Taking Care of Business at Hunter Mountain, NY
By Jim Kenney
My son Vince and I made a very rewarding visit to Hunter Mountain, NY in late March 2014. There is a lot more to Vince’s skiing than just accompanying me on the occasional trips I report about on DCSki. While I’m just a recreational goof-off, he’s been busy ski instructing at three different mid-Atlantic ski areas since 2010. Our visit to Hunter was all business for Vince as he tackled an intense two-day PSIA Level III skiing exam. I tagged along as his chauffeur and gofer, but took advantage of the two days to enjoy freeskiing at Hunter in good late spring conditions.
The Level III exam Vince signed up for at Hunter was an important step in his efforts to earn full certification at the highest levels of ski instruction in America. You wouldn’t believe the extent of on-snow skiing skills his group of instructors were required to perform for many hours both days before three very exacting examiners. It’s way beyond just being able to rip down the hill. Candidates must be able to meticulously break down every element of ski technique and demonstrate the turning, edging and timing needed to teach students at all skill levels from beginner to expert.
View of Hunter Mountain from the base area. Photo by Jim Kenney
While Vince kept his 23 year old nose to the grindstone I frolicked on the slopes like a geezer on spring break. This was my third visit to Hunter over the years and perhaps my most enjoyable. Hunter Mountain has a 1600’ vertical drop and approximately 60 trails and is one of New York City’s go-to destinations for day trippers and weekenders. It has the reputation of a somewhat frenetic, high volume ski area reliant upon one of the greatest snowmaking systems in the world. But it’s also a strikingly distinctive place to ski, especially if you get to experience the glacier-thick manmade snowpack we enjoyed on two quiet weekdays.
While Vince made an early check-in for the first day of his PSIA exam I grabbed first chair of the morning on the Kaatskill Flyer (1477’ vertical, 5400’ length). It was one of the few times I rode the chair with a full complement of six passengers in our two days at Hunter. I did my best to ski every trail on the mountain in wonderfully uncrowded conditions. Hunter is basically a giant rock pile that was built and managed for many years by Orville and Izzy Slutzky, a legendary pair of Ukrainian-American brothers with a background in earth moving and heavy construction. In the late 1950’s they chiseled the trail layout from red sandstone with blood, sweat, and dynamite. Many of the runs flow like cliff-side parkways and provide terrific views of the surrounding Catskill Mountains.
Since Vince was tied up with his exam I befriended Bob from New Jersey and we skied together for about 90 minutes in the morning. Bob was 75 years young and a good, strong skier who’d been making tracks at Hunter since 1962. He had some rowdy tales from yesteryear and expressed especially fond memories of cofounder Izzy Slutsky. While younger brother Orville (1917-2013) kept Hunter’s books, Izzy (1914-2006) was the hands-on operations manager. Over the years Izzy was frequently seen skiing the hill while checking on lifts, conditions, and all aspects of mountain facilities.
Friendly Bob on the Jimmie Heuga Express named after the late US Olympic Slalom Bronze Medalist and champion of adaptive skiing. Photo by Jim Kenney
Bob showed me the beautiful Catskill Mountain views from the intermediate Jimmie Heuga Express Trail. Then he led me down nice spring snow on a quiet combination of White Way and Way Out to the base of Hunter West on the “backside” of the trail layout. Clair’s Way, a black diamond trail in the Hunter West trail pod was fast and firm, but well served by the Zephyr Express quad chair (~1295’ vertical, 3800’ length). After Bob left for his New Jersey home I skied the B Chair (490’ vertical, 2650’ length) back on the front face of the mountain and had fun lapping a good mogul field near the top of it.
Making turns in Hunter West. Photo by Jim Kenney
On our second morning at Hunter Mountain Vince continued his exam while I resumed skiing all over the mountain including more runs in Hunter West. Once I rode up the Zephyr Express with a pair of fast moving Russians from NYC and we talked briefly about Vladimir Putin’s fast moving in the Crimea that was grabbing headlines at the time. Even on weekdays Hunter has a very cosmopolitan/international clientele, which I presume is based on its proximity to The Big Apple (~2 hours from Manhattan). Vince’s exam ended at noon and I reunited with him for lunch. Results of the exam wouldn’t be announced for a couple of hours and Vince was on pins and needles, but two of his examiners greeted him quite warmly while we were in Hunter’s ginormous cafeteria. I thought that was a good sign, but didn’t say anything at the time because the pass rate for first timers on the Level III skiing exam is low.
Healthy bumps on K27. Photo by Jim Kenney
Vince and I skied together after lunch for about an hour including runs on K27 and Crossover. They featured steep black diamond bumps that had softened nicely in the spring sunshine. He was really on his game and carved through them like they were low angle novice trails. In mid-afternoon Vince went inside the lodge to get his test results. When he met me on the huge deck outside the lodge and told me he passed the exam he was literally jumping for joy.
