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Wildcat Mountain 2016-2017 season thread

yeggous

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Traffic backup getting into the lot. Backed up 16 all the way to the AMC Center. Unreal.


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snoseek

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Honestly if I didn't have work I would probably just buy a ticket to black today
 

yeggous

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So... today happened. I almost don't know where to start. Disappointment is an understatement.

I was like a small child this morning. I woke up at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep because I was so stoked with anticipation. Around 7am the snow reports came online and everything around the Mt Washington Valley was reporting amazing snow totals. 18" at Attitash and Cranmore and 26" at Wildcat. We scored!

I arrive at Wildcat at 7:45 and the lot was already mostly full. By the time I went to the lift at 8:15 the line from the quad as already back to the bridge. By the time I got on the chair at 8:37, the line was back to the Snowcat triple. I have -never- seen that kind of line at Wildcat. EVER.

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The first revealed the horrifying truth. The snow as worse that yesterday. The wind blew everything into the woods or off the mountain. The natural trails were completely bare. Riding up the lift first thing you could already see sheets of ice on Upper Lynx and that big ugly rock was already sticking out. Going down Upper Wildcat there was about a 10 foot wide strip of fresh snow and the rest wasn't skiable. Bobcat was icy frozen granular with slabby wind packed snow in places. After the first run it was clear we had be duped and it was time to leave ASAP. All the regulars packed up and got out of there. Despite this a huge line awaited the ticket counter.

When we left at 9:15 they were parking people in C lot, and the line of cars waiting to get in stretched back all the way up Route 16 to the AMC Center in Pinkham Notch. Unreal. There were a lot of NY and CT plates, and you rarely see them up here. There was a state cop trying to maintain order dropping flares down the middle of the road so people didn't try to pass the traffic jam. To make matters worse, apparently the power went out around 10am. The bar was open but cash only.

We arrived at Attitash around 9:45 and got one the last spots in the Bear Peak lot. Once in the lodge we discovered that it was an hour long line stretching around the building just to buy a ticket but thankfully we already had passes. Talking to one of the customer service staff I know, I found out they completely ran out of parking that day. Completely out. Wow.

We skied the first run ducking a rope onto Wandering Skis. The snow was knee deep and dense. Who would it be closed? There was no base and my skis discovered lots of sharp rocks underneath in the first couple hundred yards. After that it got much better. Most of the rest of the mountain was skied off. The standout runs were all those under the Flying Yankee quad on the main Attitash. Those were really, really nice. There was a solid natural base and beautiful soft bumps. Probably the best in the area.

Overall this was by far the most people I have ever seen skiing in the Mount Washington Valley. The crowd at Wildcat was so far beyond what I have ever seen there that I still can't believe it. Even with the crowds at both Attitash and Wildcat, the lift lines were still not as bad as I have seen in southern Vermont at places like Mount Snow, Okemo, and Stratton. It's just that Peak Resorts was completely unprepared or unable to accommodate them.
 

St. Bear

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So... today happened. I almost don't know where to start. Disappointment is an understatement.

I was like a small child this morning. I woke up at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep because I was so stoked with anticipation. Around 7am the snow reports came online and everything around the Mt Washington Valley was reporting amazing snow totals. 18" at Attitash and Cranmore and 26" at Wildcat. We scored!

I arrive at Wildcat at 7:45 and the lot was already mostly full. By the time I went to the lift at 8:15 the line from the quad as already back to the bridge. By the time I got on the chair at 8:37, the line was back to the Snowcat triple. I have -never- seen that kind of line at Wildcat. EVER.

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View attachment 21371

The first revealed the horrifying truth. The snow as worse that yesterday. The wind blew everything into the woods or off the mountain. The natural trails were completely bare. Riding up the lift first thing you could already see sheets of ice on Upper Lynx and that big ugly rock was already sticking out. Going down Upper Wildcat there was about a 10 foot wide strip of fresh snow and the rest wasn't skiable. Bobcat was icy frozen granular with slabby wind packed snow in places. After the first run it was clear we had be duped and it was time to leave ASAP. All the regulars packed up and got out of there. Despite this a huge line awaited the ticket counter.

When we left at 9:15 they were parking people in C lot, and the line of cars waiting to get in stretched back all the way up Route 16 to the AMC Center in Pinkham Notch. Unreal. There were a lot of NY and CT plates, and you rarely see them up here. There was a state cop trying to maintain order dropping flares down the middle of the road so people didn't try to pass the traffic jam. To make matters worse, apparently the power went out around 10am. The bar was open but cash only.

