Hunter Mountain 6 Pack - speculation thread - CONFIRMED!

[dmc]

Lets say they do decide to put a new 6 pack in -

Would they have to keep the quad in parallel- In order to support the zip line? Because it's supposed to happen soon

Cause thats going to be some terrain changes..

Where would it go? Would it share the same line as the existing one? Is there enough room?

I really haven't thought this out..

 

[andrec10]

They would take the present quad down and use B to F, or use those 6 wheeled vehicles up the mtn with. Present quad would get new base and summit terminals and be moved into the Y-lift line...

 

[millerm277]

There's plenty of ways to get people up the hill for the zip line, you don't need a HSQ for it, and it doesn't seem like you'll be "lapping" the zip line quickly. B>F would work fine. Not sure for the mountain biking, but that sort of stuff has to be done at some point, I'm sure there's a way.

As for the 6-pack theory: Without more terrain, it seems suicidal, there will be way too many people up there. My vote is a HSQ. But, ignoring that, I think you could run a 6-pack on the same line, with new towers and tower footings, there's nothing major in the way that I see. There isn't a whole lot of room on that summit for a HS terminal anyway, so that's your only real option.

I think a new HS lift on the front side, is a matter of what/when, not if. My real question is what are they planning for the West Side? We know they extended the Y liftline, and that they have approval for a 20 million gallon reservoir, so is it going to be:
- Move the existing (failing) HSQ to the Y line?
- New HSQ?
- New FGQ?

And are they finally going to use X and that area, or some other sort of new terrain over there?

 

[andrec10]

There's plenty of ways to get people up the hill for the zip line, you don't need a HSQ for it, and it doesn't seem like you'll be "lapping" the zip line quickly. B>F would work fine. Not sure for the mountain biking, but that sort of stuff has to be done at some point, I'm sure there's a way.

As for the 6-pack theory: Without more terrain, it seems suicidal, there will be way too many people up there. My vote is a HSQ. But, ignoring that, I think you could run a 6-pack on the same line, with new towers and tower footings, there's nothing major in the way that I see. There isn't a whole lot of room on that summit for a HS terminal anyway, so that's your only real option.

I think a new HS lift on the front side, is a matter of what/when, not if. My real question is what are they planning for the West Side? We know they extended the Y liftline, and that they have approval for a 20 million gallon reservoir, so is it going to be:
- Move the existing (failing) HSQ to the Y line?
- New HSQ?
- New FGQ?

And are they finally going to use X and that area, or some other sort of new terrain over there?

There will be less chairs on the 6-pack. 82 compared to the over 100+ on the quad, so the numbers would be the same, bu they could add chairs later to increase capacity.

 

[thetrailboss]

FWIW and IIRC the only places in the east that have a six pack (just a six pack) are Ragged and Stratton. Intrawest was just foreclosed on and Ragged went belly up. May not be a good omen...

SR has the chondola (doesn't really count IMHO).

But does Jiminy have a six pack?

 

[millerm277]

FWIW and IIRC the only places in the east that have a six pack (just a six pack) are Ragged and Stratton. Intrawest was just foreclosed on and Ragged went belly up. May not be a good omen...

Blue Mountain, PA has a 6-pack and a HSQ coming out of the base, and they've still got liftlines. (and 3 double chairs and a triple)

Anyway, if the 6 has the same capacity as the 4, sounds good. From my understanding, the heavier chairs *should* make it run better in high winds....aka Hunter's daily weather.

 

[bvibert]

FWIW and IIRC the only places in the east that have a six pack (just a six pack) are Ragged and Stratton. Intrawest was just foreclosed on and Ragged went belly up. May not be a good omen...

SR has the chondola (doesn't really count IMHO).

But does Jiminy have a six pack?

Jiminy does have a six pack, they have for a while and it seems to be working out well for them.

I think a six pack for Hunter would work good in the quads existing line, if they limit the number of chairs until they open more terrain.

 

[dmc]

I think a six pack for Hunter would work good in the quads existing line, if they limit the number of chairs until they open more terrain.

They gotta be opening more terrain... I gotta think that once the first tree goes down(which it has) for the zip line it's going to open the flood gates... There's already been a lot of logging.. It's going to happen. I'm not talking the "forever wild" protected forest - I'm talking to their boundary. Which extends past X cut on the west and down into the ravine past lower k on the other side...

No rumors there... Just my own ramblings.

 

[catskills]

When they first put in the HSQ they had both AA -Lift HSQ and the old double A-Lift running side by side. I was told that running the HSQ and old double exceeded the capacity of the trails. Don't know how true this rumor was.

