Packed Powder today & Fireworks tonight!

We have beautiful powder and packed powder today here! The sun is out, the sky is blue, so stop by to ski, ride, or take a Skyride at Hunter Mountain!


C-Lift, 7:30am

Yes, I said 'take a Skyride'! Skyride tickets are $8 per person, round-trip this weekend only...and tonight is our Torchlight Parade & Fireworks ceremony to bring in the New Year! The parade kicks off at 5:45pm and fireworks start at 6pm, so stop by to check it out!

Today: 2 more trails + 2 more lifts open & more snowmaking!

Hello skiers, riders and Hunter Mountain fans! This morning we opened two more trails: Heuga Express and Drop Off, and have opened GII lift D-Lift. The snow is looking good so far, and we saw a few snowflakes in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is our New Years Eve Torchlight Parade & Fireworks. The parade begins at 5:45pm, and the fireworks kick off at 6pm, so come celebrate New Years with Hunter Mountain!



Thanks to all of those who came by this week to ski, ride, and just to visit! Today we even ran the Skyride for people who just wanted to head up and check out the snow. We hope to see you tomorrow at the parade & fireworks!

We're still making snow!

In case you're all wondering, we're still blowing snow! We blew on the Belt, Way Out and other places over night, and today the guns are still up in Hunter One and on Madison, our racing trail.


Guns on Hunter One

The West Side is is open as well...Way Out, Clair's Way and Z Lift are all running! Stop by and take a few runs!

Want a free lift ticket? Join the mailing list!

We want to reward the readers (and posters) in the HunterBlog...so here's how we're going to do it:

We're going to start handing out free lift tickets.

This is how you get one...

Sign up for the Hunterblog mailing list! Scroll down and sign up in the field on the sidebar. Every Thursday, a lift ticket winner will be drawn, starting next week...so sign up now!

Today's Fabulous Weather!

We are experiencing awesome weather today. We've had flurries throughout the night, and this morning the day was blanketed with soft, big snowflakes. It recently stopped snowing (this post is as of 9:03am) and the sun is out.

Some of the trails still have guns on them, and we're hoping to blow all day if weather stays cold (don't worry, Hellgate and The Belt are clear...the guns are out of the way of people for the most part!) If you haven't headed up to Hunter yet, today is a great day to get out and ski or ride...everything is fresh groomed, there's new packed powder and fantastic conditions.

Here are some photos I took early this morning (click for larger versions):








We hope to see you all soon!

Come join us New Years Eve for a Torchlight Parade and Fireworks!!!

Bring your family and friends to Hunter on New Years Eve for our traditional Torchlight Parade followed by a spectacular show of fireworks. The parade kicks off at 5:45PM directly followed by the firework display. So come down to Hunter Mountain, bring some friends, grab a drink at the bar and get a front row seat to the show! Join all of us here, at Hunter Mountain as we kick off the celebrations of the New Year.

Snowmaking resumes tonight!

Just wanted to let you all know that we will be setting up the guns and blowing snow tonight, and into tomorrow. We're going to blow snow *whenever possible* throughout the week...so get ready! We will primarily be reblanketing our trails (Hunter One, Mossy Brook, etc), and I promise that the snow will look much better when we blow a bit.

As for the forecast, tomorrow (Wednesday) is going to be in the 30's, returning to more mild weather for Thursday and Friday. As an aside, while some of the snow around the very base is of a brown persuasion, I have heard people raving about great conditions...don't be put off by the weather off the slopes...the conditions are still pretty sweet!

Hope to see you soon, and again, happy holidays from Hunter Mountain! Remember to call the Snow Phone or check the website for more information throughout the day!

Guess What's Open?! WAY OUT!

Hello hello hello, we have a special surprise for all of you today...we've opened Way Out and started running Z-Lift! Hopefully the cover over on Way Out will stick around...we are really excited to have part of Hunter West open...so stop by and take a few runs down our 34th trail!

