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Mid-Atlantic Hunter Mountain Friday 12/18/20 - 2 out of 5 stars

pushgears

Putting on skis
Skier
Joined
Jun 5, 2020
Posts
75
Location
Westchester, NY
Skied Friday 12/18 at Hunter Mountain (now owned by Vail Resorts) after the Wednesday-Thursday storm which deposited 24 inches. Here are some observations:

1. "Limited Capacity" is a misnomer. The parking lots were filled to the level of a peak weekend crowd.
2. Lift lines were unreasonably long. The wait for the main lift reached 30 minutes by 10:30 AM.
3. Vail Resorts is not allocating the resources to ensure an excellent product. For example, Hunter squandered an opportunity to make snow Thursday night, despite ideal temperatures and a 24-inch natural base to build upon. Making snow on top of the natural and grooming it out, such as on "The Cliff", would have ensured excellent conditions leading into the holiday period. Instead, The Cliff was skied off on Thursday and closed on Friday.
4. Employees ensure that corporate social distancing guidelines are followed while loading the base area lifts, but not at upper mountain lifts, whose loading were essentially a free-for-all.
5. There is noticeably less grooming than in previous years.
6. The D-Lift's chairs were not cleared of snow, making it unavailable on a busy day.
7. The resort seems understaffed; perhaps because of the shortage of foreign workers, or maybe just cost-cutting.

One of the exceptions to obtain an Epic Pass refund is an unfavorable "Guest Experience". My Guest Experience lasted only 2 hours before bailing, despite being on line before lift opening. The skier parked next to me also quit at 11:00, as did our neighbor 2-cars down.

Hunter Mountain was once a family-owned resort whose owners skied the mountain and strived to consistently deliver an exceptional product. Now the resort is managed by corporate attorneys, risk managers, and remote employees who have likely never skied there. In all, very disappointing. I will try again on Tuesday which should be more representative of a typical weekday.
 
Last edited:

Jersey Skier

aka RatherPlayThanWork or Gary
Skier
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Posts
1,956
Location
Metuchen, NJ
Skied Friday 12/18 at Hunter Mountain (now owned by Vail Resorts) after the Wednesday-Thursday storm which deposited 24 inches. Here are some observations:

1. "Limited Capacity" is a misnomer. The parking lots were filled to the level of a peak weekend crowd.
2. Lift lines were unreasonably long. The wait for the main lift reached 30 minutes by 10:30 AM.
3. Vail Resorts is not allocating the resources to ensure an excellent product. For example, Hunter squandered an opportunity to make snow Thursday night, despite ideal temperatures and a 24-inch natural base to build upon. Making snow on top of the natural and grooming it out, such as on "The Cliff", would have ensured excellent conditions leading into the holiday period. Instead, The Cliff was skied off on Thursday and closed on Friday.
4. Employees ensure that corporate social distancing guidelines are followed while loading the base area lifts, but not at upper mountain lifts, whose loading were essentially a free-for-all.
5. There is noticeably less grooming than in previous years.
6. The D-Lift's chairs were not cleared of snow, making it unavailable on a busy day.
7. The resort seems understaffed; perhaps because of the shortage of foreign workers, or maybe just cost-cutting.

One of the exceptions to obtain an Epic Pass refund is an unfavorable "Guest Experience". My Guest Experience lasted only 2 hours before bailing, despite being on line before lift opening. The skier parked next to me also quit at 11:00, as did our neighbor 2-cars down.

Hunter Mountain was once a family-owned resort whose owners skied the mountain and strived to consistently deliver an exceptional product. Now the resort is managed by corporate attorneys, risk managers, and remote employees who have likely never skied there. In all, very disappointing. I will try again on Tuesday which should be more representative of a typical weekday.

I sure do miss the Slutskys. Long story, but Orville and his wife put me and my (now) wife up for the weekend and took us out to dinner after I proposed on the mountain.

Now I dread going back to pick up my Epic Pass and deal with this season.
 

Ogg

Skiing the powder
Skier
Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Posts
3,484
Location
Long Island, NY
This report and the comments on their FB page are not encouraging. If they don't step it up they may get all the NY areas shut down. :nono:
 

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
May 2, 2017
Posts
4,328
1. "Limited Capacity" is a misnomer. The parking lots were filled to the level of a peak weekend crowd.


2. Lift lines were unreasonably long. The wait for the main lift reached 30 minutes by 10:30 AM.
3. Vail Resorts is not allocating the resources to ensure an excellent product. For example, Hunter squandered an opportunity to make snow Thursday night, despite ideal temperatures and a 24-inch natural base to build upon. Making snow on top of the natural and grooming it out, such as on "The Cliff", would have ensured excellent conditions leading into the holiday period. Instead, The Cliff was skied off on Thursday and closed on Friday.
4. Employees ensure that corporate social distancing guidelines are followed while loading the base area lifts, but not at upper mountain lifts, whose loading were essentially a free-for-all.
5. There is noticeably less grooming than in previous years.
6. The D-Lift's chairs were not cleared of snow, making it unavailable on a busy day.
7. The resort seems understaffed; perhaps because of the shortage of foreign workers, or maybe just cost-cutting.

