Originally, I had planned on skiing cannon today. Saturday night became a lush fest in Boston and my head didn’t hit the pillow until around 4:30 A.M. so I altered my plans accordingly. Wildcat offers the Sunday Afternoon Cruise for $20 which fit my budget and my hangover. A very respectable price for three and a half hours of skiing on two thousand vertical feet and New Hampshire’s fastest Quad.
As per usual when evaluating Wildcat as a skiing destination, don’t believe the hype! Wildcat has one of the worst snow condition reports in New England. Most of my Wildcat trip reports come prefaced with that disclaimer.
The snow was scraped off on almost every trail from top to bottom. The holiday weekend crowds had hit the mountain hard but the lack of recent fresh snow really did conditions in. Slim pickings even on the edges of the trails where the snow usually piles up (some trails had okay edges, but mostly I was playing dangerously close to the trees for too little snow).
Upper and Middle Catapult were down right dangerous, Upper and Middle Lynx were no picnic, and even Upper and Middle Polecat were chewed up in many locations (causing one skier to require a sled ride to the Ski Patrol shack).
There were essentially only three routes from the summit and everyone was skiing off the Quad. Bobcat Triple any one? Nope, two races in progress on the two trails with the best snow. I am an ex-racer and understand the need for scheduled race course use, but it was hard to watch the best snow on the mountain wasted on racers who prefer skiing boiler plate!
Many beginners and intermediates were wedge turning and slip sliding down Catapult and Lynx making for ugly conditions. I was almost clipped by some yahoo on Lynx Lair. Poor snow conditions combined with poor technique which made for many dangerous sections of trail, especially the more windy sections of narrow trails.
Not much natural snow was to be found but the trail under the Tomcat Triple was open sporting rather thin coverage! Despite the abundance of of rocks, occasional pockets of excellent snow could be found in short three turn bursts. Lots of rock hopping required for successful navigation but it was a good work out and one of the more enjoyable runs.
The Gondola towers and Catenary towers were removed during the off season and will be missed. A few remaining Gondola towers were lying in the trees next to the former lift line trail. The riblet towers from the Catenary area are completely gone.
One of the most crowded days I have experienced at The Cat but still no lift lines to speak of. Empty chairs were occasionally sent up the Quad due to the scanning of Lift Tickets. What is up with that? I certainly would have preferred long lift lines and excellent powdery conditions rather than the wait free cycle on the groomed hard pack.