As for snow blowing, we've had a number of hours to blow for the last few nights, and are hoping for more cold weather...unfortunately it's not looking too promising for getting too much more snow down, but we're confident in how much snow we have, and are getting everything ready for the holiday week. We're doing everything we can to get more trails opened...we just have to wait for the weather! Thankfully, we're looking at a snowstorm in the forecast next week, so hopefully we'll get a few inches of natural powder!

Also wanted to post up a picture I took around 7:30 this morning outside on the deck of the Learning Center...enjoy!



Click on the image for a larger version. Also, small note, there's no Podcast this week, as we have been postponing events due to more warm weather...so check back next week. There's just no point in repeating the same stuff over and over again, but next week there will definitely be one.

One more thing...

We're making snow!

We've been making snow for two nights in a row now, and blew all day on Tuesday, on East Side Drive and Way Out. We are unsure as to how much more snow we will be able to make, due to weather contraints; however, we will be reblanketing the open trails for the holiday week. When things quiet down a bit, I will snap a few photos and post them -- I also have photos of our new pipe cutter and some news to post, so check back before the weekend.

Please check the pic of the day for photos. Please also see this post as a reminder and for more information on what to expect from this blog.

Pic of the Day

The website is updated every day with conditions and weather information, as well as a picture. Please remember that when the blog is not updated, you can check the website. Please be understanding of the fact that I cannot always post every day.

Just so you know:
...We are open every day during the holiday week, 8:30am to 4pm.
...Tickets go on sale at 8am.
...Hunter One is expected to be open, totalling 17-20 trails open for visitors.
...Group, private lessons are available, as well as Playcare and other children's programs.
...Triple Peaks cards are on sale through Friday.

Hope to see you for the holidays!

Keep an eye out for possible snowmaking!

Hello again skiers & riders! I hope those of you who came to Hunter this past weekend enjoyed yourselves... we've had some nice conditions and many people were pleased! I wanted to let you all know that we are looking at some snowmaking opportunities in the next 24-48 hours, so hopefully we will have some fresh snow cover on our trails soon! Despite the warmth over the past week, we have lost very little snow, and only one trail has been closed, leaving us open with a very healthy 19! We're getting some great feedback from our visitors.

Keep up to date by checking our website and blog!

Triple Peaks Card & other last minute gift ideas!

Give the gift of skiing this holiday with our Triple Peaks Card, only on sale through this week. The Triple Peaks Card gives the holder three non-holiday lift tickets for $99.95 - our greatest value yet! The card was on sale through October, then taken off the rack... but it's back, and offered only for the next five days! What better gift is there than three days skiing at Hunter Mountain?

Click here for more information about our Triple Peaks Card, or to purchase!

... use e|ski to save time at the ticket window!

Want to get out on those slopes more quickly? Drop by our website, Huntermtn.com, and use our e|ski system to save time waiting at the ticket window! Gift certificates, rentals, group lessons, Single- and Try-Paks are available directly from our website... all you have to do to redeem them is stop by and pick them up. When our tickets are full-price, lift tickets will be 10% off when purchased through e|ski, so sit tight for some serious savings!

Check out our e|ski options here!

... stop by our Ski Shop & Board Room for all the latest gear!

Stop by our ski and snowboard shops to purchase the latest gear for friends and family! Our shops have the latest and greatest gear, from clothing and accessories to ski and snowboard equipment! If you're all set with clothes and equipment, head in for a custom boot-fitting... we've got something for everyone! And if you're not sure what to get, we've got gift certificates for skiing, riding and for our shops.

... last week for College Season Passes!

This week is the last opportunity to purchase a College Season Pass - the sale ends on Dec. 23rd! This pass is available to students ages 17-22 with a valid college ID. Purchase four College Passes together and save even more: either get one season pass for $299, or choose the FourPlay option, which gives you four season passes for $999! Remember, sale ends December 23, and we will no longer be selling them!

