Hunter Mountain (ski area)
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| Hunter Mountain | |
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| Location: | Hunter, New York, USA |
| Nearest city: | Albany, New York |
| Coordinates: | |
| Top elevation: | 3200' (975 m) |
| Base elevation: | 1600' (488 m) |
| Skiable area: | 240 acres (0.96 km²) |
| Runs: | 53 |
| Longest run: | 2 mi |
| Lift system: | 10 chairlifts; 1 rope tow |
| Terrain parks: | 2 |
| Snow fall: | 216 cm |
| Web page: | http://www.huntermtn.com |
Hunter Mountain is a four-season ski resort located just over two hours from the New York metropolitan area. The focal point of the resort is the ski and snowboard mountain itself, featuring a 1,600 foot vertical drop.
From its inception in the late 1950s, the owners and management of Hunter Mountain have been committed to providing quality snow conditions throughout the season through extensive snowmaking. Hunter was the first in the state to install snowmaking, the first with top-to-bottom snowmaking, and the first to have 100% snowmaking coverage of the mountain.
The resort features lodging, real estate, fine dining and various other amenities, including activities such as snowtubing and snowshoeing. Hunter Mountain also features two terrain parks and holds freestyle events throughout the season.
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[edit] History
During the mid-50’s a group of local businessmen, including Orville and Israel Slutzky, got together to develop plans to revive the mountain-top economy after the depression and WWII hit hard. The sport of skiing was becoming popular and many in the group thought this was a good opportunity. After a failed lobbying attempt to get the State of New York to develop a new ski area on Hunter Mountain, the group contacted Denise McCluggage, a sports editor at the New York Herald Tribune. The group told her they had a mountain to give away as long as the developer built a ski area called Hunter Mountain on it. She wrote an article that prompted the interest of a group of Broadway show business people.
This group created the Hunter Mountain Development Corp., the first operators of Hunter Mountain. The group was headed by Jimmy Hammerstein, the son of Oscar, and included many of Hollywood and Broadway’s brightest stars at the time. With Orville and Izzy Slutzky providing most of the land and their firm I. & O.A. Slutzky providing the construction, ground was broken to develop the ski area in the summer of 1959. The area was given to the group to operate with two stipulations--- that it be called “Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl” and that it have snowmaking capabilities, a relatively new technology at the time. Construction and development continued into the 90’s, with lifts, trails, the lodge and shops added to the resort.
On January 9, 1960, Hunter Mountain opened for the first time with the original “B” Lift in operation. The original “A” Lift was under construction and was not completed in time for the first season. The old Starr Hotel served as the first base lodge (it was located just below the old Ski and Snowboard School administration building). Unfortunately, the Hunter Mountain Development Corp. was bankrupt by the middle of the 1961/62 seasons. It was at this time that the Slutzky brothers stepped in and took over the operation.
During the summer of 1962 the “A” lift was completed which opened up the skiing to the summit. Over the next several years, many trails significant snowmaking improvements were made, including the opening of the Belt Parkway and the construction of the Upper Shop. In the summer of 1963, Hunter opened for summer skiing on plastic chips. Summer skiing only lasted for a few years. During the winter of 1963/64, Hunter Mountain opened for night skiing for the first time. Night skiing was discontinued in 1972.
In the summer of 1964, construction of the present day base lodge began, with its grand opening-taking place on December 12, 1964. It was state of the art at the time featuring a 300-seat dining room, an indoor swimming pool, sauna, and health club, massage rooms and many of the amenities still found in the lodge today.
"D” Lift opened in December 1967, the first triple chair at Hunter Mountain. Also that winter, Hunter Mountain became the first area in the world with summit to base snowmaking with the completion of snowmaking lines to the summit. Also at this time the “East Side” was developed including K-27, East Side Drive and Milky Way.
