Hunter Mt... Snow hanging in there!

[dmc]

 

[BeanoNYC]

Looks like you can earn a few turns there. Have you hiked up lately?

 

[dmc]

Looks like you can earn a few turns there. Have you hiked up lately?

Last week... My legs hurt too much from downclimbing the hiking trail @ Tucks last weekend to ski this week..

Going to get up early and hike tomorrow...

 

[thetrailboss]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

 

[dmc]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

ehhh... It's ok...

 

[thetrailboss]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

ehhh... It's ok...

It's better than nothing...or even the skiing "just outside Boston," which includes the world-famous Blue Hills or Nashoba! :idea:

 

[dmc]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

ehhh... It's ok...

It's better than nothing...or even the skiing "just outside Boston," which includes the world-famous Blue Hills or Nashoba! :idea:

I actually love the mountain... It's unique... Has some great lines.. Great snowmaking.. and is still family owned...

I just hate talking about it cause it has such a bad rep - it's like inviting someone to blast it just by talking about it...

 

[thetrailboss]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

ehhh... It's ok...

It's better than nothing...or even the skiing "just outside Boston," which includes the world-famous Blue Hills or Nashoba! :idea:

I actually love the mountain... It's unique... Has some great lines.. Great snowmaking.. and is still family owned...

I just hate talking about it cause it has such a bad rep - it's like inviting someone to blast it just by talking about it...

Oh...I was being sincere...looks like a good place to ski to me. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[dmc]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

ehhh... It's ok...

It's better than nothing...or even the skiing "just outside Boston," which includes the world-famous Blue Hills or Nashoba! :idea:

I actually love the mountain... It's unique... Has some great lines.. Great snowmaking.. and is still family owned...

I just hate talking about it cause it has such a bad rep - it's like inviting someone to blast it just by talking about it...

Oh...I was being sincere...looks like a good place to ski to me. Nothing wrong with that.

Not at all!!
But your just a jump to Tucks... I envy you for that...

 

[thetrailboss]

Just got done looking into Hunter...man, that looks like a real kicka$$ mountain!

ehhh... It's ok...

It's better than nothing...or even the skiing "just outside Boston," which includes the world-famous Blue Hills or Nashoba! :idea:

I actually love the mountain... It's unique... Has some great lines.. Great snowmaking.. and is still family owned...

I just hate talking about it cause it has such a bad rep - it's like inviting someone to blast it just by talking about it...

Oh...I was being sincere...looks like a good place to ski to me. Nothing wrong with that.

Not at all!!
But your just a jump to Tucks... I envy you for that...

And soon to be a HECK of a lot closer to GREAT skiing!!! Can't wait to get out of here!!!!

 

[Skimaine4ever]

Why does hunter have such a bad rep? I agree with TheTrailBoss, it looks like a fun place to ski, I also hear that its pretty steep.

 

[Skimaine4ever]

Still some snow left at SR to, this picture was taken today May 20

 

[dmc]

Why does hunter have such a bad rep? I agree with TheTrailBoss, it looks like a fun place to ski, I also hear that its pretty steep.

It gets crowded sometimes..

It has a NY attitude...

It was built by a family that was constructing it and the original owners defaulted... So a construction/road building family ended up with it and they did what they do best.. they blasted trails out of rock... Some people dont like that..

There really isnt an easy way down the mountain... So intermediates get jammed up on two of the main trails... And those trails get skied off quick cause everyones trying to just make it down...
People like to sound like they are better then they are by blasting it...

If you can ski expert terrain... It's awesome!
Great fallines.. Great snowmaking... Unique terrain features... Sweet, agressive bumplines..

My favorite picture of me riding Hunter
http://www.powderhound.org/2001/hi-res/snow_2-4-01_doug_hellgate_rock_drop.jpg

Some of my favorite trails...

Westway (Trail44)

Lower K27

Claires Way

Racers Edge

And of course the Catskill offers some great back country...

 

[ALLSKIING]

[/quote]



It was built by a family that was constructing it and the original owners defaulted... So a construction/road building family ended up with it and they did what they do best.. they blasted trails out of rock..[/quote]
Thats pretty cool. Have any more history on Hunter?

 

[dmc]

Thats pretty cool. Have any more history on Hunter?

In the 30's there was a ski trail on Colonels Chair Mountain wich is the mountain the ski area is built on.. But it really wasnt used by tourists
So in the 50's the town solicited people in NYC to come and build a ski area..
In the late 50's they got a bunch of Broadway people to invest... they in turn, got the Slutzky family to do the construction and they owned the land too...
It opened in 1960..
After a couple of years the expenses got too much and the "broadway types" bailed and left the area to the Slutzkys... they intended on getting rid of it after a few years... that never happened - they STILL own it..
They used their construction knowledge to install snowmaking everywhere... Build lodges.. Houses, etc...
The Slutzkys knew that they had to keep adding new things every year...

Orville Slutzky still walks around and picks up trash on the floor... He's totally accessable and is avery interesting guy...
Izzy - his brother - is too old to come out anymore..

