En route to my annual Montreal run I've driven by this mountain one too many times and vowed to one day visit and ski this bad boy. Tthanks to an awesome Living Social deal I got to come up one chilly Sunday in December and had a blast. Their food court area is also nice complete with bar and tv's for your sports fix.
Review Source:We usually try to get up to Hunter mountain skiing from Long Island 2x a season.
The price is on the mid scale of most of the ski mountains. They have a lot of trails for Blue square and diamond. I am a green - blue skiier and my fiance who has been skiing since he was 13 is a diamond skiier. Loves a challenge. The lodge at this place is stuck in the 70's as is the locker room. They have a pretty good ski/fish/snowboard store here. Lodging and rentals around the mountain. Just put in a new high powered lift in 2011 I think it was. But you really are going to ski on the mountain rather then enjoy the locker room or lodge at this place. The weekends are usually crazy at all of these mountains. We go during the week and it is heaven on the trails. No crazy people colliding in to you. I would like to see some updates with this place but all and all we always come back for more.
Best mountain within a few hours of NYC. Â They make the most snow and the conditions are always better than anywhere else around. Â
If you want to take a lesson, this is the place to do it....they have "Progression Sessions" which are inexpensive lessons that are customized to fit your skill level. Â I've taken 3 Progression Sessions here and they took me from being a beginner to advanced intermediate. Â The instructors are awesome.
Again, they do a great job with snowmaking, grooming, and keeping the conditions in-tact. Â One time we even went skiing the day after a thunderstorm. Â We almost didn't go but figured we'd try it since we had already purchased our lift tickets and rentals ahead of time. Â We were happy we went....the conditions were surprisingly good and we had a great time skiing all day. Â Obviously it was a little slick but there were none of the solid ice patches that you would surely encounter at other mountains.
There is a whole beginner area (Hunter One) and there are a lot of advanced trails but not a lot in between. Â But the few intermediate trails they have are fun and challenging.
The rental process here is so much smoother than most other places. Â If you purchase your lift ticket and rentals ahead of time online, you save money and also you don't have to go through any lengthy check-in process....you just walk up, get your rentals and lift tickets, and hit the mountain. Â Seamless. Â I've never had to wait in a line. Â And the quality of the rentals are good too, not those cheap boots that you get at other places...you get the better stuff here for no additional charge (though it is somewhat expensive in general...but it's worth it!)
Also I should also note, the area around Hunter is great, which adds to the experience if you are staying overnight. Â There are a lot of B&B's around the area and there are some fun restaurants and bars around too. Â We make it a point to get here every year.
Probably my least favourite ski resort thus far. In the area I have been to Windham and Plattekill and suggest both of these over Hunter.
- There is really only one lift for most of the intermediate and advanced trails: Kaatskill Flyer. This was packed all day until the last hour or so.
- A good portion of trails were closed, despite recent snow fall and snow making capacity. In particular, lots of trails on Hunter One and West Hunter were closed.
- There arent too many options on trails to take. I found myself skiing the same exact trails all day. The best trail was Cliff just because they kept blowing snow. However, the secret was out and by the end of the day this part was heavily moguled.
- The hut atop of the Kaatskill Flyer and West Hunter lift is out of the way. I opted taking a leak in the woods whenever the urge presented itself.
- The store closes quite early. About 45 minutes after ski lift close, my friend tried getting a bumper sticker memento only to find out the store was closed. Generally these are open for at least an hour after mountain close. Quite glad I got my patch for the boot bag early in the day when on water break.
Luckily the line to get tickets in the morning was not too large. Ended up getting discounted tickets at Potter Brothers as everyone arrived at my place late in the morning, so Potter Brothers was already open as we passed through the area.
Came here with a Living Social Deal $99 (R/T transportation, rentals and a hot chocolate included). We had already pre-registered for the rentals online so we thought the process was going to be fluid and quick. But we arrived to the main building we were re-directed 3 times by Hunter staff to different kiosks and desks (upstairs and downstairs). This was extremely confusing and frustrating. I had to kind of yell at the 3rd woman that we were being moved around so she immediately did everything for us in less than 5 minutes. When we went it was probably one of the busiest weekends for Hunter, the use of ushers helped a lot. I liked that they scanned all the items, perhaps they can digitize the registration process as well and speed things up. The hot chocolate was not very good, probably as well as the rest of the food. Everything else was amazing. The instructors are so good, slopes are wonderful and would love to come back again soon!
