Went back again for my yearly dose of Wildcat. Had my North Conway Grand breakfast, which is good as always (with make your own waffles and eggs benedict and more, and decided to get some Bagels Plus bagels as an after skiing snack, which were awesome (just about the best bagels I've ever had).
Cashed in some more vouchers today. They had someone scanning tickets at the ski area side of the "bridge" that leads from the lodge to the ski area in the morning, which was interesting. They have a new sign I've never seen before is that the area is only to be used between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm and a lift pass is required for all trail use. They had a Make a Wish race going on today and it was interesting that some people were already up to 40 runs by 12:30 or so as they had a board under a tent by the quad keeping track how many runs the racers were doing. Susposingly, they did so much that fast since they opened the quad up at 7:30 for them and kept it running to 4:30, even though they closed it for regular skiers at 4:00 and it mainly ran empty until 4:30, which made some people grumble. Although I didn't mind, it would have been a nice goodwill gesture since the Lynxes were closed due to the race and ungroomed runs were firm (and not enjoyable), which limited good terrain choice as a few lower mountain runs required going down very firm bumps. Still, I had fun lapping the Polecats (with going off to Stray Cat and Catnap) which were the only choices that skied well along with Tomcat Schuss (ungroomed with thin cover) for a stretch if turning a left off the quad. I tried Black Cat, an ungroomed black, at 1 pm, which was very firm and was quite a challenge to get down, although it had good coverage. I usually enjoy the bumps if they have fresh snow or a soft spring snow.
A right turn off the quad yielded the top part of Lift Lion, the Catapults, and the Wildcats, leading to the Bobcat area. Bobcat still skied very nicely today as well as yesterday with some nice soft snow. Everything else still skied well.
Overall, I was surprised to hear some talk that the Peaks is doing some good things behind the scenes and that they are not really in it for the money, although everyone was unsure what would happen when the mountain got bought out. It's good to see that the mountain still has a good vibe. Although it's tough to judge exactly what's happening, there seems to be more passholders and less day ticket holders as people that purchased a Peaks pass otherwise got Wildcat for free since it wasn't part of the deal when they purchased a pass last spring and then of course we all know the day ticket deals are in shorter supply with the Sunday afternoon ticket being higher and 2 for 1 gone, but there was a sign that Fridays are $35 in March. The mountain seems to be setting up to ski well into the spring as the bumps, particularly on Black Cat, seem like it would be fun once they get a chance to soften up.
Looking forward to going to Jay Peak next Sunday (3/20) as the NacSki bus is going up there and it actually makes good timing that day since the scheduled arrival at Jay is at 9:30 am (and I never been there). Hopefully, my schedule and the weather holds up, and I'll make a final call Wednesday night/early Thursday the latest and post it in the trips section if everything goes to plan (which is that I book). Only $62 too, so if Woburn or Braintree is close enough for you, that's a good deal. My Nac ID is MA80873413
Cashed in some more vouchers today. They had someone scanning tickets at the ski area side of the "bridge" that leads from the lodge to the ski area in the morning, which was interesting. They have a new sign I've never seen before is that the area is only to be used between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm and a lift pass is required for all trail use. They had a Make a Wish race going on today and it was interesting that some people were already up to 40 runs by 12:30 or so as they had a board under a tent by the quad keeping track how many runs the racers were doing. Susposingly, they did so much that fast since they opened the quad up at 7:30 for them and kept it running to 4:30, even though they closed it for regular skiers at 4:00 and it mainly ran empty until 4:30, which made some people grumble. Although I didn't mind, it would have been a nice goodwill gesture since the Lynxes were closed due to the race and ungroomed runs were firm (and not enjoyable), which limited good terrain choice as a few lower mountain runs required going down very firm bumps. Still, I had fun lapping the Polecats (with going off to Stray Cat and Catnap) which were the only choices that skied well along with Tomcat Schuss (ungroomed with thin cover) for a stretch if turning a left off the quad. I tried Black Cat, an ungroomed black, at 1 pm, which was very firm and was quite a challenge to get down, although it had good coverage. I usually enjoy the bumps if they have fresh snow or a soft spring snow.
A right turn off the quad yielded the top part of Lift Lion, the Catapults, and the Wildcats, leading to the Bobcat area. Bobcat still skied very nicely today as well as yesterday with some nice soft snow. Everything else still skied well.
Overall, I was surprised to hear some talk that the Peaks is doing some good things behind the scenes and that they are not really in it for the money, although everyone was unsure what would happen when the mountain got bought out. It's good to see that the mountain still has a good vibe. Although it's tough to judge exactly what's happening, there seems to be more passholders and less day ticket holders as people that purchased a Peaks pass otherwise got Wildcat for free since it wasn't part of the deal when they purchased a pass last spring and then of course we all know the day ticket deals are in shorter supply with the Sunday afternoon ticket being higher and 2 for 1 gone, but there was a sign that Fridays are $35 in March. The mountain seems to be setting up to ski well into the spring as the bumps, particularly on Black Cat, seem like it would be fun once they get a chance to soften up.
Looking forward to going to Jay Peak next Sunday (3/20) as the NacSki bus is going up there and it actually makes good timing that day since the scheduled arrival at Jay is at 9:30 am (and I never been there). Hopefully, my schedule and the weather holds up, and I'll make a final call Wednesday night/early Thursday the latest and post it in the trips section if everything goes to plan (which is that I book). Only $62 too, so if Woburn or Braintree is close enough for you, that's a good deal. My Nac ID is MA80873413