Click here to learn more about our College Season Passes!

What did you think??

Hey guys, I'm going to post a bunch of stuff tomorrow, I know there were quite a few people here at Hunter this weekend, so please let me know what you thought! We'd love to get some feedback -- I spoke to a few people who were really enjoying the slopes, and wanted to hear more!

Tomorrow we're going to release some news about snow blowing and other things, as the weather looks to be returning to cold, and we're excited! Check back soon! For those of you who don't know, please also check out the Pic of the Day here.



A few other things (you guys can hear it before everyone else!):
1. Monday and Tuesday ticket pricing: $50 adult + $15 voucher
2. the Quad, B & C lifts will be open
3. 19 trails will be open
4. Playcare is open by reservation only
5. Children's programs not offered during the week

That's it for now! Hope you all had great weekends!

No podcast today, but other stuff going on!

Happy Thursday, folks. I just wanted to point out quickly that I am not going to do a Podcast today because we've been pushing a lot of things off due to not-so-great weather, so stay tuned until next week and hopefully by that time we will have some more stuff coming up! There IS some cool stuff happening this weekend, though...

The sushi bar is opening this weekend! That's right, we will have sushi served from 12-5pm both Saturday and Sunday. As you may know, we have some awesome sushi up here. Goldye's will be opening in The Learning Center for the weekend as well.

Group lessons for first timers will be offered off the back deck of The Learning Center this weekend, too! Levels 2-6 will be starting at 10am, noon, and 2pm. Stop in the Learning Center to pick up a group lesson and meet out on the back porch. Single-Pak and Try-Pak for levels 1, 2 and 3 will be offered as well.

That's all for now, stay tuned!

Oh yeah, one more thing...

We're blowing snow tomorrow night!!

No Lessons for Ladies' Day Wednesday

Quick announcement...this week's Ladies' Day Wednesday will not be offering lessons. Ladies' Day itself will still be offered, complete with rentals and the $10 lunch voucher.

This will only be for this week (Wed, 12/13)...every other week we will be offering lessons as well as the rentals and lunch voucher. For more information on Ladies' Day Wednesday and other specials, go here.

See you on Wednesday, girls!

Want to join an Alpine Racing clinic?

We're looking for skiers who love speed. Our Adult Seasonal Alpine Racing Program (ages 19+) has some participants signed up and are looking for more to join the group!

The program meets every weekend beginning December 16th through March 11th. We focus on developing our race skills, free skiing and practicing in the gates. We have some participants specifically interested in slalom training and if we can get some more participants we can developed a Slalom Specific Program.

Let us know if you would like to develop your all around race skills or have a specific area of ski racing you would like to focus on and we will do our best to organize such groupings. Interested? Give Jen Schmidt a ring at 1-800-HunterMtn x2278 or e-mail her at jschmidt@huntermtn.com for more information or to sign up.

NASTAR Postponed, TBA

Just a quick note to point out that NASTAR, our local grassroots racing event, has been postponed. Because of the warming weather, we're not going to open the race track until daytime highs drop and we can build up more snow on Madison.

Please keep checking back for new dates, as we will probably cancel this week's dates (Wed - Thu - Fri) and maybe next week. Weather has been notoriously unpredictable this fall and winter, and we're doing our best to get everything to happen as soon as we can! Keep in touch!

Pics from last night's Rail Jam!

Hi guys, we've put up the pics from last night's rail jam -- thanks to everyone who came out! Our next rail jam is on January 6, 2007, and we hope to see you all there! Click here (or on the pictures below) to browse through the photo gallery!



Props to Lauren from SnowboardSecrets.com, who stopped by to check out the rail...check her website soon for a short story about our new rails! She gave us a little shout-out too!

Demo Weekend & Rail Jam...come hang out!