Review Source:Hunter is perfect for a weekend from surrounding areas like New York City as its a ~2hour ride. The same can't be said of Vermont wich is going take you 5-7 hours and that blows your weekend. So you would have to go for longer and that is more of a commitment/ vacation time.
There are many great rental houses up in the Catskills that you can easily rent with a group of friends for the weekend for a reasonable price, have a great time skiing and hanging out with your friends and then come back to work on monday feeling like you had a real vacation. The catskill are also secretly beautiful with amazing waterfalls, world class fishing and hiking/mountain biking. I have been living/based in NYC for a long time and have been all over the world, to many astounding places and the nature of the Catskills is up there. For skiing, its not the Alps, but for a weekend its a great experience. I personally think its a bit much of drive for just one day however, weekend is perfect.
Still solid, especially with its ratcheted snowmaking operation. Even in weak conditions, Hunter managed to open up Belt Parkway and a lot of the expert terrain. The modernized food court is also to be commended. Solid skiing, just wish they could have opened up more intermediate terrain at Christmastime. Prices, as elsewhere, have become horrendously and egregiously expensive.
Review Source:FAIL! Â
I wish I had two more arms, so I could give this place FOUR THUMBS DOWN!
If you are ever thinking of holding an event here, especially a wedding.... think twice... and run to the hills.  The management of this establishment is beyond  inadequate, and has the integrity of the levy's in New Orleans during Katrina.  Spineless, amoral, liars, and worst of all they hurt families with their awful ways. Â
If you choose to use this venue, you proceed at your event's peril.
FAIL!
***Just a warning to current and furture Hunter Mountain brides out there... My fiance and I excitedly booked Hunter Mountain as our wedding venue about 5 months ago. We had our deposit in, our dream photographer booked, our plans made, Save the dates printed, DJ booked, and were all set for the wedding of our dreams. HOWEVER, Hunter mountain called us, 5 months after our contract was signed and deposit was in, telling us our date was no longer available!!!!!!!! Obviously we were crushed and could not believe this was happening. After many tears, they said they would call us back. They called back two days later to tell us they booked a huge music fesitval with 20,000 people the same day and instead of kicking us out, decided for their legal sake, that they would "let" us hold it at the same time. Yes, in the midst of loud bands, screaming fans, camping tents, and with the history of arrests at this event, many other things we did not exactly picture at our wedding. The cheif of police and local papers were floored that they would even consider this a solution to the problem they had made. We were obviously forced to look elsewhere, even though everywhere else we could have possibly had in mind was already booked. SO, watch out!! As the contract says they will not hold another wedding the same day, they may just hold a massive hippie rock festival!! And apparently thats okay!! They even tried to tell us some people pay more... I'm not beleiving that for a second. So, Hunter you have officially lost the business of us and all our family and friends forever. Thank you for making our wedding planning so upseting and stressful. As my cousin said, shame on you for making us feel we are not worthy on what is supposed to be the biggest day of our lives. Shame on you for putting a big dark cloud over our wedding planning process, something a girl looks forward to her whole life. And shame on you for haveing ZERO sympathy and being so cold hearted. So brides beware, just go elsewhere! ***
Review Source:Hunter mountain is a great venue for a music festival. The cold weather couldn't stop the event from being a success. The staff kept putting down fresh hay to keep people from slipping in the mud. While the grounds were crowded they weren't packed so full to from stretching out for a game of frisbee.
Review Source:Snowmaking is pretty good, fun trails, and you can get discount lift tickets through a number of ways (buying 7+ days in advance online, local shops, coupons from gas stations, etc). Â Only negative is that it can get very crowded on the weekends. Â
The staff has always been really friendly and the instructors are great (lesson packages with rental and lower lift tickets are a great value). Â They have the best learning area. Â
If you're a female snowboarder, I would definitely recommend the annual Burton Womens Learn to Ride Camp. Â The name is deceiving because they have groups for all levels (including blacks and the terrain park). Â Everyone made an incredible amount of progress during the camp, the instructors were awesome, met great people, and had so much fun!
Yesterday was my first trip to Hunter for skiing. Â It was probably my best tri-state ski experience. Hands down much better than Wyndham, Shawnee, or Camelback. Â And to put it in perspective, Hunter hasn't had natural snow in weeks. Â Of course, having a beautiful day did help. Â But for being only man made snow, the quality of the trails were great. Â And as an avid west coast skier, the blacks and double blacks for adequately challenging. Â That is why I'm giving it 5 stars, despite my strong preference for Colorado or Utah skiing
I'll definitely go back to Hunter for a day trip!
