Over the past week, Hunter Mountain in the Catskills unveiled its much-awaited year-round attraction: zipline tours. Jason, I, and 20 other thrillseekers met with New York Zipline Adventures principal partner Bradd Morse, who, over a 27-year career, has helped design and operate canopy tours all over the world.

After leading us to the equipment office to sign an extensive release and provide us with a specialized harness and helmet, we boarded a custom built “Zipline Limo” and were transported to the mid-mountain tour area.

At Hunter, with the omnipresent snowmaking guns and trails that were blasted into the terrain like a superhighway, very few skiers say “wow, that’s a beautiful mountain.” But go figure, right between Hunter One and the main ski area is a stunning ravine that is how I imagine the Catskills looked before the hemlock forests had been cut down in the mid-1800s.

Continue reading →