Mid-Atlantic Hunter vs Windham for Family

[Max]

Hi, looking for some experience from families who have been or may be in a similar situation..

We live in nyc now and are looking to get our young kids (now 5 and 2) skiing. This year we ended up with a part of seasonal rental at Windham and ~25 ski days. Our 5yo really improved, can ski a lot of the hill, 2yo has come along also, so we are really excited about next year.

Looking forward, though, Windham is ~2x more expensive than Hunter across the board. Google sheet here with the the numbers (before and after 7yo), but Windham is literally 2x for season passes, lockers, and more than 2x for kids seasonal ski programs. Maybe just a part of the overall season cost (with housing/food/transport/etc), but a pretty big difference.

Is there a reason why Windham is 2x Hunter prices?

How's the experience with Hunter seasonal kids programs vs Windham?

Is it that Hunter is too crowded most of the weekends (we come out weekends/holidays when kids are out of school)?

Or is Hunter just a better deal?

Is there another mountain that we should be looking at instead of Hunter/Windham that is practical for commuting most of the weekends from nyc and has a particularly good kids program and terrain for them to advance (and for us to have some good days)?

 

[Ogg]

I have no personal experience with kids programs but Windham and Bellayre are both generally considered more family friendly than Hunter. Hunter, otoh, has much better terrain. The main 6 pack lift at Hunter gets crowded on weekends but I always wonder where all the people went when I'm on the hill.

 

[LKLA]

Hunter is a much “better” mountain, more so next season with the addition of 25% more terrain - all of it intermediate - and new high speed lift geared towards families.

You can buy an adult Peak Pass for $600 and change and a kids for $200-300 and ski all you want. And the pass lets you ski all you want at Mt Snow as well, which is also very accessible from NYC and has a superb ski school and tons of great terrain.

 

[SKI-3PO]

The Hunter beginner terrain is well separated from the rest of the mountain and makes for a great learning area.. From a terrain perspective, the main weakness of Hunter has always been in intermediate terrain. The new expansion next year should significantly improve that situation.

 

[Slide of Hans]

For that age group, id take a good look at Bellayre. It has a significant amount of easy trails below the mid lodge. It also has a new gondola for those cold days. I'm not sure of cost comparison but the season pass gives access to Gore, a great variety of trails there,if you wanted to try that out for a weekend.

 

[Dave Marshak]

Belleayre, Catamount, Butternut and Bousquet are all about the same driving time as Windham from NYC. They are all small (except Belleayre) but IMO all of them are better for young kids. When my kids were young, Bousquet had the best kids programs in the East, by far. A Belleayre pass gets you Gore and Whiteface, which are both better than the Catskills.

I haven't skied Hunter on a weekend in a long time, but maybe the expansion next year will help a little by moving intermediates off Cliff-Racers, or maybe not. Windham is getting a six pack, which ironically will deteriorate the the weekend crowd experience.

If cost is a concern, a lot of parents work as instructors at Windham and get different deals on their childrens' programs. That's not as awful as it sounds.

dm

 

[ella_g]

Id look seriously at Belleayre and Plattekill. Both are family friendly, fun mountains with affordable seasonal programs for kids & good instruction. More in line with Hunter pricing than Windham (Ive never understood why Windham is so expensive). Were in NYC too and have friends with kids in programs at most of the Southern VT mountains (and some N VT but that some seriously masochistic driving), Catmount, Mohawk, Butternut, Jiminy, Belleayre, and Plattekill. For us, southern VT is too far to drive with 3 little kids and too much of tease of not being in Northern VT. We skied the options in a 2 1/2 to 3 mile radius and liked the feel of Belleayre and Plattekill best, and thought that the programs at Belleayre would work better for us than the Plattekill programs. Can you go check a few places out this weekend before you commit for next season? Everything you look at will be cheaper than Windham! GL and report back on what you pick.