Aside from Mt. Sunapee (NH), literally the iciest place I've ever gone to in my entire life. I went on the one Saturday it "snow stormed" back in Jan 2012.
Not that I am the greatest skier/snowboarder, but Hunter was full of amateurs who clearly were unfamiliar with proper mountain etiquette. Three times people skied right into us. One 50 year old male skier literally pushed my expert snowboarding boyfriend and I as we were getting off the lift. We had never even experienced this level of inconsideration skiing before.
The facilities were very old and not very well designed. The bathrooms were meh. It was the kind of place you leave your stuff in the car because the lockers are so small. Even small mountains in MA have better lodges.
This was the third time I've gone skiing, the second being the day before at Belleayre, and the first the year before at Shawnee in the Poconos.
As I just recently learned the basics of skiing, the beginner and intermediate slopes at Hunter were perfect. The winter of 2012 was snowless, so all of the trails that were open had man-made snow, but there weren't too icy. My favorite trail was "The Belt Parkway," which starts at the peak of the mountain and meanders its way down to the bottom. The "Kennedy" trail was another good one, which while pretty steep, was very wide. Their chairlifts aren't the fastest, and the 6-person lifts can be intimidating for a beginner, but in my limited experience as a skiier I enjoyed myself.
The  mountain itself is more of a 3, but the food court boosts it up to 4 stars. Yes, the food is that good. They serve salad, tacos and stir fry and that's just one portion of the food court. Not to say I came here only for the food, but it would definitely keep me coming back for more.
The trails are okay. There is so much loose powder that it's no longer fun to ride. Yes, too much of a good thing! I have to say, I might have to favor Mountain Creek over this place, but I'll blame it on the crappy weather and I won't write Hunter off just yet. The double black diamonds were so much fun and the lifts pretty fast. The lines do get long and they have a good selection of trails for all levels of riders, but some of the blue's were harder than the blacks!
Far, far away. Â For day trips, a one-way 3 hour drive can be tiring, especially when the slopes are only open between 9am-4pm. Â But skiing and snowboarding in the Catskills are more fun than going to closer Mountain Creek in Jersey or the Poconos.
Because NYS barely accumulated any snow this season, the snowblowers were blasting during the day. Â The green trails were a bit icy at certain area so learning wasn't the best conditions for beginners. Â The higher parts of the mountain had some nice powder snow, but they were mostly the black trails. Â I had a good time coming down the black runs.
The food here is surprising very good. Â I had a New England Clam Chowder and Chicken Empnanada. Â Both were really good. Â And I was told their Chili is no joke either.
Finally, their First-Aid station was a finger-saver for my friend who had a huge 1" long cut in his thumb. Â He needed 4 stiches. Â The medical staff their were quick to help him out. Â Thanks guys!
Hunter is the worst. Â Seriously, if you want to spend your day swerving around idiots from Brooklyn who have never skied or snowboarded a day in their life then by all means visit Hunter. Â Last winter one of my friends collided with this 5'2 Russian girl and basically knocked her out because she decided to just chill in the middle of the mountain (on a "blue"). Â He is 5'10 and roughly 180lbs, so you can imagine the shape she was in. Â This was one of many possible collisions on this day. Â If you want to feel like a total rock star because you are annihilating blacks and double blacks, then you will enjoy yourself here. Â The trails are pretty icy and there isn't much snow being made. Â Â
This is what you get when NYC has bus trips to a mountain.
I'm a man who loves his festivals - specifically, camping festivals riddled with hippies and jampacked full of bands on a handful of different stages. Hunter Mountain hosts an annual one of these that I was fortunate enough to attend this past weekend, called Mountain Jam.
The billing featured an ample mix of musical stylings, including those of Government Mule, My Morning Jacket, Umphrey's McGee, the Avett Brothers, Bela Fleck and about fifty more performers over the span of four days. We saw some awesome shows, and because we showed up early and got a very good campsite, we were able to hear almost perfectly from our tent.
A few words of advice:
-The vendor scene was awesome, but with high prices and a lack of beer variety. Plan accordingly.
-I heard horror stories about the security, which I deemed to be exaggerations. They search your stuff as much as you'd expect, no more, no less. Smart hippies know how to hide their stash.
-The biggest downside is also an upside. The upside is that you're on a mountain with some amazing views. The downside is that to camp on a mountain, you have to lug all your shit up and down. Bring a dolly or you'll be a very sad camper.
