Summer fun at Northeast ski resorts

• Where: Hunter Mountain (7740 Main St. (Route 23A), Hunter, New York)
  What you’ll find: For nearly four years, New York Zipline Adventures has been operating the longest (4.6 total miles) and highest (over 600 feet) zip line tour in North America at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. The marquee Skyrider tour includes equipment, training and five separate zips ($119 a person weekdays, $129 weekends). More down-to-earth thrill-seekers can take the Mid-Mountain Tour, which features six zips (the highest “only” 60 feet), four rope bridges and a rappel course. ($89 a person anytime). Both tours last three hours.
  And if you’re only interested in an aerial adventure park, consider either: — Catamount (Hillsdale, New York; 518-325-3200, catamounttrees.com). Twelve separate, self-guided courses with 170 elements, including 50 zip lines. ($51 ages 12 and older, $46 ages 10-11, and $39 ages 7-9) (tickets good for three hours)
  — Magic Mountain (Londonderry, Vermont; 802-659-0854, timberquestparks.com). Two self-guided TimberQuest challenge courses and 20 zip lines. ($44 ages 13 and older, $39 ages 12 and younger) More info: 518-263-4388, ziplinenewyork.com” data-id=”18343832″ data-link=”https://amnewyork.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/18976_image.jpg” class=”wp-image-1.8343832″/>

In retrospect, you have to wonder what took them so long. For decades, all that ski resorts were good for in the summer were scenic chairlift rides. These days, however, almost all good-size ski resorts in the Northeast — including those closest to New York — offer a summerlong menu of downwardly mobile activities, especially in the adventure sports category.

Ski resort-based adventure sports take various forms. The greatest crowd-pleasers tend to be the adventure parks — specialized amusement parks featuring alpine slides (brake-equipped wheeled luges that run down a banked concrete trough), mountain coasters (wheeled sleds on twisting, above-ground tracks), water slides (all shapes and sizes), climbing walls and Euro bungee trampolines, in which harnessed-in riders twist and flip as they jump. Patrons, generally teens and younger children, pay a single, all-inclusive entrance fee and then ride, slide, climb and bounce to their heart’s content.

Considerably narrower in scope but generating much higher adrenaline rushes are zip line (or canopy) tours in which securely harnessed-in and guide-led daredevils fly through the trees (and over valleys) with the greatest of ease, suspended from wire cables. Not surprisingly, the trend in zip line tours, which last from two to three hours and cost upward of $90, has been toward increasingly longer and higher zips.

This has left an opening for what are now generally known as aerial adventure parks in which — after a little basic training — safety-line-equipped youngsters are turned loose on a series of tree-based courses of short zips, rope and cable bridges, ladders, and cargo nets, each having different degrees of difficulty. Tickets are typically valid for two to three hours.

Now that you know what’s up in the world of ski-resort-based adventure sports, you can start planning your trip. The options below are all within 150 miles of New York City and potentially doable in a day.

Age, height, and in the case of zip line tours and aerial adventure parks, weight restrictions (both minimum and maximum) typically apply. They also can vary from ride to ride and among activities, so be sure to check the requirements on all proposed activities before you go.