Vince Kenney working on Level III. Photo by Jim Kenney
Vince will be instructing at Liberty Mountain, PA this season. He’s hoping to gain the necessary experience to attempt the Level III Teaching Exam in February or March 2015. This is no shoo-in exam either. It’s another two day event and the last assessment he needs to get the coveted gold pin that marks him as a fully certified Level III Professional Ski Instructor of America.
Hunter website: http://www.huntermtn.com/
About Jim
Husband, father and civilian employee of the Department of Navy, Jim Kenney is a D.C. area native and has been skiing recreationally since 1967. Jim's ski reporting garnered the 2009 West Virginia Division of Tourism's Stars of the Industry Award for Best Web/Internet/E-Magazine Article.
When I worked on Long Island the business owner would take the whole crew to Huntahhh for a paid day of skiing every year. There was also a tour bus that drive down Jericho Turmpike starting at Riverhead and pickiing up folks at stops along the way there.
I must ski Hunter sometime but after driving that hard its hard to stop when VT is so close. Nice article and good luck to Vince on his quest for gold. I know he'll get it.
Great story jim, and congratulations to Vince, I know how hard that is.
I used to ski a lot at Hunter during the bump years. Skiing Bumps in the spring was my passion. It started with BK's Extrovert, then as late spring took that away I'd travel to Hunter with its cooler more northerly clime and it's mighty snowmaking capability insuring great bumps and a season that lasted at least a month longer than BK. K-27 and Crossover are more challenging than Extrovert and anything at Killington IMHO.
One day in late march some 30 years ago my daughter and I had had a great day playing in the bumps until lifts closed. We went to the big cafeteria with bar on the side for dinner and I had a beer, or maybe two. Meanwhile a front came in starting with rain. When we noticed that almost everyone had gone we headed for the car. The temperature had plummeted and snow was coming down hard. My car locks had frozen, the big parking lot was almost empty and we headed back to the lodge hoping hard that help could be found there. One old guy was in there shutting down the coffee urns. He said he'd be happy to solve our problem, filled a big pitcher with hot water and walked with us to the car where he poured the hot water slowly over the lock. Soon it opened to my vast relief. I offered a tip which he refused. I stuck out my hand saying I'm Denis. He said, I'm Izzy, one of the owners, have a safe trip home.
Great piece! Glad you shared it with the community.
Denis wrote:
My car locks had frozen, the big parking lot was almost empty and we headed back to the lodge hoping hard that help could be found there. One old guy was in there shutting down the coffee urns. He said he'd be happy to solve our problem, filled a big pitcher with hot water and walked with us to the car where he poured the hot water slowly over the lock. Soon it opened to my vast relief. I offered a tip which he refused. I stuck out my hand saying I'm Denis. He said, I'm Izzy, one of the owners, have a safe trip home.
That is pretty cool.
I put Extrovert and Hunter West in a pretty similar degree of difficulty, but the edge goes to Hunter being a longer, higher vert stretch of that steepness. It's been awhile since I skied Huntahhh so perhaps it is actually tougher than I recall since I was much younger and in much better shape last time I skied it. I've spent more quality time at BK fairly recently. Nice pitch as well, but not for as long as Hunter West stuff.
K-27 and Crossover are on the front side. They are shorter but more challenging than the west side runs IMO.
Thanks folks for the positive feedback in this thread. As you can tell I'm real proud of Vince, plus he holds down a day job as a software engineer.
I think I agree with Denis that K-27 on the frontside of Hunter is the steepest, bumpiest run there. But also agree with crgildart that the black diamonds in Hunter West are longer, if not quite as steep. There is a run back there called Annapurna to the skiers far left of the Zephyr Express Quad that has never been open when I've been there. It's long and continuously steep and fairly narrow, could be all natural snow only? Might cause me to reassess if I ever got a chance to ski it. There are a few lower gladed areas marked on the trail map including one that wasn't open paralleling K-27 that might be quite challenging. However, there are portions of the upper mtn, for example under the Kaatskill Flyer (see first photo in article), that are super rocky including 50'+ cliffs. I don't know how much the locals sneak off trail, but there is potential for a lot of beyond-double-diamond terrain in the woods in the event of a big natural snow storm.
Lastly, I'll always be sort of a Blue Knob homeboy and when Extrovert has some really big icy bumps with dirt troughs (all too typical) it might be as burly as any of the designated trails at Hunter :-)
Join the conversation by logging in.
Don't have an account? Create one here.
%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=1462713){kind=link}