Hunter: Not Good, It's January

[TheGreatAbyss]

Super interesting, I never knew the history of Hunter, thanks for posting that. This really caught my attention:

and to offer floodlit night skiing; summer skiing on lubricated plastic chips instead of snow (which never caught on)

You probably can't do that in 2023 but never heard of that. Maybe that belongs in the "Future of Skiing Thread"

 

[Ripitz]

I have lots of memories of bump skiing Westway in the afternoon sun back in the day. That slow old chair was needed to rest the legs. Could really only manage 2 or 3 runs before seeking the mercy of the front side.

Crazy Hunter story,
I think I told it somewhere here before.

I don’t remember what year it was but I finally got to ski Annapurna after a 2.5ft dump. I snuck up there with my friend Snowranger who owns a tire shop. We rallied his lifted 4Runner with some silly set of snow tires. Getting to the mountain was an adventure in itself.

We brought fat skis, which were not very common back then, and hucked everything in sight. We skied the talus slopes between the frontside runs and launched monster airs straight over the walls.

Snowranger skis like a pitbull especially in the bumps. I’ve seen him do some incredible things over the years like ski Outer Limits in four turns and Ovation with none. When we saw the rope drop on Annapurna we skied as fast as we could over there since we never had seen it open. Snowranger goes into beast mode and rips two GS turns down the bumps then exploded in spectacular fashion about 2/3s of the way down and tomahawked passed patrol.

We went to the bar to recover then into the woods for a J bird between the Cliff and Jimmy Huega. Not good since we found ourselves completely cliffed out. There was some serious combat skiing to negotiate the cliffs in the woods. I resorted to bending over some trees to rappel over the rocks. Ended up above the rock cut of White Cloud and was able to slide down the frozen ice falls to a mandatory 15 foot drop onto the run with an uphill landing. Scared the shit out of an intermediate who saw me fall from the sky. Good times.

Hunter is nasty in a good way. I hope Vail does it a solid and builds it out to its fullest potential.

 

[Harvey]

I never knew the history of Hunter

The History of Hunter Mountain

In 1950’s Orville and Israel Slutzky created the Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl.

nyskiblog.com

 

[tirolski]

I hope Vail does it a solid and builds it out to its fullest potential.

Sheesh
I hope they sell it and let someone else build it out & run it to it’s fullest potential.

We really do need another good snowstorm...

 

[Ripitz]

Orville Slutzky, a Founder of a Ski Resort, Dies at 96 - The Hunter Foundation, INC

Source: The New York Times By Paul Vitello Orville Slutzky, who with his brother founded the Hunter Mountain ski resort in upstate New York, known in the 1960s for its celebrity clientele and in the 1970s and ’80s for its unmatched number of snow-making cannons, died on April 18 in Hudson, N.Y...

hunterfoundation.org

Orville Slutzky, about skiing in 1929;

“In those days we climbed the mountain with skis in hand, and then slid down as best we could.” For skis, he added, “we used barrel staves.”

OG ripper with reverse camber and sidecut. Legend.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

"the actress Kitty Carlisle, who did not ski but was photographed riding the chair lift."

Interesting to read her obit. Back in the day, I thought that her only claim to fame was as a veteran panelist on To Tell The Truth.

 

[tirolski]

"the actress Kitty Carlisle, who did not ski but was photographed riding the chair lift."

Interesting to read her obit. Back in the day, I thought that her only claim to fame was as a veteran panelist on To Tell The Truth.

Kitty learned to ski herringboning, according to her.
Helicopter skier creator Hans Gmoser. She picked him correctly too.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Wow, what a great find! The set and host (Gary Moore) look exactly as I remember them. Nipsy Russell and Bill Cullen!

 

[Benny Profane]

I have lots of memories of bump skiing Westway in the afternoon sun back in the day. That slow old chair was needed to rest the legs. Could really only manage 2 or 3 runs before seeking the mercy of the front side.

Crazy Hunter story,
I think I told it somewhere here before.

I don’t remember what year it was but I finally got to ski Annapurna after a 2.5ft dump. I snuck up there with my friend Snowranger who owns a tire shop. We rallied his lifted 4Runner with some silly set of snow tires. Getting to the mountain was an adventure in itself.

We brought fat skis, which were not very common back then, and hucked everything in sight. We skied the talus slopes between the frontside runs and launched monster airs straight over the walls.

Snowranger skis like a pitbull especially in the bumps. I’ve seen him do some incredible things over the years like ski Outer Limits in four turns and Ovation with none. When we saw the rope drop on Annapurna we skied as fast as we could over there since we never had seen it open. Snowranger goes into beast mode and rips two GS turns down the bumps then exploded in spectacular fashion about 2/3s of the way down and tomahawked passed patrol.

We went to the bar to recover then into the woods for a J bird between the Cliff and Jimmy Huega. Not good since we found ourselves completely cliffed out. There was some serious combat skiing to negotiate the cliffs in the woods. I resorted to bending over some trees to rappel over the rocks. Ended up above the rock cut of White Cloud and was able to slide down the frozen ice falls to a mandatory 15 foot drop onto the run with an uphill landing. Scared the shit out of an intermediate who saw me fall from the sky. Good times.

View attachment 17543

Hunter is nasty in a good way. I hope Vail does it a solid and builds it out to its fullest potential.

I remember a day like that at Hunter after a mega storm in 93, I think, that paralyzed NYC. They already had a good base, but, yeah, it was the only time I saw those talus slopes to the right of the chair line 99% covered in snow, with a few tracks on them. The fence barely required a jump to get on them.
I knew we were in for a treat when I came out to the car in the morning and just swept about two feet of light and dry off the car with my arm. Very rare experience there.

 

[Benny Profane]

Sheesh
I hope they sell it and let someone else build it out & run it to it’s fullest potential.

We really do need another good snowstorm...

If Vail actually does commit to running that place properly, they'll wind up eliminating all free parking all week to pay for it.