The kids and grandkids are know at the helm of a lot of the business...

 

[ALLSKIING]

Thats pretty cool. Have any more history on Hunter?

In the 30's there was a ski trail on Colonels Chair Mountain wich is the mountain the ski area is built on.. But it really wasnt used by tourists
So in the 50's the town solicited people in NYC to come and build a ski area..
In the late 50's they got a bunch of Broadway people to invest... they in turn, got the Slutzky family to do the construction and they owned the land too...
It opened in 1960..
After a couple of years the expenses got too much and the "broadway types" bailed and left the area to the Slutzkys... they intended on getting rid of it after a few years... that never happened - they STILL own it..
They used their construction knowledge to install snowmaking everywhere... Build lodges.. Houses, etc...
The Slutzkys knew that they had to keep adding new things every year...

Orville Slutzky still walks around and picks up trash on the floor... He's totally accessable and is avery interesting guy...
Izzy - his brother - is too old to come out anymore..

The kids and grandkids are know at the helm of a lot of the business...

Nice story..I love the book on Killington I think its called a story of mountains and men. Its a great book about how Pres Smith built the mountain starting in 1958. The book has great pics of the first trail and other pics as the mountain grew. Cool book.

 

[NJSkiBabe]

If you want to read some more on the history of Hunter Mountain pick up a copy of "The Sleeping Giant" by Paul E. Pepe.

 

[catskills]

Here is one of the early 1892 cable cars located about 10 miles from Hunter. Unfortunatly very few people skied back then. It was never opened in winter or used for skiing as far as I know. If someone ever did ski it, then it may be the earliest ski lift in the USA.
http://www.mths.org/landmarks/otis.html

Here is a publishing company that has many books on the Catskills and Hunter Mountain area.
http://www.blackdomepress.com/

Other interesting facts. Hunter Ski Bowl was/is known as the Snow Making Capital of the World. It was a leader in snowmaking technology. Way a head of other ski areas in the 60s and 70s. Izy Slutsky's son David installs snowmaking systems all over the world including South America. David was also called in to make snow for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Some of the Hunter Mountain huge air compressors originaly came out of salt mines.

 

[thetrailboss]

Thats pretty cool. Have any more history on Hunter?

In the 30's there was a ski trail on Colonels Chair Mountain wich is the mountain the ski area is built on.. But it really wasnt used by tourists
So in the 50's the town solicited people in NYC to come and build a ski area..
In the late 50's they got a bunch of Broadway people to invest... they in turn, got the Slutzky family to do the construction and they owned the land too...
It opened in 1960..
After a couple of years the expenses got too much and the "broadway types" bailed and left the area to the Slutzkys... they intended on getting rid of it after a few years... that never happened - they STILL own it..
They used their construction knowledge to install snowmaking everywhere... Build lodges.. Houses, etc...
The Slutzkys knew that they had to keep adding new things every year...

Orville Slutzky still walks around and picks up trash on the floor... He's totally accessable and is avery interesting guy...
Izzy - his brother - is too old to come out anymore..

The kids and grandkids are know at the helm of a lot of the business...

Nice story..I love the book on Killington I think its called a story of mountains and men. Its a great book about how Pres Smith built the mountain starting in 1958. The book has great pics of the first trail and other pics as the mountain grew. Cool book.

Nice to hear about the heritage of our mtns...we should start a thread about it...between all the sad stories of how many times Burke went bankrupt and other stories of Perry Merrill, it would be interesting... :idea:

Hunter reminds me of Pats Peak in that the SAME family that started it now owns and operates it...the Patenaude's...local business folk who were chicken farmers and now own a lumber, concrete, and hardware business along with the ski area and conference center.

In the 1950's the Patenaude boys were good skiers, but got sick of having to drive so far to get to a ski area, so they decided to build their own :idea:

Mind you these guys were like me...idealistic 20-somethings...so this was no easy undertaking. One of them convinced their Dad to by the small hill/mountain just outside Henniker to "log" for the timber (with NO mention of the ski area idea :wink. They scraped together enough $$$ and got to work. Their old man thought they were nuts....but they spent most of the next summer planning and cutting the trails by HAND when they could. The four boys built the original lodge (expanded and moved to where it is now) and their father spent most of his time working inside doing the interior work.

They took out a $200,000 loan to fund the project...this was in 1961-2 I believe...so it was a lot of money for the time :blink: They bought a Mueller Double (still in use as the PEAK double), installed it, as well as a T-Bar and in January they opened. A front-page picture of the ski area is still in the lodge...word was that single shot brought hundreds of folks to the hill in that first season and they're still going today...the boys and their kids now are at the helm...have a good manager who does a he&* of a job. Better than the days when the Patenaudes ran the lifts themselves :roll:

So what are some other ski area founding stories you all have?

 

[dmc]

Here is a publishing company that has many books on the Catskills and Hunter Mountain area.
http://www.blackdomepress.com/

The Otis cut for that railroad is still there and with enough snow... Skiable...