Rowsdower
Member
Brilliant day today!
Left Piscataway, NJ around 7:00 and got in at Hunter around 9:30 and was riding by 10:00. Temp at arrival were hovering around the mid to upper 20s, and skies were overcast to start out. Within an hour the skies opened up for a beautiful bluebird day and temps around 30-35. The Catskills were slated for 4-6 inches of snow last night and it seemed like Hunter probably received around 3-4. It still felt great on top of a fairly deep snowpack. I started too late to get fresh pow on the main side of the mountain, but there was still plenty of fresh stuff to be found throughout. First run sent me down Upper K27 where I elected to drop into Milky Way/East Side Drive (not sure what the name of that connecting trail is) before Lower K27. The steeps here had fantastic snow. Milky Way and Lower Crossover, really most of the mountain were all in superb shape. Loose packed pow was the rule for conditions throughout. I checked out Milky Way glades which rode very nicely and had a lot of untracked snow even up to the early afternoon. Very few people were venturing into the trees it seemed.
The west side of Hunter was where the goods were being kept, though. Skiers right of Westway was practically untracked until around noon. Cutting in from Claire's to Westway during the first half of the day was a sure way to bag some very nice fresh, all-natural, turns. I also forgot how steep it is over there, or really how long those steeps are maintained. Felt like I always powered through the first few hundred feet of steep vertical, then struggled the rest of the way, taking some breaks as I went. The thighs sure felt it for sure.
When I left at 1:30 the lines on the six-pack were long, as usual. Lines on the three person F and the Hunter West express quad were short, however, so I got a decent amount of runs in. Really my legs just felt like wet noodles, so I figured it was a good time to head back to the Suzuki for a snack and then get on the road again.
Pics:
Left Piscataway, NJ around 7:00 and got in at Hunter around 9:30 and was riding by 10:00. Temp at arrival were hovering around the mid to upper 20s, and skies were overcast to start out. Within an hour the skies opened up for a beautiful bluebird day and temps around 30-35. The Catskills were slated for 4-6 inches of snow last night and it seemed like Hunter probably received around 3-4. It still felt great on top of a fairly deep snowpack. I started too late to get fresh pow on the main side of the mountain, but there was still plenty of fresh stuff to be found throughout. First run sent me down Upper K27 where I elected to drop into Milky Way/East Side Drive (not sure what the name of that connecting trail is) before Lower K27. The steeps here had fantastic snow. Milky Way and Lower Crossover, really most of the mountain were all in superb shape. Loose packed pow was the rule for conditions throughout. I checked out Milky Way glades which rode very nicely and had a lot of untracked snow even up to the early afternoon. Very few people were venturing into the trees it seemed.
The west side of Hunter was where the goods were being kept, though. Skiers right of Westway was practically untracked until around noon. Cutting in from Claire's to Westway during the first half of the day was a sure way to bag some very nice fresh, all-natural, turns. I also forgot how steep it is over there, or really how long those steeps are maintained. Felt like I always powered through the first few hundred feet of steep vertical, then struggled the rest of the way, taking some breaks as I went. The thighs sure felt it for sure.
When I left at 1:30 the lines on the six-pack were long, as usual. Lines on the three person F and the Hunter West express quad were short, however, so I got a decent amount of runs in. Really my legs just felt like wet noodles, so I figured it was a good time to head back to the Suzuki for a snack and then get on the road again.
Pics:
If I waited 2 minutes it was a lot. 