In the summer of 1969, construction of the trails on Hunter West began; it was opened to the skiing public with “Z” Lift for the season. With the opening of Hunter West, a need for a facility at the summit became apparent and in that summer, the Summit Lodge was constructed. Also that summer, Hunter Mountain became the first ski area in the world to feature snowmaking on 100% of its trails. In 1975, the first Hunter Summer Festivals took place in July with the ten-day German Alps Festival. The festivals grew steadily each year after, under the direction of Don Conover and his family. Due to a need for more space as the ski area grew, The Colonel’s Hall was added to the base lodge in the summer of 1977. In addition, the Mini-Lodge in Hunter One was constructed.
Improvements in serving the guests then followed. December of 1983 saw the opening of the Sushi Bar in the Summit Lounge. Hiro and his visionary team turned the Summit Lounge into one of the first and finest sushi bars at any ski resort in the country.
In the summer of 1987, following a very successful season, The SnowLite Express Quad was built along with the West Wing and CopperTree Restaurant addition to the base lodge.
In 1989, Hunter became the first area in the U.S. to install an automated snowmaking system. The system installed on Racer’s Edge by York International was and still is operated remotely from the Upper Shop. This year also saw the completion of the first LiftSide condominiums.
Please continue to read below for features added from 1990-present.
[edit] Statistics
- Base: 1600 ft
- Summit: 3200 ft
- Vertical drop: 1600 ft
- Skiable Acres: 240
[edit] Terrain & Trails
- Number of Trails: 53
- Percentage of Terrain
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- Beginner 30%
- Intermediate 30%
- Advanced 27%
- Expert 13%
Key
- (B) - Beginner/Green Circle
- (I) - Intermediate/Blue Square
- (A) - Advanced/Black Diamond
- (E) - Expert/Double Diamond
Hunter One
- (B) Boston Road
- (B) Briar Patch
- (B) Bucky's Run
- (B) Central Park North
- (B) Fordham Road
- (B) The Learning Zone
- (B) The Glen
- (B) Gramercy Park
- (B) Grand Concourse
- (B) Madison Square
- (I) Central Park
- (I) Hemlocks
- (I) Hideaway
- (I) Rip Van Winkle
- (I) West Side Guide
- (A) Highlands
Hunter Mountain
- (B) Battery
- (B) B Flat
- (B) Fifth Avenue
- (B) Gateway
- (B) KMC Drive
- (B) Mossy Brook
- (B) Off Broadway
- (I) Belt Parkway
- (I) Broadway
- (I) 42nd Street
- (I) Gun Hill Road
- (I) Kennedy Drive
- (I) Madison Avenue
- (I) Park Avenue
- (I) 7th Avenue
- (I) White Cloud
- (A) Bleeker Street
- (A) The Cliff
- (A) Lower Crossover
- (A) Dropoff
- (A) East Side Drive
- (A) Eisenhower
- (A) Hellgate
- (A) Heuga Express
- (A) Lower Broadway
- (A) Mad Box
- (A) Milky Way
- (A) Minya Konka
- (E) Upper Crossover
- (E) Upper K27
- (E) Lower K27
- (E) Racer's Edge
Hunter West
- (A) Colonel's Alternate
- (A) Taylor's Run
- (A) Wayout
- (E) Annapurna
- (E) Clair's Way
- (E) Westway
[edit] Lifts
| Lift | Type | Length | Vertical | Cap./Hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-Lift (Snowlite Express) | Quad Chair | 5500' | 1475' | 3000 p/h |
| B-Lift (Broadway Limited) | Quad Chair | 2650' | 490' | 1800 p/h |
| C-Lift (20th Century Limited) | Quad Chair | 1400' | 170' | 1800 p/h |
| D-Lift | Triple Chair | 3500' | 885' | 1800 p/h |
| E-Lift | Double Chair | 2500' | 400' | 1000 p/h |
| F-Lift | Triple Chair | 3000' | 1000' | 1800 p/h |
| G2 Lift | Double Chair | 500' | 52' | 1000 p/h |
| H-Lift | Double Chair | 1600' | 200' | 800 p/h |
| Y-Lift | Double Chair | 3100' | 1300' | 900 p/h |
| Z-Lift | Double Chair | 3800' | 1300' | 1000 p/h |
| Pony Lift | Handle Tow | 300' | 20' | 590 p/h |
| TOTALS | 11 | 15,514 p/h | ||
[edit] Snowmaking