Otherwise, what a great time. I'd recommend it to any music lover.
"Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
That is what you will think after climbing (or riding) to the summit of Hunter Mountain and gaze out on the majesty of the jagged Catskill Mountains. It you were not an environmentalist on the way up, you will be at the top. Because some things you see can't be unseen (and will change you...for the better)
Known as primarily as a ski destination, Hunter Mountain offers wild wonders year round:
In Winter: Yes, the skiing is good, BUT the snow boarding is the best this side of the Alps. Here is why- the unique topography of the mountain makes it just perfect for snow boarding! For Skiing: Perfection (in North America) is still Colorado, but snow boarding: it is here or Switzerland (and the currency exchange rate is better here.)
In Spring: The Mountain and its thousand surrounding streaming waterfalls are not to be missed! When the snows melt, the rivers rage and the waterfalls will overwork your senses (but what fun work it is) Also the famed Hunter mountain air (the cleanest and crispest in non-Alaskan America is something everyone should get a chance to breath at least once!) will gloriously blow all the winter cobwebs from your lungs (it like getting a mouth to mouth resuscitation from God) filling your lungs and blood with a new life.
In Summer:
Great for hiking:
If you are brave: the hike to the 4,040 feet summit is a great work out! If you are less brave: They run the ski lift most summer long. Ether way: You will see why the view was one the muses that inspired the Hudson River School Artists (see photo). The jagged and somewhat terrifying view will inspire you to take up the brush.
But dress warmly! The summit is about 20 degrees colder then the base. And remember your camera! (But resist the urge to text all your friends that you made it...it will only annoy them!)
Even Greater for Camping:
Something about the twilight hours in the Catskills is truly magical (see picture). Not sure if it is a combination of the cleanest, clearest air and angle that the sun hits the mountain, but Dusk and Dawn on Hunter Mountain, when you are lying in your tent, bathed in the orange tones, is more relaxing then any beach anywhere in the world!
In Fall: The wild Catskill forests gleaming hues of Red, Orange and yellow make the 3 and half hour drive from Boston well worth it! You can spend hours just watching the brilliant leaves rush down the waterfalls raging torrents like a kaleidoscope of hypnotizing color! And hiking on the mountain trails, with fall in full majestic bloom, the fresh autumn smell filling your nostrils, the maintain breeze against your cheek, will make all the money you have spent at Eastern Mountain Sports the sound investment that it was.
Only one complaint (and the one star demotion) everything designed by man on this mountain (the ski lodges, the roads, and the eateries, the A-frame architecture) are beyond cheesy. It's like someone ate the 1970s and threw it up on Hunter Mountain (maybe they did this purposely to scare away big foot who has better taste) But the natural beauty of the mountain trumps what Donald Trumpism has marred! So bring your back pack, hiking boots and stress (you will lose one of these)
This is such a convenient mountain for people who live in Manhattan. Its about 2.5 hours away and you can make a day trip here.
What I really like is that they have pretty good instructors and lots of instructors. You just stand at the place with sign posts for instructors and they split you up into groups according to your level. It was nice to have an instructor for me and a lady, instead of a massive group. However, if you are taking super beginner lessons (never have I ever skied before), those group lessons are larger but they last 90 min instead of 60 min.
Hunter One is the mountain for beginners. Its mostly greens. If you want to venture out to more difficult mountains, you can go to the other mountain.
Facilities are decent. There are lockers that you can rent for $5 and you can open it as many times as you like. Alternatively, you can do a bag check, so they keep your bag for you but it costs more. Just don't bring a big bag and use those lockers. They charge you $10 at first, then return $5 when you return the key.
As for food, there is a large cafeteria with a decent selection. I really like the chilli with cornbread, its about $6. They also have salads, Chinese stir fry, nachos.
There are ski stores downstairs with a HUGE range of equipment and clothing. The best thing is that in March, lots of jackets go on sale! I kinda should have waited a bit and bought my ski stuff here rather than buy them in Manhattan.
Safety wise, I do see guys skiing around in red jackets with a white cross on it , so you know there are first aid people going around which is good. They all carry a big pouch on their backs full of first aid supplies.
The ski lifts are open 9am-4pm, so you can leave Manhattan at 6am, get there early to rent gear, then leave at 4pm and get back by 7pm to Manhattan.