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend...we certainly are! People have been riding the demos since 8:30 this morning and we're looking forward to a second day of our demo weekend! See below for a small picture of some of the tents --



The park guys are out there setting up the new rails, too, so watch out! Tonight is going to be sweet...the guys from RadXSports are here hanging out, so if you do have to miss the 'jam, tune in at some point to catch some clips.

ALSO, the guys from AlpineZone made a little video yesterday when they stopped by to hit the slopes -- check it out! Thanks Greg, Jim & Doug!

New Podcast! 12-07-06

Hello hello, and hope you are all enjoying the updates! I just finished recording our latest Podcast, so feel free to download it by clicking on the Podcast icon below!


12-07-06

For an archive of all of Hunter's podcasts, go here. Enjoy and stay tuned for more 'cast news next week!

RAIL JAM & CONSUMER DEMO WEEKEND!

It's going to be a busy weekend at Hunter Mountain! On Saturday and Sunday we have Consumer Demo Weekend, and on Saturday starting at 4pm is our Winter Kick-off Rail Jam (scroll below for pictures of our new rails!)

The list of companies who will be joining us for Consumer Demo Weekend includes:
Salomon Skis, Atomic Skis, Dynastar Skis, K2 Skis, Nordica Skis, Rossignol Skis, Fischer Skis, Goode Skis, Volkl Skis, Head Skis, Marker Bindings, Burton Snowboards, Ride Snowboards, Salomon Snowboards, K2 Snowboards

For more information about Consumer Demo Weekend, go here.

Again, the Rail Jam kicks off at 4pm, the bar is open and pizza will be available -- stop by, hit the rail or watch your friends. I'll be out there taking pictures, so a bunch of lucky skiers and riders might even be posted up on the website! See you guys on Saturday!

Scoop for the weekend!

Alright guys, here is some info...

Today, 6 trails are open, including Belt Parkway and The Battery. Tonight we are planning to blow snow on the following trails:

Minya Konka
Lower Crossover
Mossy Brook
Off Broadway
Madison
Gateway
Eisenhower
Hunter One:
-Bucky's Run
-Central Park North
-The Learning Zone.

This does not mean the trails will be open by tomorrow, but they will begin to be covered with snow and a number of them may be open by the weekend. Hunter One will be open this weekend, with group lessons available. Stay tuned for more information, as children's programs may also be available.

I know some of you have been asking about LocalMotion #1, and we are still not 100% sure because of the weather. We are planning to have Madison open before Sunday, but stay tuned to find out more about whether or not LocalMotion will be held on Monday, the 11th.

Last thing -- the rails for our rail jam came in today! Check them out (only in small versions, sorry!)





Hopefully we'll see you all at the Rail Jam on Saturday!

Quick Reminder about Conditions & News

In response to a number of frustrated e-mails I've received, I'm posting a reminder about ways to find out about what's going on here. This blog is not the only source of information, and will not be updated multiple times every single day.

Ways to find out what's going on:
1. Call the Snow Phone. I update the phone twice a day with condition reports. This has all the information you will need about conditions and weather.
2. Check the website. We have a listing of open trails and all condition reports listed on the phone. We will have terrain park listings when that opens, too.
3. There are new pictures posted on the website almost every day. The pictures are in the top of the page and change during your visit to the website.
4. Download the weekly Podcast. Podcasts are generally posted Thursday morning. They detail the events for the weekend.

As far as what's happening today, we just opened Belt Parkway, so we now have 5 trails open. For further information, call the Snow Phone. 1-800-HunterMtn option 1, then option 1 or 2. I'm going to post a few other things today, so stay tuned.

More updates, as requested!

Alright people, I know you are all waiting for more updates, so here's the scoop: we're blowing and blowing, and now have Hunter One and the Belt covered (but they will not be open by tomorrow, we still need some more snow on them) -- Hellgate to 7th/Broadway/Midstation to Kennedy will be open tomorrow: same thing that was open Thanksgiving. Call the SnowPhone around 6pm tonight for the full conditions and weather.





