Personal History of Hunter Mountain
Photo Credit Hunter Mountain
Every time I drive Route 23A to Hunter Mountain, I am reminded of a lifetime connection to the area. I learned to ski here, and so did my kids, but I started visiting Tannersville long before the ski mountain opened in January, 1960.
My family spent two weeks each August at the Rose Garden Hotel when I was little. It was owned by childhood friends of my father from Frankfurt. It was always a joyful annual reunion – for those like my father who had escaped to America before WWII, for those with tattooed numbers on their arms who had survived the concentration camps, and for the American-born generation like me defying the goals of the “Final Solution”.
In addition to the rambling hotel building, there was a separate smaller one we all called The Casino. It was a multi-use facility for the grown-ups gambling for pennies on Canasta, Mah Johng or poker, rainy day activities for us kids, and dances and staff performances that were never the quality of “Dirty Dancing” for everybody.
It was in the swimming pool in the front of the hotel, adjoining the road, that a son of one of my father’s friends taught me to swim. I remember wishing he was the big brother I never had. Float. Breathe. Swing your arms like a windmill and kick your legs like you are running. And I did not drown.
In high school, I discovered skiing when a friend – the only person my age who owned a car – invited a bunch of us to go skiing at newly-opened Hunter. It was a day-trip, because we could afford gas and equipment rentals, but not a hotel.
At the time, I was a pretty accomplished ice skater – good enough to be an after-school and weekend instructor at the Wollman Rink in Central Park. But one day on skis told me I would rather go downhill than around in circles.
What was then called Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl was founded by Broadway theater people who had skied in Europe on tour and wanted somewhere to ski close to home. But they knew nothing about operating a ski hill and soon sold out to a local company, the Slutzky Brothers Construction Company, which had bulldozed some trails. Brothers Orville and Isadore (Izzy) Slutzky, also were the children of immigrants.
For a time, Hunter was known for its snowmaking – it was a pioneer in the then-new technology – and for its nightlife. Most of the world’s snowmakers in the 60s and 70s learned from their son/nephew David Slutzky, who pretty much perfected the technique. I don’t think he’s ever gotten full credit for that. The snowmaking – not the party scene.
Hunter also became popular with restaurant chefs who came to the USA when Julia Childs put French cooking on the American map, and who missed skiing their native Alps. They would ski Hunter on Mondays, when their restaurants were closed, and created their own ski club. The US Chefs Ski Club was founded by Andre Soltner, the fabled owner of Lutece, NYC’s top restaurant at the time, and apres ski featured fine French wines, not beer. The club still exists, including charity fund-raising races and other events. Some members are 40-year-plus friends.
Another club with deep roots at Hunter, the 70+ Ski Club, will hold their 47th annual race and fun day Wednesday March 6.
Sometime after I grew up and had kids, the Rose Garden Hotel became the Villa Vosilla. By then, I had traded broadcast news to be a travel writer and ski writer, which meant access to Hunter’s owners for interviews. This is when I told Orville Slutzky about my Rose Garden Hotel history, including learning to swim in the pool there.
“We built it,” he said simply, in his cluttered office on the second floor overlooking the lodge’s cafeteria.
The beloved vacation retreat of my childhood has changed names and ownership once again. Now, it is the upscale Melour Resort. A thick row of greenery now blocks the view from the road of the swimming pool and the hotel behind it built by the Slutzky Brothers Construction Company.
Hunter also has changed ownership. After Orville and Izzy passed away, the second-generation sold out to the Peak Resorts group, which owned several resorts in the Northeast. A few years later, Peaks sold to Vail Resorts, which operates it today, putting Hunter on the Epic Pass.
I’ve been known also to get wistful looking at the windows where Orville’s office used to be. They are covered over now and I have no idea what is there. Maybe storage, which is pretty much what his wonderfully messy desk and shelves were.
While I have skied uncounted times at the resort the Slutzkys built and put on the world ski map, I never stayed again at that hotel of my childhood. Maybe one day soon.
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Evelyn,
Thanks for sharing that wonderful story. We are headed to Hunter next Wednesday with the family. It has been two years since we have skied, but I can’t think of a better place to get back on the slopes. Good Shabbos!
Thank You Evelyn a wonderful review of the Hunter’s History. I family and friends have skied Hunter since 1968 let’s say a coming of age. My wife of 45 years spent our first weekend together in March 76 when Hunter Hosted the end of season world Cup dual Slalom we partied danced and skied with the best. Hunter is great expert skiing close to the Big Apple. I remember the Slutsky’s very well and the care they gave their Mountain.
Regards Constantine
I was thrilled to see your reference the The Rose Garden Hotel. My family visited the hotel in the early fifties. We came down from Albany and met my grandparents who traveled from NYC. My mother and her family escaped from Vienna in 1938..my dad from Hungary 1940. I was very young but I still remember how the children’s dining room smelled! Chicken soup? As for Hunter and skiing…I have skied for over sixty years including a stint as an instructor at Jiminy Peak. Alas, Hunter is off my list to visit. It is a prime example of skiing gone corporate…I miss the Slutzkys. Thanks for the info…I had no idea the old hotel in Tannersville still existed in another iteration.