Hunter Mountain is perfect for those of you going in with the right expectations. Â Meaning: this is not west coast skiing, so no whining about the ice. Â Meaning: this is not a ski resort by any means; this is a place for a day trip up from NYC or surrounding areas; and if Brad Pitt enjoys the mountain, well, so can you (according to those who run the pro shop, he is there fairly often...hot celeb sighting is reason enough to go, right??). Â Meaning: this is pretty much the sole source of income for the town of Hunter, so ya, everything is going to be pricey. Â Bring your own lunch and quit your complaining.
That said, I love Hunter Mountain! Â It is not large by any means, but you can make the most of this place by frequenting the older lifts and getting up to the top much faster than if you take the new, fancy 6 person lift with huge lines. Â I was there over Christmas when Hunter got dumped by about 2 feet of snow, so I was a happy camper on Christmas day: just a handful of people there and PERFECT skiing conditions. Â I mostly stuck to the west side of the mountain which you beginners should avoid unless you want to fall. Â A lot. Â I took a couple tumbles since I had to get used to all the powder!
For those of you who are beginners or have young families, Hunter has a terrific ski school and great instructors. Â They just started a new program for kids: they get skiing lessons in the morning and afternoon, and in between are fed meals and do fun crafty activities. Â The bf's niece participated in it and absolutely loved it.
Overall, Hunter is a great place for skiers and snowboarders of all levels. Â Skiing is a spendy sport, so you need to go into it knowing you will spend a lot. Â But hey, if you ski all day, at $65 a ticket, that's less than $10 an hour. Â Not too shabby if you ask me. Â I hope I see Brad Pitt next time!
Hurt my ankle fifteen minutes into my beginner's snow boarding lesson. Â So what did I learn? Â I'm a chump.
But hobbling around the resort after watching everyone have fun and pointing and laughing at me got old, I saw a decent enough lodge with tons of overpriced food, that was fairly crowded. Â But what do I know about any of this crap, clearly I'm not bread to be outside during the winter. Â Can't fault Hunter.
I was really impressed by the length of my runs at Hunter!
After going mostly to the Poconos for the last few years, I noticed immediately that Hunter's runs were much much longer and pleasant than Poconos mountains.
The 6 person chair lift is blazingly fast, and the line moves well too. There is all kinds of slopes to be found there as well. Wide, skinny, park, blue and black diamonds were all fun and challenging. The black diamonds seemed on the easy side and so more of this mountain can be called blue, making it just right for me.
They have alot of deals and discounts you can find through the website. There are a couple promotions and packages you can buy into to save alot of dough.
What blew me away was comparing this mountain on Wikipedia to Mt. Snow in Vermont. For the price, this mountain is a steal!
Will come back at least once a year.
SO glad to get out and about today for a repeat of last years Oktoberfest---will update review tomorrow, but just want to say that last years events were excellent and after our recent floodfall the clear blue skies today call me to the mountain---so we are off!!!
Hunter Mtn, not far, has some great views of the Catskills...check out their WebCam!
Love these lil' weekend adventures.
Perhaps some Austrians brews will be had.
Today our venture will be by HD as they are having a BMW bikefest as well---I am sure the place will be busy, busy, busy~~~
Anyone want to join us????
Forward one day~~~ had a loveley time in the crisp clear sunny day at the Oktoberfest. Plenty of venors for the wurst lover! (hmmmm).
Crafty vendors about. A nice skyride and wathcing the zippers hit the ziplines.
And the motorcycles...lots and lots of motorcycles. Mostly BMWs (this was their event, afterall).
We hiked up to the top after a 10 minute lift ride...as my companion is a tad shy of heights! It was spectacular viewing of what will be a colorful fall.
The festival was complete with Austrian bands, polkas and lederhosen!
I'm torn, an absolute wreck!
The mountain and trails would get 5 stars. --Long trials, good for intermediate snowboarders who want long trails that branch off from double blacks to greens. And after the amount of snow fall comparable to Vermont for the fresh powder. My opinion is a little biased because of the fluffy stuff, but after a long storm I'm sure cambelback, shawnee, and mountain creek would have been comparable. (Note: best tasting snow ever!)
But hunter mountain is horrible on every other service! No night boarding, so you pay $63 for just day time. You wait on this line prior to even getting into the mountain (we were  stuck on the line in the car for an hour). By the time we got our lift tix it was noon. Location is just situated 2.5 hours from the city, leaving at 7AM, you would think you'd be on the slopes by 10-11AM.
