Catamount Ski Area - 12-31-07

[sal37]

Date(s) Skied: December 31, 2007

Resort or Ski Area: Catamount

Conditions: Sunny and 35 degrees with Powder and more powder

Trip Report: Monday morning the sun was hitting the snow in the trees, it was beautiful. So I called in sick and took the wife and kids to Catamount. We arrived around 11. The groomers had been out on some of the trails and the lower beginner trails were packed powder which were very nice for teaching my 11 year old to snowboard. Lift lines were not too bad, the beginner lifts had a 1-2 minute wait. They had received about 9" of powder ending at about 5 am. There was powder everywhere, and it wasn't really getting skied off. I talked to some locals who said the place had been an ice berg before this last snow. After a couple of hours I took my older son up the summit quad. The views of the mountains was stunning, there was very little wind and it was really just beautiful. However the black trails at the top of the mountain were a sheet of ice for the first couple of hundred feet of vertical. People were lying all over the trail. I had just sharpened my edges so I had no problem. After that there were nice pockets of powder and eventually all powder further down the trail. They shut off the lifts and kicked us out at 4 which was a surprise to me. The Catamount parking lot is an absolute disgrace and our minivan bottomed out several times on the unpaved entrance "road" . Other than that it was a great trip and well worth it.


Appreciate the forum here. I lurk around for reports so I thought I'd give back. Happy New year!

 

[Greg]

Thanks for the report! I like Catamount a lot and plan to head up there once Catapult is open and they have some mogul offerings.

 

[severine]

Nice report! I've only skied at Catamount once or twice, but it's a nice little mountain.

 

[OppositeGeorge]

So... the blacks at the top that were ice -- could you tell if the snow was blown off or skied off? And I'm guessing their one double -- Catapult (the real steep just to the left of the lift) must've been either unskiable or a pile of bones.

Catamount is more ragged than Butternut (my two closest mountains anywhere near 1000') and my favorite of the two. They are both too far south to take anything for granted, weather-wise, so it's good to hear the conditions were good. Honestly, I don't recall the Butternut parking lot being much better the last time I was there if that helps.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

So... the blacks at the top that were ice -- could you tell if the snow was blown off or skied off? And I'm guessing their one double -- Catapult (the real steep just to the left of the lift) must've been either unskiable or a pile of bones.

Catamount is more ragged than Butternut (my two closest mountains anywhere near 1000') and my favorite of the two. They are both too far south to take anything for granted, weather-wise, so it's good to hear the conditions were good. Honestly, I don't recall the Butternut parking lot being much better the last time I was there if that helps.

I had skied Catamount on Sunday, 12/30. Catapult had no snow on it. It hadn't been opened yet this season.