Hunter skiing & weather 12/14

Hi All from the frozen tundra!
It was and is bitter cold with a high of 15 and a steady wind but the sun was out and so was I. Hunter once again looks like a white frozen wasteland and blowing snow across Main St. this am looked like a desert sandstorm. In spite of sanders and salters, the secondary roads & parking lots are white, frozen and there is plenty of black ice around. Schools had a two hour delayed opening.
With guns blasting and about 2" of natural snow overnight on top of frozen granular (remember we had almost 3" of rain on Sunday) the skiing was challenging. The mountain has more than recovered what was lost and is working to open more terrain by the weekend during another week that is excellent for snow-making. The mix of natural with machine made snow made it powdery but crusty and once chopped up, soft bumpy conditions on top of frozen hardpack with many ungroomed rollers / whale humps. I skied all open front side trails and they were pretty much consistent although the Cliff got scraped off early. There is a well marked big sink hole just above the entrance to Ike / Gunhill. Eside/Milky were under the guns and a bit tricky. I made the mistake of going down Huega which was like a dark wind tunnel and totally barren of fresh snow - very noisy. With good grooming tonight (there was little done last night but that turrned out to be a good thing) tomorrow should be a primo day if the sun is out but unfortunately that is not in the forecast. The 6-pack had a late start today as chairs had to be de-iced but ran fine thereafter. It is flurrying now as I write this at 3:30 pm.
Stay warm!
Jon

Detailed Local Forecast
Today: Blustery with snow showers. Cold. High 14F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 60%. 1 to 2 inches of snow expected.
Tonight: Snow showers. Low 9F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 60%. 1 to 2 inches of snow expected.
Tomorrow: Variably cloudy with snow showers. Cold. High 16F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 60%. 1 to 2 inches of snow expected.
Tomorrow night: Flurries and a few snow showers throughout the night. Low 12F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 30%.
Thursday: Snow showers at times. Highs in the low 20s and lows in the mid teens.
Friday: More sun than clouds. Highs in the upper 20s and lows in the mid teens.
Saturday: Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 20s and lows in the mid teens.