NEVER EVER do rentals here. If you have your own board it's fine and dandy, but when half your group has to rent and picking up rentals takes over an hour you know there are problems. The mountain closes at 4 PM! So much wasted time. Devise a better system for rentals!
Definitely am looking forward to coming back, the summer they are opening ziplining tours! Can't wait!
Hunter Mtn LOCATION gets 5 stars.
Hunter Mtn RESORT gets 3.
Hunter Mtn RESTAURANT INSIDE gets -100.
So I figure a 2 is fair.
LOCATION.
Excellent. You can't argue that. It's on the slopes, you can ski right to the lifts, and back to your lodge (if you take a certain trail back down). but I think the fact that the location is so clutch makes these people think they have a free pass to be total d-bags in every other regard...
RESORT.
Terrible service. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights. We originally had 14 people for Sat, 7 for Friday, so we reserved a 2b friday, 3b sat, but then ended up with only 5 friday, 10 Saturday so tried downgrading... but, get this, the rooms were the SAME PRICE. Â So it was pointless to get a smaller room if we weren't going to pay less, so we kept it. Â How illogical is that? Â The place itself was nice: the main room had a full kitchen (looked like brand new appliances) decent size bathroom, big closet, dining table, hideaway queen bed, fold out couch, little tv, and a fireplace. the connecting room had a regular sized bathroom, real queen bed, pull out couch, good size tv, and a balcony that overlooked the pool/jacuzzis and mountain/ski lifts. The crappy parts: no room service available, beds were INSANELY hard, and they charge $10 per 24hrs for internet service.
RESTAURANT. (Van Winkles) - aka, DO NOT GO HERE!
This is the part that gets horrifically bad. Not only does the food BLOW (I mean, it's baaaad), but the people who run it are unbelievable morons. I'll tried to paste the formal complaint I wrote below for your enjoyment, but apparently Yelp doesn't allow more than 5,000 characters. :) You can view it here instead (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmissywilky.weebly.com%2F1%2Fpost%2F2010%2F02%2Fhunter-mtn-resort.html&s=5fb97bc4d6fdfb4a79e59b3b24a35a2593a72b66370061d1094162644b818f87" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://missywilky.weebly…</a>), complete with pictures of the so-called manager who assaulted me because i touched his seating chart, and the entirely EMPTY restaurant time-stamped from the time when they said they had no room (when only 3 out of 21 tables were full), to when all the reservations were supposed to kick in, yet there were still only 3 out of 21 tables full.
As a beginner snowboarder, Hunter Mountain was perfect. Â About a 2.5hr drive north of NYC, it is convenient enough for a day trip although my friends and I preferred to rent a house for the weekend. Â Luckily, it snowed the week before the weekend we were there so there was fresh soft powder on the slopes. Â We stayed in Prattsville, which is about 13 miles from Hunter Mountain.
We had purchased the Big Card early for the 2009-2010 season, which costed $39. Â Not only did we get discounts off lifts and rentals for the whole season, we also got 1 free lift ticket, 1 free group lesson and discounted $39 lift days on certain weekends. Most of us already had our own gear, but there is a great rental shop called Snowbird right outside the entrance of Hunter that will rent you equipment and helmets cheaper than what it costs at Hunter.
Hunter Mountain consisted of Hunter One, Hunter Mtn and Hunter West. Â Hunter Mtn is where the beginner slopes were. Â Hunter One is mainly all blue slopes and Hunter West is all black diamonds with one blue trail called the Belt Parkway. Â Although it was icy on top of Hunter West, as we got further down, the snow was soft. Â Hunter also had a variety of trails to entertain the beginner to advanced. Â I didnt feel intimidated as I normally do in places like Killington, VT. Â For the beginner, Hunter is great.
Hunter supposedly makes a ton of snow, but I didn't see any snow making machines when I was there. Â When we went (1/8/2010 weekend), it was not crowded and it was sunny so it was a very enjoyable riding experience. Â I did not take the group lesson, however my friends did and they said it wasn't worth it as you do not get individualized attention and they teach you only the basics.
There's not a lot of great food options at Hunter, basic and overpriced fare such as hot dogs, pasta, chili, mac & cheese so I suggest packing your own sandwich and then going into town to get a decent dinner. Â There are plenty of lockers to use at Hunter and it's only $1 to access them each time (bring qtrs). Â If you are staying at a house for the weekend and planning to cook for your group, there is a large supermarket called Grand Union about 3 miles from Hunter Mountain. Â Overall, it was a great weekend and I would definitely visit again.