There are some pictures for you guys -- if you look closely enough, you'll see the guns blowing on the Belt. We're opening at 8:30am tomorrow, and tickets are $38
Adult, $34 Young Adults & $26 Junoir/Senior Citizens. Stay tuned for more prices as the week continues, and call in for condition reports! See you tomorrow!

Heavy snow...guess where?!

Hello again skiers, riders and Hunter fans! I looked out the window minutes ago, and to my amazement, heavy snow was coming down! I thought I should tell all of you. It's a bit difficult to take pictures in high enough quality to show how heavy it is snowing, so you'll just have to believe me...however, I do have a picture of the mountain today, and the scoop on trail openings!

This photo was taken by Steve early this morning...

Here's the skinny on what we're doing:
- we're setting out the guns on Hunter One and Belt Parkway tonight. Weather permitting, Hunter One will be open on Wednesday, and if temperatures stay cold, we will widen the cover on Hunter One and open lessons and childrens programs this weekend. This is absolutely not a 100% guarantee, but we are spreading out and covering as much as we can.
- The Belt may be open by Thursday, again, weather permitting.
- That said, ticket prices will start on Wednesday at $38 -- check back tomorrow for more prices. Each ticket price will come with the same $10 coupon we offered on Thanksgiving weekend...redeemable for $10 off a lift ticket at any time throughout the season.
- We also may be blowing on Minya Konka, and possibly others. Keep checking back for updates. Basically if the prices go up, it means there are more trails open.

I just took these about an hour ago...

We'll know more by tomorrow, so check back soon for updates!

Brooklyn Brewery Beer Dinner Postponed

The Brooklyn Brewery Beer Dinner previously scheduled for December 9 has been POSTPONED. New date to be determined soon. For more information, please go to our homepage at http://www.huntermtn.com

HUNTER WILL OFFICIALLY OPEN ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6TH

Snowmaking was restarted Saturday afternoon, and will run as long as temperatures allow. We have set a re-opening date of Wednesday, Dec. 6th. We've decided to remain closed for a couple of days to give us time to build up a deeper base, and start to spread out onto some other trails.

This coming weekend, December 9 & 10, is our annual Consumer Demo Weekend. We will also be holding our first Rail Jam of the season, check back for more details later in the week!

Snowmaking weather for the foreseeable future looks very good, and we'll be spreading out snowmaking early this week, so we'll have a few days of good snowmaking weather to cover some additional terrain. We should have several trails open by the weekend.

Check back on Monday for further updates on snowmaking, upcoming events, and price information!

Hoping to open Monday, if weather cooperates!

Well, once again the weather isn't playing fair! We were hoping for it to get cold late Friday night, and its just starting to cool off this morning (Saturday.) With hopes to blow snow by this afternoon, we will not be opening on Sunday. We aim for a Monday opening, and with weather temperatures staying in the low 30's, it looks like we'll be able to blow snow straight through this week. Check back for more updates!

Hunter Mountain Closed Saturday... PRAY FOR COLD!

DECEMBER 1 - Snowmaking will resume as soon as temperatures permit early Saturday morning, but realistically, we need some time to recover what we have lost this week. Snowmaking weather for Saturday night is much better than Friday night, and we'll take full advantage of it. We hope to be ready for Sunday, but check back here Saturday afternoon for updates. We want to offer you the best ski conditions we can offer, considering the weather hasn't been playing very nice!

On a positive note, virtually all weather forecasting entities agree that it's going to turn quite cold early next week, with the potential for a little natural snow on and off during the early part of the week. We'll be spreading out our snowmaking operations quickly once the real cold air settles in.

Make sure to check back for more updates on opening and snowmaking through-out the weekend. Also you may check out our website for more frequent updates at Http://www.huntermtn.com or give us a call at 1-800-HunterMtn. Pray for cold, and lets hope we can hit the slopes this Sunday!