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Hunter expansion - "Hunter North"

echo_VT

Angel Diva
hi,
just here to track progress that's happening on Hunter Mtn.

www.huntermtn.com/blog/ - i have been getting emails from them about their new blog posts.

i have not been back for any hiking - but we will be back in Aug/Sep when the ski shop opens up again for 18-19 gear.

it looks like they've made progress on Hunter North and that there don't seem to be any delays - which i think means this will open for the 18-19 season...!

so far according to @marzNC we know that there was a new lift added at Windham and a gondola added at Belleayre.

this is pretty great news that they're adding 5 new trails at Hunter plus a new 6-chair lift.

looking forward to seeing what that means for Hunter's winter season!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
so far according to @marzNC we know that there was a new lift added at Windham and a gondola added at Belleayre.
From what I heard, the gondola at Belleayre was pretty popular after it opened in early Jan.

Have seen a few pictures of the new trails at Hunter. May try to stop by the Catskills during early season if enough trails are open by mid-Dec.
 

Lmk92

Angel Diva
"From what I heard, the gondola at Belleayre was pretty popular after it opened in early Jan."

Yeah, that's an understatement. I have never seen the place so crowded in the 8 years we've been going there. I grumbled when I heard about it because I knew it would bring bigger crowds, and it did. I'm glad they're experiencing success, but it makes for a more stressful day for those of us who enjoyed the quieter, family-friendly atmosphere before.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
I've had the same feeling before when I've been at Searchmont. We love having the hill to ourselves, but it's not really a sustainable business model if people don't come!
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
yes i think this will make Hunter more busy than it has been in years past, but i am hoping beginners don't go down the black diamonds and double black diamonds. it's been a disaster each year with beginners going to the top only to find out there's just one blue route down (belt parkway) and that they are not equipped to go down blues. i don't believe they have any plans to make any green trails off Hunter north, but i am hoping at least belt parkway won't be so so crowded.

and somehow friends convince their beginner friends to go down blacks and scaring the bejesus out of everyone on the slope, including their friends.

it's been hairy at best...!
 

Lmk92

Angel Diva
Our closest mountain (okay, hill...) is a lovely place, run by people who are really trying hard. I'd love to see their business tick up a bit. But because it is so small, we do get a lot of beginners going down hills they shouldn't be on, just for variety. It makes for a frustrating day sometimes.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'd like to try to get up to Hunter this coming winter to check out the expansion. Maybe late season when things start quieting down.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I'd like to try to get up to Hunter this coming winter to check out the expansion. Maybe late season when things start quieting down.
Do you consider early March as late season? I'm hoping to do a ski safari in the northeast before I head to Boston to give my daughter a ride home for spring break.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Do you consider early March as late season? I'm hoping to do a ski safari in the northeast before I head to Boston to give my daughter a ride home for spring break.

Yup! March is definitely late season to me. Not sure what Hunter is like at that point, but hopefully not as bad as Jan and early Feb.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Yup! March is definitely late season to me. Not sure what Hunter is like at that point, but hopefully not as bad as Jan and early Feb.
If you're thinking about the crowd on the weekends, definitely fewer people after Pres. Day. At least for regular March weekends as opposed to after the major snowstorms last season that kept dumping until April.
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
You can try early season too. We had several big dumps in March so it was fairly crowded on weekends, more than usual.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
You can try early season too. We had several big dumps in March so it was fairly crowded on weekends, more than usual.

What is early season? At what point is the whole mountain usually open by? Definitely want to see the expansion.

I did the one trail, uploading/downloading, opening weekend thing once and never again.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
What is early season? At what point is the whole mountain usually open by? Definitely want to see the expansion.

I did the one trail, uploading/downloading, opening weekend thing once and never again.
My sense is that Hunter and Windham are always trying to be as close to 100% open as possible by Christmas week. Hunter was the only place open in the Catskills several years ago at the beginning of Thanksgiving week. They have been investing in snowmaking for quite a while, even before the purchase by Peak Resorts a few years ago.
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
If the weather cooperates hunter can open very early such as November. Last season they were open over thanksgiving and in mid Dec all the trails were open and there was hardly a soul to be found. My guess is that people didn’t know or they were too busy with getting ready for the holidays that they didn’t come. In any case we had some of our best days in Dec ‘17
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Wow, Hunter is adding 4 glades to Hunter North. Peak is using staff from Mt. Snow who are familiar with what it takes to create and maintain glades. Obviously there will be trees, but not too many trees.

https://www.huntermtn.com/blog/page-4131/

" . . .
we are excited to announce that we are officially including four new gladed areas on Hunter North! These four new glades will add up to 37 additional acres of development, bringing the new total skiable acreage on Hunter North from 43 to 80 acres thereby increasing Hunter Mountain’s total skiable acreage by a third. At this time, we estimate three of the four glades will be rated as intermediate terrain and one as expert terrain.
. . ."
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
woot! awesome update. my daughter loves the glades she will be so thrilled to be able to add more tree runs (well provided it snows enough) to her day.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
@ski diva - Thanks for the video! That trail looks really fun (I love blues!)

I have thought about a little ski trip to the Catskills before or after a visit to my daughter, who lives near Poughkeepsie.
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
So I’ve skied by the expansion. The chairs are on the new lift and new fences are in place. It used to be you could ski “white cloud” cross “belt pkwy” and go down “way out”. That’s where the top of the lift is so that’s been blown out. As a result it has become much steeper on belt in that section. Also coming off white cloud is quite steep. There is an entry point to the north side from belt just before the top of the lift. Also further down belt, passed the new construction, there’s an entry point to the north side. The trails look good but they do not look completely blue. They look borderline black if not that, explicitly black. We only got to inspect it from belt so we don’t have any idea except for looking at the pitch.
 

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