makes decisions based on current conditions, not trail ratings. Mom needs to accept the fact that her son f-d up and shit happens.

BAD BAD comment pal............"accidents happen" would of been a better comment ya think?

 

[raisingarizona]

BAD BAD comment pal............"accidents happen" would of been a better comment ya think?

Since I don't know what actually happened you're right. My bad. Don't take my poor writing skills too literally.

And I’m not your pal.......buddy.

 

[gregnye]

All this press about the difficulty the Hunter's new trails is crazy. It honestly makes me want to go back there and give hunter another try to see if the trails are steeper than I remember.

Only been there once (a 15inch powder day) and all I remember was the trails being so flat that I basically had to point my skis straight. With 15 inches of snow the only pitch I found to be ok was Lower K27. But then again only the front side was open when I went and the power went out at the resort halfway through the day so I had to skin back up.

 

[EPB]

All this press about the difficulty the Hunter's new trails is crazy. It honestly makes me want to go back there and give hunter another try to see if the trails are steeper than I remember.

Only been there once (a 15inch powder day) and all I remember was the trails being so flat that I basically had to point my skis straight. With 15 inches of snow the only pitch I found to be ok was Lower KT-22. But then again only the front side was open when I went and the power went out at the resort halfway through the day so I had to skin back up.

Tried them out for the first time yesterday. The two blue/black hybrids both seemed stepper than any of the black diamond runs on the front face except for maybe the one next to racer's edge.

I also heard people talking about that blue boy character, too... Only took me until my second lap up the summit 6.

Sent from my VS988 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[catskillman]

Tried them out for the first time yesterday. The two blue/black hybrids both seemed stepper than any of the black diamond runs on the front face except for maybe the one next to racer's edge.

I also heard people talking about that blue boy character, too... Only took me until my second lap up the summit 6.

Sent from my VS988 using AlpineZone mobile app

Yep - blueboy is the talk of the mountain. It is like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon in some ways....everyone knows of him or has seen him. Most do not want to know him, or admit to.

And yes - the north side is just as steep as Ike, and Overlook is longer.

 

[kingslug]

i find most people who rag about how shitty Hunter is..have never been there..been there many moons ago..or went there once. Its no joke...

 

[gregnye]

i find most people who rag about how shitty Hunter is..have never been there..been there many moons ago..or went there once. Its no joke...

Yeah I'm tempted to give it another try. Hopefully the power won't go out this time :-D

It's just not worth it for me to drive there when vermont is so much closer. So I'll only go if there is a New York only storm again

 

[ss20]

Meanwhile, Killington changed the trail sign of Mousetrap (a black ever since its inception eons ago) and made it part of the blue Bunny Buster this season. It's a total shitshow. Go on K-zone for details but it's a disaster. While short and always groomed, that trail is a true black. Have not seen much posted on this site about it.

 

[Killingtime]

Meanwhile, Killington changed the trail sign of Mousetrap (a black ever since its inception eons ago) and made it part of the blue Bunny Buster this season. It's a total shitshow. Go on K-zone for details but it's a disaster. While short and always groomed, that trail is a true black. Have not seen much posted on this site about it.

Yeah I was a little surprised at that. It has a lot more traffic on it now and gets scraped up quicker.

 

[So Inclined]

Yep - blueboy is the talk of the mountain. It is like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon in some ways....everyone knows of him or has seen him. Most do not want to know him, or admit to.

I'm at Hunter often, and have never ever seen this person or heard anyone talking about him.

 

[da-bum]

blueboy must be a weekend phenomenom. I haven't been there on the weekend in ages, and I've never encountered a blue boy on skis during the weekdays. I did see a blue boy on snowboard, but he didn't have a matching blue helmet.

The blue/black designation must be for the whole trail, with the top being black, and the runoff being blue (although overlook's runoff looks more like green).t

 

[andrec10]

Have not seen Blueboy around recently. He has slowed down since getting his pass back.

 

[JimG.]

Meanwhile, Killington changed the trail sign of Mousetrap (a black ever since its inception eons ago) and made it part of the blue Bunny Buster this season. It's a total shitshow. Go on K-zone for details but it's a disaster. While short and always groomed, that trail is a true black. Have not seen much posted on this site about it.

Yeah this may be just as dumb. Midday that pitch is now packed with bodies.

But it actually usually still has good snow and bumps on the edges.

 

[Funky_Catskills]

Hi... I just figured I'd check in on this soon to be epic thread after 10 days surfing in Costa Rica..

Glad we are all still on board with all this ...

 

[BenedictGomez]

Have not seen Blueboy around recently. He has slowed down since getting his pass back.

Alternatively, unless he's a complete moron, he probably doesn't wear blue from head-to-toe anymore and thus isnt recognizable.