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Finally made it to Hunter Mountain near the end of their season, after buying discount tickets pre-season. It had snowed a couple days prior, but the day we went was sunny and WARM, 10 degrees or so. Early morning was wet packed powder at the top, becoming shave ice at the bottom, but by lunch-time it was varying grades of shave ice from top to bottom. Solid spring skiing. Good fun.

 

The parking lots were pretty full, and we got sent to one of the upper lots (P8), which turned out to have convenient slope-side access:

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View from top:

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Base area. Lower slope itself seemed kind of crowded, though lift lines were never significant until the last hour, when only one lift was left running -- and even then, only a couple of minutes. Kicker and half-pipe visible to right hand side:

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View from midpoint:

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Riding Hunter Quad:

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Hunter Mountain mascot, "Han-tama":

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View of mountains from trail:

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View from top. Edelweiss ski area just visible to far left:

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Riding the top double lift:

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View from top:

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Compared to Marunuma, well, I guess it is similar in size, but completely different in feel. Marunuma is all hidden nooks and crannies, very three-dimensional. Hunter is, to, er, coin a phrase, rather flat -- all the trails seem kind of the same, with some parts being merely a bit steeper than others. No moguls, even, except for one trail (FDR) with an artificial Mogul Bahn. On the positive side, Hunter seems to be a very good place for beginners, intermediates, and families, and they do seem to have made pretty good use of the terrain that they have. The layout is well thought out, with no major inconveniences. Their halfpipes are lots of fun -- we spent a very enjoyable last hour mucking about in one (and seem to have inspired some other skiers to try it out, too -- only saw boarders hitting it before we started skiing into it, but then some kids on skis joined us).

 

The kid ended the day with a big smiley face and declarations of desire to return, and that is what matters the most in the end.

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Yeah... I'd have to say so.

 

Don't want to bad-mouth Hunter -- we did have a really nice day there, after all -- but to be honest, not sure I'd bother going back there, personally, when I can get to several of the Fukushima resorts in the same amount of time.

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