millerm277
Active member
First off, the new 6-pack is great (needs a wind fence at the top though) and something about the lodge feels "nicer-looking" than last year. New map is an abomination that should be burned.
Speaking of burned, it was entertaining to watch the snowmakers have to bring a big load of wood up to Clairs and make a long fire in order to soften up the ground for whatever they were digging at. (I'm guessing a valve).
The usual screwy Hunter grooming was evident in various places, especially Kennedy and the runout from ESD/Milky Way.
Now then, for the actual skiing report:
Skier's left of Cliff to Ike was ROTD for sure. Huge soft whales on the whole length of Cliff with a some really nice mini-bump lines going.
Upper K27, Hellgate and ESD are all smooth and fast with pretty good cover. (Hellgate obviously)
Ike, the entire width of Broadway/7th and Lower Crossover all had excellent soft snow.
Racer's Edge was okay, it needs a groomer to flatten out the whales and get rid of some ice/make the full width skiable.
Minya has got a lot of whales on it, but pretty good overall.
Upper Crossover is too thin, decent snow/bumps.
Wayout was excellent but blinding until the guns went off in the afternoon, just excellent after. Whales here too.
Heuga/Dropoff was a powder day but impossible to ski more than once because of how much snowmaking was going on. Really great snow though.
Belt was random, top to the turn was a wind tunnel, soft but blinding until a bit below Wayout, and then normal conditions below that. White Cloud is open but could use a gun or two, decent snow.
Gun Hill was closed for race training, looked good.
The snowmaking report:
Guns on the full length of Clairs as of 4pm and filling it in much faster than I remember (pretty sure they're new guns over there, not the old black tower-mounted things), pretty much ready to go down to the flat spot below the rock as the upper part was on all day.
Heuga, Dropoff, runout from Cliff, Base area, Hunter One (Including one of the E chair trails), all of the stuff near the parks/easy trails there were getting snowmaking, and the skiers left section of Broadway/7th all had snowmaking full blast all day. Also Belt from the 1st turn to below Wayout.
Wayout was running until 2pm, and guns on Gun Hill/the top of Ike were going on as of 4pm.
They've made an insane amount of snow and they have a huge snowmaking crew running around the mountain. Also, while it's not open at the moment, the Highlands and E chair very clearly have some sort of base laid down on multiple trails, and Colonel's Alternate is ready once a 50ft section is filled in.
Conclusion: Go to Hunter. Seriously, it's like midwinter but with less ice and almost no one there. It IS as cold as midwinter though.
Speaking of burned, it was entertaining to watch the snowmakers have to bring a big load of wood up to Clairs and make a long fire in order to soften up the ground for whatever they were digging at. (I'm guessing a valve).
The usual screwy Hunter grooming was evident in various places, especially Kennedy and the runout from ESD/Milky Way.
Now then, for the actual skiing report:
Skier's left of Cliff to Ike was ROTD for sure. Huge soft whales on the whole length of Cliff with a some really nice mini-bump lines going.
Upper K27, Hellgate and ESD are all smooth and fast with pretty good cover. (Hellgate obviously)
Ike, the entire width of Broadway/7th and Lower Crossover all had excellent soft snow.
Racer's Edge was okay, it needs a groomer to flatten out the whales and get rid of some ice/make the full width skiable.
Minya has got a lot of whales on it, but pretty good overall.
Upper Crossover is too thin, decent snow/bumps.
Wayout was excellent but blinding until the guns went off in the afternoon, just excellent after. Whales here too.
Heuga/Dropoff was a powder day but impossible to ski more than once because of how much snowmaking was going on. Really great snow though.
Belt was random, top to the turn was a wind tunnel, soft but blinding until a bit below Wayout, and then normal conditions below that. White Cloud is open but could use a gun or two, decent snow.
Gun Hill was closed for race training, looked good.
The snowmaking report:
Guns on the full length of Clairs as of 4pm and filling it in much faster than I remember (pretty sure they're new guns over there, not the old black tower-mounted things), pretty much ready to go down to the flat spot below the rock as the upper part was on all day.
Heuga, Dropoff, runout from Cliff, Base area, Hunter One (Including one of the E chair trails), all of the stuff near the parks/easy trails there were getting snowmaking, and the skiers left section of Broadway/7th all had snowmaking full blast all day. Also Belt from the 1st turn to below Wayout.
Wayout was running until 2pm, and guns on Gun Hill/the top of Ike were going on as of 4pm.
They've made an insane amount of snow and they have a huge snowmaking crew running around the mountain. Also, while it's not open at the moment, the Highlands and E chair very clearly have some sort of base laid down on multiple trails, and Colonel's Alternate is ready once a 50ft section is filled in.
Conclusion: Go to Hunter. Seriously, it's like midwinter but with less ice and almost no one there. It IS as cold as midwinter though.