There was even talk on weekends about letting condo residents ride the old doube A lift without waiting in line on the HSQ.

Usually Hight Speed detachable six packs have an amazing uphill lift capacity. I believe six packs have higher capacity than 8-Gondolas. Here you can check this at the following chair lift installation stats. A detachable 6-pack has a capacity of 3000 - 3200.

http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_na.htm

 

[millerm277]

They gotta be opening more terrain... I gotta think that once the first tree goes down(which it has) for the zip line it's going to open the flood gates... There's already been a lot of logging.. It's going to happen. I'm not talking the "forever wild" protected forest - I'm talking to their boundary. Which extends past X cut on the west and down into the ravine past lower k on the other side...

No rumors there... Just my own ramblings.

I'm not an expert in the least, but....while Hunter has certainly been keeping up with matinence, they've sold a TON of real estate in the past few years (Kaatskill Mountain Club, the stuff on the lodge, , and there hasn't been anything much in terms of on mountain improvements besides a couple fan guns and a dozen tower guns a year. Considering the Slutzky's have managed to run a ski area successfully for 50 years now.....I doubt they'd let Hunter lose money.....which means all that profit should be going back somewhere, maybe they waited to do it all at once. :beer:

Still got the pictures of the master plan, DMC?

 

[threecy]

FWIW and IIRC the only places in the east that have a six pack (just a six pack) are Ragged and Stratton. Intrawest was just foreclosed on and Ragged went belly up. May not be a good omen...
...
But does Jiminy have a six pack?

Jiminy does and ended up having to transfer their assets to a REIT a few years later.

 

[dmc]

Still got the pictures of the master plan, DMC?

Gotta dig that out...

btw: it's NUKING a ton of wet snow...

 

[andrec10]

So I wonder with this past weekends numbers and the following weekends being fairly busy, is the 6 -pack more or less a done deal?

 

[jtothewang]

My understanding is both Hunter and Windham are limited by trail capacity, meaning whatever body it is that regulates ski areas will not allow additional lift capacity at either resort until more trail capacity is achieved. This is what I hear from local chatter, nothing confirmed. I also hear rumors here and there that both Hunter and Windham are investigating ways to increase trail capacity.

 

[andrec10]

My understanding is both Hunter and Windham are limited by trail capacity, meaning whatever body it is that regulates ski areas will not allow additional lift capacity at either resort until more trail capacity is achieved. This is what I hear from local chatter, nothing confirmed. I also hear rumors here and there that both Hunter and Windham are investigating ways to increase trail capacity.

The new 6-pack will have the same capacity of the current quad. Hence not needing added trails, but having the option to add more chairs later if/when trail capcity increases.

 

[jtothewang]

The new 6-pack will have the same capacity of the current quad. Hence not needing added trails, but having the option to add more chairs later if/when trail capcity increases.

Understood. Thanks for the info.

 

[dmc]

So I wonder with this past weekends numbers and the following weekends being fairly busy, is the 6 -pack more or less a done deal?

Latest I heard was... 6 pack soon... Quad goes into the shop for a while then will got to where the Y is in a year of so...

 

[catskills]

The new 6-pack will have the same capacity of the current quad. Hence not needing added trails, but having the option to add more chairs later if/when trail capcity increases.

H'mm replace HSQ (capacity of 2400) with high speed six pack (capacity 2400). Normally a high speed six pack has a capacity of 3000 - 3200.

It would seem that most ski areas would build more trail capacity first and then increase chair lift capacity later. Not the other way around. Very strange.

I don't see any high speed six packs installed with a capacity of 2400 here:

http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_na.htm

 

[dmc]

H'mm replace HSQ (capacity of 2400) with high speed six pack (capacity 2400). Normally a high speed six pack has a capacity of 3000 - 3200.

It would seem that most ski areas would build more trail capacity first and then increase chair lift capacity later. Not the other way around. Very strange.

I don't see any high speed six packs installed with a capacity of 2400 here:

http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_na.htm

We get it already... jeeze....

Don't worry - it won't change Belleayre.. Your ok...

 

[catskills]

We get it already... jeeze....

Don't worry - it won't change Belleayre.. Your ok...

This has nothing to do with Belleayre or any other ski area. Not everybody is against Hunter. Chill out. Jeeze.

For the record I personally would love to see Hunter do a land swap deal with NY state and build a Funitel all the way to the top of the Hunter Mtn fire tower for close to 2000 feet of vertical.

In the mean time I would think z-Lift needs to be replaced with a HSQ before replacing the HSQ with a six pack.

Its a damn shame that NY state does not have 2000 feet of vertical skiing in the Catskills.