Hunter

As the biggest ski resort within three hours of New York City, Hunter has been a go-to day trip mountain for years. On top of its location, this Catskills resort’s high-speed lifts and reasonably varied terrain make it an appealing choice. But Hunter falls victim to some of the biggest fallacies that a ski resort near a major metropolitan area can, and it handles them about as poorly as possible.

Hunter sits further south than every major East Coast destination ski resort, and as one might expect, natural snowfall totals are unexceptional. The resort does receive accumulation that sticks throughout the season, but not much of it. Depending on the weather, it can sometimes be a game of chance as to whether the next storm will bring rain or snow. 

However, Hunter tends to maintain a more reliable footprint than one might expect. The resort employs extensive snowmaking to open individual trails one-by-one throughout the early season, and by late December, the resort has typically opened most of its critical runs. That said, not every trail is equipped for snowmaking, and it is extremely rare for the resort to fully open 100% of its terrain.

One of the biggest side effects of being a ski resort near a city as large as New York is attracting lots of traffic—and Hunter is no stranger to this. The resort reliably generates enormous crowd levels on weekends and holidays through mid-February, with the mountain maintaining an amusement-park-level ambience just about everywhere during these times. Even the bunny hill lifts at Hunter East experience lines of over 20 minutes on a typical Saturday. Lines typically peak between 11am and 2pm and tend to be a bit better in the early morning and late afternoon—but it’s rarely possible to get more than a few runs in before the crowds really start to shape up.

Hunter does have some lift redundancies, but they do little to mitigate the crowds. The primary access to the main face of the mountain comes from the Kaatskill Flyer high-speed six-pack; this lift is fast, but its 45-60 minute lines severely outweigh the benefits of its higher speed. The Flyer’s primary helper lift is the nearby Broadway Quad, but this lift provides the only access to green terrain on the main mountain face and, given Hunter’s beginner-centric clientele, often sees nearly-as-bad lines. The best way to get up the main face of the mountain is likely to take the D Lift to the F Lift, but this route isn’t the most intuitive—and more importantly, by the time you’ve done this, you’ll probably still have waited in half-an-hour worth of lines for what’s likely a 5-10 minute run down at most. 

Hunter also tends to shoot itself in the foot by holding back on chairlift operations. Even on the busiest days, some lifts that could effectively pick up crowds tend to remain idle. Chairs such as the expert-oriented Zephyr Express and a handful of lifts at Hunter East are really there in name only, remaining closed more than 95% of the time.

But Hunter’s location and day-trip orientation does have some benefits. The resort is essentially empty on off-peak weekdays, making it feel like you have the mountain to yourself. On days like this, Hunter’s Kaatskill Flyer and Northern Express lifts offer quick laps of the resort’s terrain.

Speaking of terrain, Hunter’s footprint is actually a bit more distinct than one might expect. The mountain is still small and fairly plain overall, but trails do feel a bit more unique than just a cookie cutter variety, and some offer great vistas of the Catskills.

Hunter is an incredibly popular mountain for beginners, and the mountain stands out thanks to isolated beginner pods at Hunter East, in addition to the handful of green trails off the Broadway Quad. However, the rest of the mountain lacks green terrain entirely, and these beginner runs get especially slammed with inexperienced guests on weekends and holidays. The trail density isn’t as bad as the lift lines, but Hunter isn’t exactly a stress-free place to learn.

Hunter’s blues are similar in pitch to typical greens, but with one or two steeper sections. Hunter’s main face is home to some enjoyable intermediate-rated cruisers, and the expansion to Hunter North has added a couple of decent blue trails. However, there are only two blue trails accessible directly off the summit of Hunter—Belt Parkway and White Cloud—and they routinely get packed during peak times.

If you can handle the blues at any typical Vermont or Rockies mountain, you’ll do best by heading straight to Hunter’s blacks. The main face hosts a series of modestly steep single-black runs, and some of these occasionally remain ungroomed. The Hunter North expansion is also home to a couple of black trails.

Thanks to its double-blacks, Hunter does have a handful of fairly challenging trails. These runs hold nothing on the destinations further north, but they definitely outclass the difficulty of some other New York City-area mountains that are basically flat. Most of Hunter’s double-blacks live in the reasonably isolated Hunter West zone, and although the Zephyr Express that serves them is almost never open, they are indirectly lappable by the Northern and Kaatskill Flyer lifts. 

Getting There

Hunter stands out thanks to its proximity to New York. The mountain is approximately two and a half hours from the New York City metropolitan area, and even closer from some New Jersey and Westchester suburbs.

For those who don’t have a car (or don’t want to drive), bus services exist between the resort and popular New York hubs such Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Hoboken. Some sort of bus service runs to and from Manhattan on a daily cadence during the core season, and the other three areas see direct bus service at least three times a week.

Lodging

Despite primarily functioning as a day trip mountain, Hunter boasts several slopeside lodging options, including the fancy Kaatskill Mountain Club and some condo complexes. None of these accommodations are cheap, although the 2-bedroom condos can be reasonably economical for a large enough group. Cheaper inns and motels can be found within a short drive of the mountain.

Aprés-ski

As a day trip mountain, Hunter has very little going on once the sun goes down. That being said, there are a handful of bars and restaurants to explore after a day on the slopes, although true nightlife is scant.

Verdict

Hunter may be cheaper than the Vermont mountains and bigger than its nearby competitors—and on an off-peak weekday, it can be a solid option to get some day-trip turns in if conditions allow. But peak crowds have had a profound consequence on the resort’s overall mountain experience. Absolutely nobody will enjoy a day at Hunter on a typical weekend, where the overwhelming majority of the day will be spent in line, and the biggest obstacles on the mountain are other people on the trails. Other mountains in the area are much better choices due to the crowds alone; in fact, if you can stomach the extra few hours of driving, you’re likely to get more runs in at some Vermont mountains thanks to time saved in line.