Reported in for turns at Wildcat promptly at 9:00 A.M. With an evening rain storm the night before after several warm days in a row, I wondered just how much snow would actually remain. Approaching Wildcat on Route 16 in Pinkham Notch, things looked rather grim. I hesitantly bought my $52.00 lift ticket believing that I would be lucky to get my monies worth. Fifty-two dollars worth of turns later, I departed Wildcat with a smile on my face.
Every time I ski Wildcat, without fail, the first time up the Wildcat Express is always an amazing trip. “Wow!” that thing flies. Hands down the fastest High Speed Quad in New England and after more than a dozen ski days riding it I can still be surprised by that initial rush of speed.
The weather was consistent throughout the day with a cloud ceiling around 3500 vertical feet. Above that elevation, visibility was limited to about fifty feet (about the length of one chair in front of you on the Quad) or less in thick foggy conditions. I got one good look into Tuckerman Ravine and saw a huge cravass from a recent wet slide. Clouds also parted for a head shot of the summit of Big George, spectacular.
Wildcat groomed extensively the previously evening which I believe was not a good idea given the warm weather and limited base depth. Turns on the groomers in the morning were not pleasurable. Things would soften up with skier traffic later in the afternoon. Bare ground and rock were exposed on several slopes. Surprisingly, the groomers had much more exposed thin cover sections than the non-groomed trails! One might suspect over grooming during warm weather to be the cause of this bizarre phenomenon!
Here is the run down on the trails: Upper Wildcat sucked due to the grooming. I could easily overlook the thin spots but the snow quality was suspect and not enjoyable. Bump lines on Upper Wildcat were tolerable, but not what I wanted. Upper Catapult was total crap with bad snow conditions and so were Middle Catapult, Middle Wildcat, and Lower Wildcat–all groomed. A pattern emerges! Essentially, the entire skier’s left side of the mountain was bunk and not worth skiing.
Bring on the Center of the Mountain! The liftlines (of both the existing and defunct lifts) are always where the getting is good at Wildcat and today was no exception. The former Gondola line was fantastic! Two-thirds of the line was open and not groomed. Small bumps with no particular pattern for the most part were the rule. Slight thin cover near the top, but I like dealing with some rocks and grass!
Under the Quad, Top Cat was 50% open with some sweet bumps paralleling Upper Lynx (which was crap). Further down the Quad Lift Line, Panther was 80% open with awesome soft, small bumps for the taking! Took this line quite a few times, showing off some nimble foot work for those ascending the mountain. This bump line (especially in the summer) is an awesome place to learn to ski bumps. Was able to take Catacomb Glade to get to Panther, but there wasn’t much left in there.
Lynx top to bottom was variable with some okay spots and some blah spots. I expect more from this trail but it had been groomed into submission and was showing occasional thin spots with sketchy snow occasionally (mostly upper mountain). Lynx was best utilized as an access to my run of the day: Catenary!
Catenary was bumped up good and proper, with exception of the first pitch which was a doosey (but easily avoidable). The faint of heart accessed Catenary via Cougar, whereas the courageous took the plunge from the start of Catenary proper via thin cover heaven! Fear not the grass and rock!
From below Cougar, Catenary begins its moderately pitched descent through near perfect small bump lines on soft edgable snow. I took it three times and loved every one of them. The old Riblet Towers are definitely missed; but even without the historical charm, this trail kicked major kitty.
Dumping out onto Lower Catenary, I reflected upon my decision to start learning the bumps four years ago on that very trail. I remembered skiing down Lower Lynx and traversing over to the fairly steep bumped pitch of Lower Catenary knowing I could not ski a bump to save my life. I hated the fact that I could not do it! So I watched someone else ski a line through the bumps effortlessly, and I copied her. Four years later, I consider myself an all mountain skier capable of skiing (and skiing well!) any open trail at any ski area in New England (and many that are not open/actual trails).
Later, I stood at the top of the chute about to go off piste. On that same ski day as mentioned above, I got some idiotic impulse to hack/sideslip my way through this tight line through the trees. Before I effortlessly and gleefully tore it up today, I paused and reflected just how far I have come in just four years. Amazing.
You know what else is amazing? Standing and reflecting on both of these runs, I realized today was my last day of the 2004 Ski Season, which is ending three weeks earlier than last year! Thanks for nothing Old Man Winter! Despite the lack of snow and general poor conditions experienced throughout most of the season, I laid claim to four epic powder days and many many epic runs. Last year I could not even ski powder, now I can not seem to get enough. Included in those epic powder days was perhaps the best ski day of my life skiing Mittersill on boot to knee deep fresh untracked all day. I am happy to say that despite the cold weather, general lack of snow storms, poor base depth, and short season… I had myself one epic winter on skis.