I remember cutting school and getting on the “hooky players special” bus which left from in front of the UN on First ave and going to Hunter for a day trip. I was the youngest person by far on the bus. This was in,I think ,1961. The son of refugees myself , I learned to ski at Bellaire (sp?) but also spent time in Tannersville and Pine Hill surrounded by folks speaking every language but English.
we had a ski club from fairleigh dickinson university rutherford that skiied in the catskill area including hunter sometimes. wonderful memories of good snow and nice hills to have fun
Thank you Evelyn for marvelous memories of Hunter and its origins. I too was there the year it opened: a twelve year old in love with skiing. My recall is the theater crowd that built the area did not sell Hunter to the Slutzky’s, they defaulted on the loan they gave to the theater crowd to build the area and Hunter became Slutzky property. I think the Slutsky’s may have owned a bank. The Slutzky’s did a great job operating Hunter. I was amazed at the opening of Hunter West which when it first opened was mostly devoid of ski traffic. I loved it! I haven’t skied Hunter since the 1970’s and hear it is now an incredibly overcrowded experience in roller derby skiing. Still, the mountain is real – it’s not a hill. And so close to The Big Apple!
Thank you for sharing your memories. What a wonderful story!
I too have wonderful memories of Hunter. I started skiing there in the early 60’s as a 14 year old taking bus trips out of Brooklyn with Olympic Ski Tours on Cortelue Road and later with Peak/Alta ski tours out of Kings Highway. The deal was if you get a group together the organizer got a free ride. All was provided by the tour company: skiis, boots, lift tickets and instruction by the operator’s own insructors. If I remember correctly, early lift tickets were in the form of a paper ticket like a raffel ticket and cost twenty five cents for a ride. I eventuallly became a member of the ski school allowing me to trade for a lift ticket and a bed if it was a multy day trip.
Even then Hunter was crowded and its proximity to the NYC population kept it that way. It was an early proponant of snow making which added to its popularity and attracted early ski celebrities. I have not been back there for about 30 years.
Ken Roth
I never skied there but Chuck Slutsky lived in the same house/dorm as I did in New Hampshire.
That’s not the same Slutzky family.
Nice piece, Evelyn – brought back, for me, good memories. I started skiing at the age of 4 years in 1952, at Belleayre (Hunter didn’t exist yet) and we stayed in Fleischmens at a Hotel called, i believe, Villa Meinshtein; bak then Fleischmeins was populated with “landsmen” famalies like mine who were German-Jewish refugees. In the summer my family use to stay in the Southern Catskills in Hotels – like Hilltop Lodge and The Glory Hotel (protrayed, quite accuratly in movies like Dirty Dancing and Sweet Loraine) I skied Belleayre, Hunter and Windham 2 weeks ago and i will tell all that all 3 areas while having almost no natural snow had really decent skiing – 100% on man made snow with the surface of most runs really well groomed
Evelyn,
Even though I just found this posting about your personal history of Hunter Mountain while I was searching for their brisket recipe (I loved their cut to order brisket sandwich for lunch after skiing), it brought back great memories we had there.
I belonged to Twin Hickory Ski Club back then and one of the places the club rented from was Villa Vosilla where the club took over the hotel annex for ski season for many years. We still remember the fire that took the main building.
Since I was involved organizing ski events for both Twin Hickory (Nutley, NJ), I was also involved with the NJ Ski Council doing the same and worked with both Orville and Izzy, as well as Dave Chaffee in bringing our NJSC President’s Cup race to Hunter. My friends Stan Sharaga and Karen Wright (of the Hunter Ski Patrol) and former NJSC Board Members were also really the one in bringing the event to Hunter. NJSC had so many club members skiing at Hunter back then and still continue to ski there now.
Thanks for bringing back the great memories, I truly appreciate your stories.
Evelyn,
I really your recall of the things you did at Hunter Mountain and the surrounding area. I worked as a junior ski instructor for the Karl Plattner ski school in the mid-1970’s. I mostly corralled first time skiers in making sure their boots were still attached to their plate bindings but I also experienced many pro ski races on Racer’s Edge as a gatekeeper and watching the best pro skiers in the world like Hank Kashiwa and other famous racers pro ski racers of that era. Hunter was definitely a party place during that time.
My family owned a big white house on Main Street Hunter, built 1920. Grandpa was Louis White. My Dad Alexander White went to school with Izzy. We were always there in the summer as kids from the 50’s on. Grandpa died at 93 and left the house to my Dad. When my Dad died it went to my Mom . She passed at 82 and the house was then sold. I grew up watching that town bloom into what it is today. I now live in NC so I have not been back up there in a very long time but my memories will stay with me forever. I had the pleasure of meeting Izzy’s entire family. They were the reason Hunter became such a wonderful place.