It's patently obvious that the biggest advantage of Hunter is convenience. Â I took a bus trip from Manhattan to Hunter that picked us up at 6:30. Â The bus trips to Vermont, by comparison, pick up at 4:30. Â So, when considering Hunter, you have to ask yourself if the benefit of better slopes in Vermont or elsewhere outweighs the burden of extra travel hassle. Â
For me, going to Hunter was worthwhile. Â I'm an intermediate, once or twice a season type snowboarder. Â I'm not an avid hobbyist. Â For my purposes, I can deal with lesser slopes. Â I'm also not that into it to go far out of my way for a better experience. Â If you're more into winter sports, you probably already know that Hunter isn't going to be worth it for you and are more willing to go on crazy trips to better places.
Not reviewing this place for the skiing... Â We took a trip to Hunter Mountain this weekend for the German Alp Festival (should be called Oktoberfest in August)
They have a couple of vendors most of which were crappy, they kind of make it feel like a bad flea market. Â There was one vendor selling Leiderhosen, which depending on how much you drink might come in handy!
Besides that the rest of the "festival" was pretty good. Â They have a huge tent set up where the German Oompah bands play and a couple of beer tents with plenty of awesome German brew on tap. Â They have plenty of good german eats
Where else can you get up close and personal with an 18 time Grammy winner?? Local Legend, Â Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra were rocking the main tent from 3 to 4. Â We will definitely be going back next year!
Now I'm no expert (I would be content staying on green trails all day) but the Belt Parkway is my favorite trail on this mountain! For a blue, it's not bad at all (as long as it's not icy) and it's nice and long! Â All day lift passes on the weekends are $61 but if you order them online 48 hours in advance you get 15% off! My friend even found a site where we bought two passes for the price of 1! I only went here twice this season but I'm sure I'll be back next year!
Review Source:I went to Hunter a few weeks ago on a trip with Blades. This was my second trip to Hunter ever, and it was on a Saturday. I've been snowboarding for about 13 years. Â I don't plan on going back to Hunter again.
Negatives:
- Much of the snow is man made, which leads to less than favorable conditions.
- The hill is insanely packed on Saturdays. It feels like all of NJ piled into a bus and headed up there.
- I own my own equipment but if I had to rent, I probably would have ripped my hair out before making it to the front of the massive line.
- Conditions are icy. The few inches of fresh snow had vanished by noon.
Positives
- It is close to NYC
- There is one run with moguls, so it's better than nothing for somebody at the intermediate or above level
If you're living in NYC and want to take a lesson to learn, it's great. But for an experienced snowboarder I found it to be underwhelming. I'm sure if I went on a Tuesday after it got a few feet of snow I'd feel different, but for the weekend I would spend the extra time and head to VT.
Maybe I'm just spoiled, having skied at beautiful Mont Tremblant and St. Sauveur, but this place kind of sucked.
Before skiing: It was a TWO HOUR process to rent our skis and most of the staff was extremely rude. After my locker ate my token, they refused to replace it.
Skiing: The mountain is small and the trails are quite boring. My friend and I were bored after one hour of skiing the same trails. WAT WAH (sad trombone noise.) The most excitement we had was avoiding being hit from behind by one of the many obnoxious, beginner snowboarders that the mountain was crawling with.
After skiing: If you do decide to ski here, make sure you bring food or find a place in town to go to because the food options are absolutely horrific. After climbing up about twenty slippery stairs in ski boots to get some sustenance, we walked into what seemed like a bar at an elk's club with a SUSHI BAR (um, no thanks), what seemed to be an elementary school cafeteria serving the most disgusting looking items I have ever seen, and a pizzeria that served what I can only described as a pizza travesty. We chose to eat the "pizza" and could not even finish it, it was so terrible.
Despite everything, I did have a relatively fun time so I can't give the place one star. The terrible experiences almost made it humorous.
But, will I return?
No.
No, probably not.
Ever.
...ever.
It's embarrasing, but I have to admit. Â As a Canadian, it's expected of me. Â But, it took me 27 years to do it..... Â January 2009, I went skiing for the first time.
Full Disclosure: I did spend a lot of my childhood cross country skiing because my mother would strap them to my sister's feet and then mine and tell us to leave the house, go as far we could until we couldn't see the house and turn around and come back. Â I think this is what she called "Mommy alone time." Â Anyways, there was really no up and down hill, aside from a 3 foot drop into the ditch, so it was the same as going for an annoying walk.
