Wildcat, nh: 01.18.04

riverc0il

riverc0il

New member
originally planned on hitting cannon today. saturday night became a lush fest in boston and my head didn't hit the pillow until around 4:30am. so i altered my plans accordingly and hit up wildcat for the sunday afternoon cruise for $20. a very respectible price for 3.5 hours of skiing on 2000+ vert feet and NH's fastest quad (honest to goodness, fastest lift i've ever been on and it still surprises me). <BR> <BR>so let me begin by saving, don't believe the hype! wildcat has one of the WORST snow condition reports in new england in my opinion. i think i probably preface every wildcat report with that disclaimer. any ways, here is the no bull: <BR> <BR>granted it's a holiday weekend and i didn't get there until noon time, but the snow was scraped on almost every trail top to bottom. it was tough pickings even on the edges of the trails where the snow usually piles up (some trails had okay sides, but mostly i was playing dangerously close to the trees for too little snow). <BR> <BR>upper and middle catapult were dangerous, upper and middle lynx were no picnic, and even upper and middle polecat was chewed in lots of places (causing one skier to go down and require a sled). <BR> <BR>what happened was there were only three ways down from the summit, and everyone was skiing the HSQ. bobcat triple any one? oh wait, two races going on the two trails with the best snow (the squares off this lift). GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. okay, i'm an ex-racer and all...... but DAMN IT! <BR> <BR>any ways, point being that lots of beginners and intermediates doing wedge turns and side slips were funneling down catapult and lynx and it got ugly. i almost got clipped by some yahoo. hello up hill skier!!! don't point your skis at me and expect me to move, you gotta be in control and be careful when overtaking a down hill skier, espeically at a junction. <BR> <BR>okay, not much natural snow... but the trail under the tomcat triple (tomcat maybe?) was open and VERY thin! lots of rocks, but occasional pockets of three turns in excellent snow. lots of rock hopping though, but a good work out! i'll give that my run of the day. <BR> <BR>and BOOOOOOOOOO on management for removing the gondi towers and the old riblet towers. they will be missed. gondi towers were lying in the trees next to the old lift line trail. the old riblet towers from the defunct lift around the catanary area are completely gone. <BR> <BR>no lift lines to speak of. but because they were scanning peoples tickets (grrrrrrrr......) on many occasions, empty lifts would be sent up the mountain. what's up with that? most crowded i've ever seen the cat, but still no lift lines. i'd rather have lift lines and better snow conditions though.
 
thanks for effort on the late night report river... glad i checked in so late as i'm heading up at noon tomorrow... we had notions of cat this coming week on wed instead of k... they will stay notions now...u r correct about the hsq at cat... the fastest i've ever been on, hands down...that thing motors!!!! cat is probably my favorite mountian when everything is pretty much perfect... but when it's not, it can be a nightmare... i can't figure that place out in terms of weather/ snow... i always think they will have better snow than they seem to have most of the time... ( ALWAYS HOPED THEY COULD BE THE EAST OF I93 LATE SEASON HILL TOO WITH CANNON IN THE MIDDLE THEN K ON THE WEST!!! )and they seem to have a marginal snow making system bad/limited water access like loon? ( anyone know about that ) ... wind must be a big factor i guess. i also hear u about the race scene.. i have not said anything cause i hammer the fasties all the time but the past 2 weeks at loon have been very irritating in the amount of trails they are shutting down for racing... loon is cute about it.. they string a big rope across a trail head and put up big orange sign that says " race in progress", but it is technically not closed to public, but 99% stay out... being at less than 50% the last few weeks, that does not seem reasonable...cat sounds like it needs about 5 feet to be right... oh yeah, u r also right about their reports... they bite it big time
 
Great report. Pretty typically for Wildcat. Cannon was fantastic on Saturday. But it didn't seem like it was going to hold up well for the rest of the weekend.
 
Here is the quote from the Wildcat ski report. <BR> <BR>"Good Morning! This weekend we'll be skiing & riding on some of the best conditions of the season so far! We have received about a foot of natural snow over the past 10 days, the snowguns have been BLASTING away, and the skiing & ridng conditions are excellent!" <BR> <BR>Its a load of crap huh
 
i think that crock of **** has been on their web site since they opened for the season. a foot of snow in 10 days is nothing to brag about! that's less than an inch a day! trace amounts, what ev. <BR> <BR>there were no snow guns blowing on sunday, but they had guns lined up on catanary. i think it was roped? oops. it was great snow if you didn't mind dodging the rocks. <BR> <BR>if that was the best conditions of the season so far... i feel bad for their season pass holders. i've skied over a foot of fresh twice this season. i guess wildcat didn't get those dumps, heh.
 
ya my brother was there earlier when it was about -40 and he said there was more ice there than the fleet center. that is a horrendous report.
 
"if that was the best conditions of the season so far... i feel bad for their season pass holders. i've skied over a foot of fresh twice this season. i guess wildcat didn't get those dumps, heh." <BR> <BR>Not sure WHERE they get that from... They got somewhere between 50-60" with that first storm of the season (what day was it now? Dec 7th?). Then they got a decent amount the next storm as well. <BR> <BR>However, then they got all that ra#n...
 
This may be simpleminded as I've never skied there, but Wildcat does face west, and from what I see of trail maps a lot of New England ski areas face east or northeast to be leeward of high winds. And given the location opposite Tucks I suspect there is quite a bit of wind stripping. <BR> <BR>Wildcat didn't have historical snow data when I was calling eastern ski areas in 1995, but I get the impression average snowfall is 200+, more like Vermont than other NH lift service. But I suspect it takes a big year to overcome the wind stripping.
 
Actually, not to nitpick but it's even worse -- it faces almost due northwest. See <A HREF="http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4903081&e=321394&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25" TARGET="_blank">here</A>, so Tony's point is well-taken.
 
they got legit 1' of snow twice in december with no blowing. they were bragging about it both times. their web site report is unfounded as they have had foot deep snow days that opened up 70% of the mountain in december. wildcat does have feroucious winds, probably some of the worst in new england... but those first two dumps stuck.
 
In the spirit of "no-bull", I've gotta add that A-non exagerates when he says Cannon was "fantastic" on Saturday.
 
Fair enough. I guess it's all relative to me. Let me restate: considering the recent frigid temperatures, lack of snowfall, December rains, and conditions at other areas.....Cannon was fantastic on Saturday. Where I expected sheets of ice, I found well groomed hardpack. Where I expected well groomed hardpack, I found decent granular snow. Where I expected pockets of windblown crust, I found pockets of fairly light powder. <BR> <BR>In the spirit of "no-bull": Eastern mountains are in really tough shape right now. Considering the great start in early December, this is one of the worst Januarys I can remember. Do not expect off-trail conditions to be well covered or soft. Snowmaking and grooming unfortunately rule the day. All we can do is pray for snow. <BR> <BR>I apologize if my brief Cannon statement was "Bull". I'll try to be more objective (even if I have a fantastic day).
 
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