Original plans called for Skiing Wildcat on Thursday instead of Friday (Ladies Day, Yeah Baby!); one day after a significant snow fall blanketed northern locations of New Hampshire. However; due to high winds and the threat of lift holds, I opted to wait one day and venture up to The Cat on Friday instead. This was a wise decision as the Quad was on a Wind Hold on Thursday, and conditions were very poor. What I should have done, was skied Cannon or Bretton Woods Thursday where reports have been confirmed of up to a foot of powder in places on Thursday.
For the trip up, I awoke at or around 5AM and had the wheels turning at 5:30AM just before the first hint of sun light. Traveling up I-95 into NH, I could hardly contain my devilish grin as I passed people commuting to work while I was commuting to a day of skiing! The drive was uneventful and I arrived at Wildcat just after 8:00 A.M. Lifts opened at 9:00 A.M., so I relaxed and enjoyed a snack while awaiting vertical delight.
I was aboard the third chair of the Wildcat Express Quad. For the morning, a single cloud incessantly hovered over Mount Washington, as if Big George had some evil thoughts and was in a crappy mood. But the Mount Washington Valley would not allow it to take command as else where was sunny and blue skies. The first Quad up was a cold one though and windy too boot.
The Cat is one of the few mountains that arriving early at is not beneficial! After a cold and windy ride up the Quad, snow conditions looked equally fierce. The groomers hit 75% of the terrain, and in the early hours on the morning, the snow on these trails was hard and fast. My first run was down Lynx, top to bottom. Conditions would get a lot better later on; however, for my first runs, I encountered several different conditions: Groomed, Scraped, Small Powder Patches, Machine Made, Machine Made Frozen Over, and Death Cookies from the grooming efforts. As the condition board said at the bottom, conditions were Variable.
Next, I tracked Wildcat top to bottom and found more of the same. Followed by a run of Polecat with diversions onto Catnap and Stray Cat. Stray Cat hardly lived up to its Green Circle billings. It was marked Thin Conditions for good reasons. Some powder could be found on the upper parts, but ice and grass ruled its lower reaches. Still, this gave me hope. After three runs, I headed into the Base Lodge with the knowledge that good snow was out there and the sun was rising to warm up the hard snow.
In the base lodge, I found NH Vacation Land. Lots of families with little kids running around. Not as crowded as a typical Wildcat Weekend, but much more crowded than a Non-Vacation Wildcat Weekday. It always is amusing taking a break from skiing when most people are first arriving. After warming up and feeling the sun finally coming through the window, I ventured out for round two.
As I rode up the lift for my second session, I anticipated tracking down some of the more challenging terrain. However; that was not to be on this day (or probably this year for any one!), as even after a reported 5-8 inches of new snow on Wednesday, many trails were still not open. These included two thirds of Lift Lion, Top Cat, and the full trails of Black Cat and Starr Line. Meaning that approximately only one third of the two lift line trails were open, and these were the blue square lower third of the mountain. All this I knew from the trail report that morning. What I did not know was in addition, Tomcat Schuss, Feline, Upper Catenary, Cat-Cutoff, and Mountain Jag Glade were not open either! The Wildcat Trail Reporting system is sinking to new lows (more on this at the end of this report).
So, in absence of the challenging natural snow Black Diamonds, I opted for their Non-Groomed Blue Squares, which without grooming really qualify them as black diamonds. Trails on the Middle section of the mountain such as Lynx Connection, Hainsville Pass, Catenary, Cougar, Copy Cat, and Panther are all Blue Squares that had natural snow and no grooming. These trails were GREAT! Occasionally, one could find a couple inches of powder. The soft and natural snow felt great under the skis and small bumps were building up in most places. Under the Quad, Panther looked scraped. However, looks were deceiving and I had some great bump runs down Panther and on into The Chute.
By noontime, the sun and skier traffic had softened up most groomed trails to a very sweet soft packed powder. I explored the rest of the mountain at leisure finding great snow and conditions on all three Catapult trails, Bobcat, Alley Cat, and the beginnings of the always fun bumps on Lower Catenary. Solid conditions on all of the open terrain and the occasional Thin Cover areas always marked with Bamboo. Wildcat has weathered one of the worst skiing winters in New England beautifully, with only their most challenging natural snow terrain not opening.
