Hunter Mountain Bump Contest 2018

When I saw the promo for a bump competition in the Catskills — Hunter’s Bud Light Bumps and BBQ — I made my plans. The sun was shining, the beer was flowing and there were smiles all around Saturday at Hunter Mountain.

For the record, my fifty-plus bones said no but my 22 year-old brain was all in. I arrived early and booted up. On my way through the parking lot I ran into Dave Reddick and Porter Fox from Powder Magazine, who are doing a feature on the Catskills. We warmed up with some photos and a quick slackcountry tour with Daniel from Hunter and Jaime from the Brunnette Wine Bar in Kingston. The snow was as manky as my telemark turns, but it was a good warmup for the competition.

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I’m Done Skiing Alone

When I was a little kid living on a farm, I’d play by myself in a big tractor tire that served as a sandbox. I developed a reputation for playing alone. “Harvey doesn’t need playmates, he’s happy all by himself!” It wasn’t true, down inside I didn’t like it, but I didn’t know myself well enough to push back.

“Trust me, this opens up down below.”

As I got older, I got more proactive. In high school, I joined the cross country team and made best friends for life. Twenty five years after that, I discovered skiing, and it took me another two decades to learn the lesson all over again, in a new setting. A single life-changing event twenty years ago — a solo backcountry ski tour — delayed my embrace of this lesson.

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Mount Peter: Welcome Back in Time

Last week my eleven year old asked me to take him to Mount Peter. He’s been skiing bigger hills the last few years and has been stepping up his game lately so I was a little surprised that he wanted to return to the 450-foot feeder hill. Still, I think that all skiers remember their home mountain fondly. My son is lucky that his is such a special place, with so much history and charm.

When my older son started skiing, I looked around for a small area where he could learn. It had to be nearby, small, affordable with a good ski school and magic carpet. There are several feeder hills that fit the bill around the metro area and we tried them all out.

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