I digress... so I went skiing for the first time. Â I went with some friends who are expert skiiers, so I decided to start the day with a group ski lesson (1.5 hrs). Â The cool thing about this is that it's actually cheaper to get the package that has the group ski tutorial, lower mountain lift pass and your rental, then if you just got a lift pass and rental (although your lift pass in the package isn't good for the big mountain, but if you're just starting, you won't need that anyways!)
Also, make sure you book your rentals online 48 hours in advance on the Hunter website through E-Ski - you save 15% and avoid the insane lines once you get there... and the people at E-Ski are SO nice! Â They remembered my name over the 2 days that we were there...
Back to the lesson - the instructor was ok, but you could tell he'd done it a million times, so he wasn't really giving it his all, but he still gave us the basics. Â Out of the 6 of us, one guy had the wrong size ski and 2 other gave up half way through (which made no sense, because wouldn't they just have to start all over again?!)... I was so proud of myself because I was the only person not to fall... but then I got scared to fall because it looked like it hurt!
After the lesson was over, I joined my friends for my first attempts up the ski lift and down some green slopes. Â Turns out, I picked it up pretty quickly, albeit I could only stop by veering into the woods (at first!) Â On the lower mountain there are also a few blues, so they got me to try those on Day 1 and those were a little out of my league and I cause myself a little pain...
Day 2 I had a full mountain pass, so I loved the green trail on the upper mountain and spent a lot of the day on that until at lunch after having a drink, I decided I wanted to see the top of the mountain and decided to take a blue one down from on top! Â It was a harrowing experience, but I've lived to write about it!
I found that by 1-2pm it got really icy, so I'd definitely recommend going right at 8:30am- we did ski right until 4:00pm both days. Â There's no night skiing at Hunter, but they have night tubing (which we didn't do). Â I've heard many people say that Hunter is where the Hamptons crowd skis, but I'm not sure how true that may be, given the looks of the people in the Lodge - which was crowded and clearly the food was over priced, but what do you expect?
All in all, I had a great time for my first time out and I can't wait to hit the slopes again! Â Hunter has a relationship with Windham which is nearby and you can get combo deals on lift tickets if you're planning a few days away (I'd suggest mid week, rather than the crowded weekends!). Â Bellayre and Plattkill mountain are also open nearby, so you could do a tour of all nearby ski hotspots!
k granted this place got dumped 2 feet of snow as we were driving up... it's quite a small mountain with not that many blue trails... but come here to practice ur carving on days where not many people will show up... ie weekdays or huge snow dump days where buses can't get to there and cars will stubbornly try to slide their ways there!
overall it will be a very crowded mountain full of manhattanites and everyone will be on that same dang blue trail!
Stop, people. This mountain is awful.
Any place that advertises as having "100% Snowmaking!" has got to be lousy. And it is. The only positive is that it's about an hour from NYC.
In my 20 years of skiing, this is the only resort in eight states, seven countries, and two continents that I've ever had anything stolen at. THREE TIMES, and each incident was FIVE YEARS apart. I've never personally had anything stolen--after my dad first had one of his poles stolen I started locking my stuff up, but someone in my group has always had something stolen.
With the exception of a single trail, the mountain is almost entirely flat. When I came here for a high school ski trip I just wore my rock skis and stuck in the terrain park because otherwise I'd get bored to tears. Your chances of skiing over a twig/rock/mud is very high--even in January--and most of the skiers here are first-timers from the city.
Stay away.
My first time at Hunter was worth 3 stars, but my second was five stars. Now don't get me wrong this is NOT a resort comparable to the ones out west, nor is it to those in Vermont, but if you want a quick weekend getaway - Hunter is the place to go. I have visited others in the area and they are either smaller or the slopes are easier. However, if you are a decent skier/snowboarder more than two days will probably be too much! I mean there is not that much mountain to ski.
Personally, I find if the weather or the snow 'ain't' great you should not even attempt to go because you will find the day expensive for your moneys worth. On the other hand, if the weather is just right and you like to ski/snowboard you will have a 'ball of a time'.
Hunter is a great place near the city to learn to snowboard. Princeton Ski Shop has a shuttle that will take you up there if you don't have a car.  They also have a great 3 day lesson/rental package also really good for beginners. That's how I learned the basics. But once you are past the beginner level you realize the mountain is pretty darn small and probably  you'll have to graduate to something much further away to get you ski/board on.
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