After a lunch break, I re-tracked down some of my afternoon favorites including all parts of Lynx, Wildcat, Polecat, Panther, Lower Catenary, and The Chutes. Clouds rolled over around noon time but the temperatures were still pleasant throughout the later hours of the day. Some of the more advanced terrain did become scraped by days end (Lynx Lair, Upper Wildcat, Middle Cataput); however, solid grooming over night and warmer temperatures will fix that right up! Unfortunately, Spring Skiing looks like it will begin early this year. But if it does, The Cat is looking like it is in great condition for a fairly long Spring Skiing season. A great day at The Cat!
After Thoughts About Wildcat
Wildcat has slowly been changing since I first took turns there about 12 years ago. It seemed to all start with the removal of the old two passenger Gondola and the addition of the High Speed Detachable Quad. Since then, prices have grown at an unbelievable rate, to the point now that Wildcat has the second most expensive weekend ticket in New Hampshire (Bretton Woods is one dollar more at $53 while Loon is one dollar less at $51) and is close to most ASC Resorts in New England. Wildcat simply does not have the facilities or the amenities that the bigger resorts do to justify a $52 lift ticket. The value rating of Wildcat (cost vs. quality of the mountain) has gone down in my estimation as no mountain in my mind justifies $52 for a lift ticket alone.
Other changes have taken place; of which I will list a few briefly: the redesign of their web site, James Niehues re-designing their trail map, an advertising blitz, inaccurate trail condition reports, lying about number of open trails, scanable lift tickets, scanning lift tickets while in line vs. checking the date like they used to, a more corporate/resorty image, etc. So many things seem to have changed at The Cat and the old school classic New England feel of the mountain has been dramatically reduced.
Some aspects of this are great! We want to see Wildcat succeed and continue to provide us access to some of the best cut and maintained terrain in New England. However; it all comes at the cost of money and overall experience. When the Liftie was scanning lift tickets a la ASC style, I asked him if the scanning gun just checked the date on the ticket (like any one could do with a visual check) or did it keep statistics (who is skiing when, at which lifts, etc.). The answer I got shocked me. The liftie said he did not even have to scan everyone if the lift line was moving too fast for that. He was scanning as many as he could (so obviously, they are not doing this to ensure people without valid lift tickets get a ride up). He then said they download the information at the end of the day in the office, but he did not know what info. So the Management is using lift useage statistics… at Wildcat of all places? I found this to be very silly and very Corporate Resortish and I did not like seeing this at The Cat.
The Trail Reports also amazed me. They listed 44 open trails, and have been listing 44 open trails for many days before I went. I counted four trails that were listed as being open that were roped and these were mostly Black Diamond trails. If they were not open after the biggest snow in February, how could they have been open before then? How many days has Wildcat been inflating their trail numbers? And regarding their Trail Numbers, who knows how many Trails they actually have. Wildcat seems to randomly rename, recreate, and re-number their trails a little differently every year without ever really changing the trails at all. Their web site lists one number, the new James Niehues Trail Maps list another, and their older maps at the Base Lodge list different numbers. Even at the summit you can see older signs for trails that have been renamed (Pussy Cat was not P.C. enough, I guess) or renumbered. I was not disappointed in the skiing, far from it! The skiing was great! And I loved seeing Blue Squares transformed into challenging trails with no grooming and natural snow only. However, Trail Reporting figures are leaving a lot to be desired. I had similar troubles last year too and it seems to be getting worse.
Do not get me wrong in these After Thoughts… Wildcat has some of the best views in perhaps the whole United States, generally good snow conditions, fantastic grooming efforts, and great top to bottom skiing. These are things (for the most part) that the mountain can not control and has not changed. It is the things that the management of the mountain can control (and have changed) that have bothered me these last couple of visits.
Long I have considered The Cat to be my favorite mountain, ranked just over Cannon. However, this season I have seriously reconsidered that thought. Despite better top to bottom skiing, a faster ride to the summit, slightly better views, and a place in my heart as an early skiing favorite, I have recently come to enjoy Cannon more for various reasons including: Value (still the cheapest price for the best quality skiing around), the friendly taff, the other skiers, travel time (1 hour less for me with $2.50 less in tolls), not having to drive through North Conway (always an adventure!), and readily open expert terrain (the Front Face at Cannon is usually the first expert terrain to open in New Hampshire).
Again, don’t get me wrong. I love Wildcat and had a great day of skiing. It has always been one of my favorites and will always be. However, I am just pointing out and comparing The Cat of old versus the new image and management style that I have noted these past few years. Cannon has officially edged out Wildcat as my favorite ski area. That does not diminish the quality to be found at Wildcat, but rather emphasizes how good the quality is at Cannon.