We arrived at Attitash around 9:45 and got one the last spots in the Bear Peak lot. Once in the lodge we discovered that it was an hour long line stretching around the building just to buy a ticket but thankfully we already had passes. Talking to one of the customer service staff I know, I found out they completely ran out of parking that day. Completely out. Wow.

We skied the first run ducking a rope onto Wandering Skis. The snow was knee deep and dense. Who would it be closed? There was no base and my skis discovered lots of sharp rocks underneath in the first couple hundred yards. After that it got much better. Most of the rest of the mountain was skied off. The standout runs were all those under the Flying Yankee quad on the main Attitash. Those were really, really nice. There was a solid natural base and beautiful soft bumps. Probably the best in the area.

Overall this was by far the most people I have ever seen skiing in the Mount Washington Valley. The crowd at Wildcat was so far beyond what I have ever seen there that I still can't believe it. Even with the crowds at both Attitash and Wildcat, the lift lines were still not as bad as I have seen in southern Vermont at places like Mount Snow, Okemo, and Stratton. It's just that Peak Resorts was completely unprepared or unable to accommodate them.
Wow, so glad I made the last minute decision to go to Ragged today. 8" wasn't epic, but there was fun to be had.

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Edd

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Uncontrollable conditions aside, this is a huge weekend for ski areas. The storm is drawing people in. The crowded atmosphere is totally not my thing but this is what we need for the ski areas. This week is not for AZ skiers; it's for the ski areas.
 

St. Bear

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Uncontrollable conditions aside, this is a huge weekend for ski areas. The storm is drawing people in. The crowded atmosphere is totally not my thing but this is what we need for the ski areas. This week is not for AZ skiers; it's for the ski areas.
As long as the long lines, parking issues, etc does turn off the casual skiers next time, then it's all good.

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yeggous

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Frapcrap was up there. Said the outage only lasted 45 minutes or so. Helped clear the crowds. He shared some great photos of lower mountain trees.

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I heard from a buddy that the lower mountain trees were loaded. It explains where the snow went.

A bunch of the Wildcat regulars had a reunion in Ptarmigans at Attitash for lunch beers. We knew there was better and we were going to find it. I was very happy with the terrain off the Flying Yankee at Attitash. They actually had a natural base. And Wandering Skis provided me with a sense of purpose applying p-tex for hours to come.

The word from Cranmore is that the crowds weren't bad there today.
 

deadheadskier

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Did you get into any of the trees around Abenaki chair. Skiing there Monday afternoon there appeared to be a decent base. I probably would have made the same decision as you and headed to Attitash. I recommended to frapcrap that he do the same when he texted the power went out, but he chose to stick it out and got some redemption.

It's a bummer the storm came with such wind. Was really hoping this would be the base builder needed to set up the natural trails at Cat for the next storms

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yeggous

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Did you get into any of the trees around Abenaki chair. Skiing there Monday afternoon there appeared to be a decent base. I probably would have made the same decision as you and headed to Attitash. I recommended to frapcrap that he do the same when he texted the power went out, but he chose to stick it out and got some redemption.

It's a bummer the storm came with such wind. Was really hoping this would be the base builder needed to set up the natural trails at Cat for the next storms

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Did not. Riding the Abenaki I could hear people hitting rocks in those glades.

Latest round of people coming back from Wildcat say the afternoon was good. The power outage cleared out the place. Apparently the glades were great.


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Jully

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I don't know whether to be hopeful or not hopeful that people get scared away. I wonder how many were passholders.
 

dlague

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Reminds me of A Basin on opening day. That is crazy! Too bad the winds blew everything off.


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mishka

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I for one think power outage best what could've happened under circumstances for the people who decide to stay. that giant lift line was about 15 min of waiting ...probably by far longest I ever saw personally lol. . Ski on the lift after power outage all day. Yes my expectations was for conditions completely different.
Surprisingly very few people venture in the woods where all snow got blown into. Mission of the day was to find good runs in the woods
 

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snoseek

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I for one think power outage best what could've happened under circumstances for the people who decide to stay. that giant lift line was about 15 min of waiting ...probably by far longest I ever saw personally lol. . Ski on the lift after power outage all day. Yes my expectations was for conditions completely different.
Surprisingly very few people venture in the woods where all snow got blown into. Mission of the day was to find good runs in the woods


Yeah I'm sure the lower trees were stellar. That looks great to me. I'm up Monday for leftovers
 

snoseek

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I don't care what's coming, today was a 10 weather wise!

Edit-while there certainly will be some mix in, I'm not convinced this system coming in is gonna be so bad. Some sloppy snow with a freeze would really fill some of the stuff in nicely. It doesn't look like a wash out
 
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