Old School Trail Maps

[tirolski]

Those guys didn’t give a f! What a mess.

Fits the M. O. of current owners to boot.

 

[Ripitz]

I can’t help but look at that mountain and think to myself…. Those guys didn’t give a f! What a mess.

Very much an exercise of force. They plowed the roads up Bearpen too and now it’s an abandoned mess. It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you visit all of the other High Peaks with their first growth boreal forest still intact and see them in comparison. If you’re going to develop something, great, then stick with it. If it doesn’t work out then do the reclamation. Walking around lost ski trails makes you realize why people are against new construction.

 

[Campgottagopee]

NY State said FU to the Slutzkys about that expansion.

If i remember correctly, they cut the x trail before they had the approvals. They were try to get to that bowl and/or the next one. I was told they were willing to trade 10k acres they owned elsewhere in the park for those couple hundred acres in order to cut the trails. A sad ending for what could have been...........

Wonder why NYS didn't say FU to ORDA. Seems like the exact same thing recently happened.

 

[raisingarizona]

Very much an exercise of force. They plowed the roads up Bearpen too and now it’s an abandoned mess. It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you visit all of the other High Peaks with their first growth boreal forest still intact and see them in comparison. If you’re going to develop something, great, then stick with it. If it doesn’t work out then do the reclamation. Walking around lost ski trails makes you realize why people are against new construction.

Agreed. One of things I’ve always liked about Plattekill was how organic the mountain feels. It’s a proper ski hill that was built respectfully imo.

 

[Ripitz]

If i remember correctly, they cut the x trail before they had the approvals. They were try to get to that bowl and/or the next one.

The old cut ends at 3,250 and follows the ridge along their property line. It seems they could still add another lift and some trails there if they wanted too.

Trent Poole has said they are looking at their entire footprint to see how they can maximize the mountain experience. Time will tell if this expansion will ever come back into play.

Hunter West from Buck Ridge Lookout.

 

[raisingarizona]

How did their last expansion go?

 

[Ripitz]

How did their last expansion go?

The one with the trails that killed people?

 

[raisingarizona]

The one with the trails that killed people?

The trail expansion killed people?

 

[jasonwx]

The trail expansion killed people?

yep the north side expansion...the new trails where labeled intermediate..they should have been expert...they where steep and wide, you could generate insane speeds...problem was the trails were off of the Belt Parkway which servers beginners and intermediates.

 

[x10003q]

I was one of those nerdy kids that would draw imaginary ski area trail maps and now I sometimes get to design trail systems for mountain biking. I’m really big on less can be more, keep it organic and classy yada yada. I can’t help but look at that mountain and think to myself…. Those guys didn’t give a f! What a mess.

I think we need to remember the time frame (1960s) when Hunter was developed. Attitudes were much different about development vs today. It probably was not a good choice for a ski hill due to the steepness, but it might have been the only choice (as privately owned land) in that area. They needed to create less steep trails from the top and the road like trails are what they produced. The Slutzkys were road builders as their main business at the time.