One of the exceptions to obtain an Epic Pass refund is an unfavorable "Guest Experience". My Guest Experience lasted only 2 hours before bailing, despite being on line before lift opening. The skier parked next to me also quit at 11:00, as did our neighbor 2-cars down.

Hunter Mountain was once a family-owned resort whose owners skied the mountain and strived to consistently deliver an exceptional product. Now the resort is managed by corporate attorneys, risk managers, and remote employees who have likely never skied there. In all, very disappointing. I will try again on Tuesday which should be more representative of a typical weekday.
[/QUOTE]
Skied Friday 12/18 at Hunter Mountain (now owned by Vail Resorts) after the Wednesday-Thursday storm which deposited 24 inches. Here are some observations:

1. "Limited Capacity" is a misnomer. The parking lots were filled to the level of a peak weekend crowd.
2. Lift lines were unreasonably long. The wait for the main lift reached 30 minutes by 10:30 AM.
3. Vail Resorts is not allocating the resources to ensure an excellent product. For example, Hunter squandered an opportunity to make snow Thursday night, despite ideal temperatures and a 24-inch natural base to build upon. Making snow on top of the natural and grooming it out, such as on "The Cliff", would have ensured excellent conditions leading into the holiday period. Instead, The Cliff was skied off on Thursday and closed on Friday.
4. Employees ensure that corporate social distancing guidelines are followed while loading the base area lifts, but not at upper mountain lifts, whose loading were essentially a free-for-all.
5. There is noticeably less grooming than in previous years.
6. The D-Lift's chairs were not cleared of snow, making it unavailable on a busy day.
7. The resort seems understaffed; perhaps because of the shortage of foreign workers, or maybe just cost-cutting.

One of the exceptions to obtain an Epic Pass refund is an unfavorable "Guest Experience". My Guest Experience lasted only 2 hours before bailing, despite being on line before lift opening. The skier parked next to me also quit at 11:00, as did our neighbor 2-cars down.

Hunter Mountain was once a family-owned resort whose owners skied the mountain and strived to consistently deliver an exceptional product. Now the resort is managed by corporate attorneys, risk managers, and remote employees who have likely never skied there. In all, very disappointing. I will try again on Tuesday which should be more representative of a typical weekday.

How many less people do you think should be allowed each day - 1/2 the volume you saw?

Sounds like it was lucky for the cliff to be open at all. Unfortunately many places need to focus on beginner and connecting terrain to prepare for the holidays.

Even random compliance checks on the peripheral lifts would be good.

The general trend is to less grooming i think more due to changing skier preferences.

I felt the same way on a busy day when there was no urgency to get all the lifts going after a rime/ wind hold.

There is some cost cutting. It is inevitable this year but in general in the US it seems many big companies are taking advantage of it a la "call times are longer due to heavy volume"
 

no edge

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
May 17, 2017
Posts
1,300
It's a crappy year for snow. So conditions are not up to par. Is a 30 min lift line really a problem under Covid rules (at Hunter)? We were at Jiminy and complaining about no snow making happening. Temps and conditions were perfect to blow snow. As a skier I have learned to not get frustrated over decisions like this. Grooming... too many bumps, powder groomed on a powder day and closed trails. That's what management does. They make these decisions. Trying to run a mountain right now is not easy. That's not to say I wouldn't complain if I felt the need.
 

Ogg

Skiing the powder
Skier
Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Posts
3,484
Location
Long Island, NY
^ Crappy snow, limited other leisure activities available, pent up demand from the shortened previous season and FOMO are all driving an early season rush, IMO. Add in VT being effectively closed for most people and you're going to get some crowds. The weather we're going to get over the next couple of days is going to make things far worse for Christmas week. I'm planning on starting my season around mid January, if we get more snow. My minimum to bother making the trip is 50% open and nobody in NY is close yet.
 

Roundturns

Getting off the lift
Skier
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Posts
395
I sure do miss the Slutskys. Long story, but Orville and his wife put me and my (now) wife up for the weekend and took us out to dinner after I proposed on the mountain.

Now I dread going back to pick up my Epic Pass and deal with this season.
Great story. Owners that we’re motivated to make the skiing as good as it can be. VA by contrast is not run for the skiers. Operation expenditures are made on “ numbers”
The majority of the skiers aren’t going to ski that slope so why blow snow on it For the minority.
Bottom line decision making.
 

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