master plan thread

[Sacadelic_Skier]

post all master plans here!

 

[dlague]

Like what the goals thread talks a out?

 

[gmcunni]

Hit lotto and retire

 

[deadheadskier]

If this is a hypothetical thread, I'll play.

As Wildcat is what I consider home and they can't do much on USFS land, my realistic plan (if the money was there)

- complete the replacement of all old snowmaking pipe on trails that are designated to have it.
- increase the snowmaking reservoir to 20+M gallons
- increase pumping capacity
- a few more beer taps

All of the above snowmaking improvements in theory could allow them to have 90% of their terrain open and covered by Christmas week. It's not that big of a mountain, so with the right investment this would be feasible.

Now for the unrealistic Master Plan. Rework the Bobcat chair with a modern lift that serves the terrain better. Currently it is a pain in the ass to get to any of the trails beyond Bobcat skiers left. A simple solution would be to just extend the lift up to where the red X is on this drawing. A more difficult to get approved, but even better solution I think would be to realign the lift (black line) and extend Cheetah, Lower Wildcat and Wild Kitten a bit. A modern fixed grip triple with conveyor to shorten the ride time would be all it needs. HSQ would be great, but that would be a pretty short HSQ. The goal is to make all the trails from that chair easily accessible. This might make that area of the mountain more appealing and take some pressure off the summit trails.

 

[ss20]

http://www.newenglandskihistory.com/skiareaexpansions/

https://anrweb.vt.gov/anr/vtanr/Act250.aspx

 

[Tin]

If this is a hypothetical thread, I'll play.

As Wildcat is what I consider home and they can't do much on USFS land, my realistic plan (if the money was there)

- complete the replacement of all old snowmaking pipe on trails that are designated to have it.
- increase the snowmaking reservoir to 20+M gallons
- increase pumping capacity
- a few more beer taps

All of the above snowmaking improvements in theory could allow them to have 90% of their terrain open and covered by Christmas week. It's not that big of a mountain, so with the right investment this would be feasible.

Now for the unrealistic Master Plan. Rework the Bobcat chair with a modern lift that serves the terrain better. Currently it is a pain in the ass to get to any of the trails beyond Bobcat skiers left. A simple solution would be to just extend the lift up to where the red X is on this drawing. A more difficult to get approved, but even better solution I think would be to realign the lift (black line) and extend Cheetah, Lower Wildcat and Wild Kitten a bit. A modern fixed grip triple with conveyor to shorten the ride time would be all it needs. HSQ would be great, but that would be a pretty short HSQ. The goal is to make all the trails from that chair easily accessible. This might make that area of the mountain more appealing and take some pressure off the summit trails.

You're forgetting a midstation for the Wildcat Express at Cat Track or Cat Walk to provide the longest ski season in the east.

 

[yeggous]

You're forgetting a midstation for the Wildcat Express at Cat Track or Cat Walk to provide the longest ski season in the east.

Don't need it. Don't want it. A mid station would just slow down the lift.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[deadheadskier]

Unless they configured it like the one on Mount Hood where the midstation is only operated seasonally, yeah I'm in agreement. I wouldn't want a slower lift to extend the season a month.

 

[Newpylong]

Don't need it. Don't want it. A mid station would just slow down the lift.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone mobile app

Not if it's only used early and late season where it is beneficial.

 

[Smellytele]

If this is a hypothetical thread, I'll play.

As Wildcat is what I consider home and they can't do much on USFS land, my realistic plan (if the money was there)

- complete the replacement of all old snowmaking pipe on trails that are designated to have it.
- increase the snowmaking reservoir to 20+M gallons
- increase pumping capacity
- a few more beer taps

All of the above snowmaking improvements in theory could allow them to have 90% of their terrain open and covered by Christmas week. It's not that big of a mountain, so with the right investment this would be feasible.

Now for the unrealistic Master Plan. Rework the Bobcat chair with a modern lift that serves the terrain better. Currently it is a pain in the ass to get to any of the trails beyond Bobcat skiers left. A simple solution would be to just extend the lift up to where the red X is on this drawing. A more difficult to get approved, but even better solution I think would be to realign the lift (black line) and extend Cheetah, Lower Wildcat and Wild Kitten a bit. A modern fixed grip triple with conveyor to shorten the ride time would be all it needs. HSQ would be great, but that would be a pretty short HSQ. The goal is to make all the trails from that chair easily accessible. This might make that area of the mountain more appealing and take some pressure off the summit trails.

You could extend the bobcat even a little further up to the hump above that with a mid-station for the racers

 

[deadheadskier]

If by hump you mean you mean a couple hundred vert higher than where I have the new alignment, Ive thought that as well. Would make for a great steep lift line under the top portion of the chair. That would also enable you to get over to the right side of the mountain as you could take the cut off above middle Wildcat over to Lynx connector.

 

[Smellytele]

If by hump you mean you mean a couple hundred vert higher than where I have the new alignment, Ive thought that as well. Would make for a great steep lift line under the top portion of the chair. That would also enable you to get over to the right side of the mountain as you could take the cut off above middle Wildcat over to Lynx connector.

yup

 

[Jully]

Would you still be able to run a beginner trail down to connect to Wild Kitten? For the mountain itself Bobcat serves as an important stepping stone from the true beginner area to the beginner terrain at the top/off Tomcat

 

[Mapnut]

Any good reason there are no trails in that wide space between the upper liftline and Wildcat? That would be prime expert terrain,wouldn't it?

 

[Jully]

Only reason being that it's on forest service land in the White Mountain National forest so expansion is unlikely or at the least a long difficult process.

 

[deadheadskier]

Would you still be able to run a beginner trail down to connect to Wild Kitten? For the mountain itself Bobcat serves as an important stepping stone from the true beginner area to the beginner terrain at the top/off Tomcat

Well, with the realigned chair I've extended Wild kitten up. My thought for the realigned chair is based almost entirely on providing better novice access to Wild Kitten. (Green line) In Smellys scenario you could extend Wild Kitten even further up the hill probably adding close to a half mile to the trail, which would be awesome. The topography stretching out skiers left from the top of that hump could support a beginner trail swinging wide out.

My scenario involving just extending the chair to the red X would still make getting to Wk difficult as beginners would have to cross the bottom of middle Wildcat where advanced skiers tend to fly through

 

[deadheadskier]

Only reason being that it's on forest service land in the White Mountain National forest so expansion is unlikely or at the least a long difficult process.

Pretty much. I've actually reached out to them to see if any thought has been given even to just putting in a glade in that area or between Upper Polecat and Upper Lynx. The mountain has talked to them about it, but it got shot down due to being "bird habitat." I forget the breed. Some sort of Thrush that other mountains have had projects blocked in the past.

 

[Newpylong]

Wildcat is one of the only mountains left with winding, narrow old school trails without too much density. I am all for not expanding terrain, but resolving snowmaking deficiencies whether that be infrastructure or budget. Adding Lift Lion and Upper Wildcat off the top would make all the difference. Add it stands, they do not make snow on any blacks outside of the middle of Lift Lion and Black Cat/Middle Catapult, which you can't get to without going down something else. But we all know that...

 

[bdfreetuna]

 

[benski]

View attachment 20853

I think any chairlift to the top of Mt Washington would top the list of "lifts that never run" just from wind holds.