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Catamount Local Knowledge

Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
331
Points
18
Location
Northern CT
Looking for some local knowledge of Catamount on windy or semi-windy 15-25 MPH days such as is forecasted for tomorrow.

I'm finally using my Indy Pass and heading there tomorrow, but concerned about wind holds. What are people's thoughts? I'd hate to spend hours skiing only the lower level beginner chairs to the left of the mountain, especially after driving 1.75 hours. I got burned this past Sunday at Sunday River and didn't ski because of winds and cold so need to get back out!

If anyone has condition/trails intel I'd appreciate their input as well. I believe most expert trails are not open yet, but snow is being made.

Thanks in advance.
 

skimagic

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2012
Messages
361
Points
28
Location
Western New England
i don't recall a wind hold there. Both chairs are fixed grip and are in the trees. The ridge char is a bit more exposed near the top and the trees are stunted, but the chair hugs the ground
 

ss20

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
3,919
Points
113
Location
A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
I've never had a windhold there in 12ish years, and I go 2-3 times a year. It's tough to get strong enough winds down here. It's my 7th year working weekends at Thunder Ridge and I can remember exactly one windhold day in all that time...and our chairs are hellova lot higher than anything at Catamount!

Let me know how it is. I went two weeks ago and was very disappointed. Not much open and everything that was open still had TONS of pebbles and rocks mixed in the snow. The most I'd ever seen. And everywhere too. Base, summit, and every trail. The new owners have sunk a ton of $$ into the place (another new trail this year) and I hope they succeed but for me it was a rare demerit for James and the BEast group.

I'd bet with 4" of snow today you'll find some bumps on the sides of trails (skiers right of Glade). Tread lightly though...probably a combo of natural and snowmaking blowover. The place skis quite big for it's size when it's all open. Honestly they're pretty close to Jiminy Peak in terms of total terrain by this point.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
331
Points
18
Location
Northern CT
So I wanted to follow up on my visit there this week. Thanks for the information provided by a few of you fellow Azers.

In short, it was great, with the exception of them not having their 3 front face expert trails open (but snowmaking ongoing), most everything was open or accessible. Snow surface was really, really good and they left the sides of some trails ungroomed so I was able to play in the bumps as desired. The new trails that were open, Shawenon, Marty's Run are for real with a nice steep pitch and decent length given the mountain's vertical. The Meadows Triple had some great tree skiing areas, although they could use a bit more snow as many NE areas can. After this upcoming storm Mon/Tues, it should ski nicely.

The new lodge is beautiful, although I never ventured in as I booted up at car and skied for 6 hours straight before calling it a day. The place was "active" but lift lines were mostly ski on, unless you happened to hit a batch of skiers arriving down to the lift at the same time.

My concerns about wind holds were unnecessary as the setting of Catamount in somewhat of a bowl, kept it mostly protected.

Looking forward to getting back there this season using my Indy Pass again.
 
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