As a pioneer in snowmaking technology since 1960, Hunter Mountain is heavily committed to producing some of the best snow conditions in the East. It's been this commitment that has kept Hunter in the forefront of snowmaking and grooming technology for over 40 years. Hunter has even been crowned "The Snowmaking Capital of the World". · 1967: Hunter became the first area in the world to feature summit to base snowmaking · 1980: First area to achieve 100% snowmaking coverage Over 1,100 snow machines are capable of producing large amounts of snow in minimal time. Most of the snowguns are mounted on towers to insure the maximum amount of "air time" for falling snow to freeze. Hunter has enough air and water available to run half of the snowmaking arsenal at once under marginal snowmaking conditions, and nearly every gun under optimal conditions. Hunter's snowmaking power can resurface virtually every trail in a matter of hours after a warm spell or rain.
Some Hunter Snowmaking Facts and Trivia:
- Hunter uses more than 60 miles of snowmaking pipe
- Water capacity equals nearly 43 gallons per minute, per acre
- Air capacity equals about 90,000 cfm, including all fan guns with onboard compressors
- Overall snowmaking capacity equals 40 tons of snow per minute
- Hunter can cover one acre (equivalent to size of a football field) with one foot of snow every hour.
- In an average season, Hunter turns about half a billion gallons of water into snow
Hunter Mountain's grooming fleet consists of four LMC 4700s and three Pisten Bully Edges for normal grooming operations, in addition to a PB300 Winch Cat for grooming steeper slopes. A Pisten Bully (Snowcat) Park Bully and Pipe Magician used in the Terrain Park and Half Pipe round out Hunter's grooming fleet, all culminating to help produce optimal snow conditions on every trail. Hunter also has one LMC 3900 for use in the Snowtubing park.
Each grooming machine is equipped with flexible roto-tillers which produce a more consistent, smooth surface than straight tillers. The concept of the flex tiller originated at Hunter Mountain and became a reality through a joint effort between LMC and Hunter Mountain. Flexible tillers are now used world-wide. Hunter still owns and operates the first two-piece and three-piece snow tillers ever produced, as well as the only four-piece tiller ever made.
Hunter has a Pipe Magician that's designed for cutting the walls and floor of a Half Pipe. It cuts the transition at just the right radius and makes the walls smooth and straight.
[edit] Snowtubing
- Snowtubing park recently expanded threefold, with 6 chutes added: 9 chutes now available.
- Two tube tows to haul you back to the top
There is a minimum height requirement of 42".
[edit] Resort Real Estate
Hunter’s most recent expansion was also their largest. The Kaatskill Mountain Club, Hunter Mountain’s landmark hotel located slopeside, opened in August 2005. This fractional-ownership condominium-style hotel features guest rooms from studio to three-bedrooms, and includes a full-service spa, health club and fitness center, year-round outdoor pool, restaurant and lounge, all with ski-in/ski-out convenience.
This hotel was an addition to Hunter Mountain’s Liftside Condominium project. Located just 300 meters from the slope-side access to the D-Lift at Hunter Mountain, the condominiums at Liftside Village are the closest condominiums to the four-season activities taking place on the mountain. Owners at Liftside Village have optional membership access to all the amenities of the adjacent Kaatskill Mountain Club.
Hunter’s future development, The Pinnacle at Hunter Mountain Resort, will begin in spring 2007 and will offer 7 luxury, whole-ownership condominiums atop the Hunter Mountain Base Lodge.
[edit] External links
- [1] Trail Map
