Wildcat and Attitash

[Ski the Moguls]

Guessing more likely frozen solid, with not enough base to get a groomer on, and they're ropes up until hopefully after the clipper passing through tonight drops enough natural to drop some ropes again

I was just there this past weekend, and I would say yours is a very good guess. Place went from 100% open, lots of thin cover, Spring conditions, on Saturday; to about 20/48 trails, groomers only, on Sunday.

 

[snoseek]

6 inches of snow and the cat will be back to 100 percent or at least close. They don't groom a whole lot.

 

[2Planker]

Today was pretty good.
“Dust on Crust” for sure….

A groom job tonight, followed by 3“-4” should make for some nice early morning tracks.

 

[Mainer]

Was finally going to ski attitash for the first time of the year on Sunday. Got to bear peak, lot was full. Got a text it was bulletproof at the same time. Turned around and skied black in the sunshine all day. Nice and soft. Going to be an epic shit show this weekend at atticat

 

[Newpylong]

At least they finally started making snow like you would expect there. Wildcat on the other hand, typical terrible rollout since the Vail purchase.

 

[GregoryIsaacs]

Blue lines are some of your Snowy fun off the regular paths

Just here to add... Shame on you for sharing that! Let people do their own research/digging!

 

[MidnightJester]

Just here to add... Shame on you for sharing that! Let people do their own research/digging!

I agree people can research and dig. Coming to this Site is research/digging technically.
Adding "FATMAP" as a APP or Website now owned by (Strava) is adding weapons and technology to help you be a safer rider or skier and explore more possibly. Then learning to use the map app better and adding "Freeriding" or "Backcountry" as map overlays each separately under menu while loading up the current mountain or resort map.

Even with a picture of the Map or a active MAP app on your phone with your GPS glowing blue dot its not as easy to find a lot of the entrance points to (extra trails, runs or lines). Maybe you research and dig and drop in differently to the Snowy Wonder you now know is lurking over the ridge or between those trees. At least you know if there is a way back to where you want to go or end up.

 

[Smellytele]

MJ is always willing to give up the goods

 

[deadheadskier]

Made my return to Attitash and Wildcat after three years away. Skied Attitash Friday and Wildcat today. My expectations were low given the deluge on Wednesday.

Attitash exceeded my expectations. It was predictably boiler plate, but they clearly made a bunch of snow and the facility was well staffed with all the lifts you could expect to have running on a Friday. New lift is obviously great.

Wildcat was pretty pathetic today. It was quite obvious how much less snow Vail makes there than Peak did. Some stuff looked real skim coated. Lower Catapult and AlleyCat appeared done. No base at all. Lynx closed and looking near toast. Not enough base to move around on those trails. Or if there is, how come they couldn't get it done in the two days since the rain? Top to Bottom Lynx is pretty much their signature trail. And you don't have it available for NH Feb vacation week? That type of crap would drive me insane if Wildcat was still my home mountain. Polecat, Bobcat and Wild Kitten were in decent shape. I'll stick to buying a few Epic Day Passes and pick my days there, but what I saw certainly didn't have me doubting my decision to move on from Vail three years ago.

 

[snoseek]

Made my return to Attitash and Wildcat after three years away. Skied Attitash Friday and Wildcat today. My expectations were low given the deluge on Wednesday.

Attitash exceeded my expectations. It was predictably boiler plate, but they clearly made a bunch of snow and the facility was well staffed with all the lifts you could expect to have running on a Friday. New lift is obviously great.

Wildcat was pretty pathetic today. It was quite obvious how much less snow Vail makes there than Peak did. Some stuff looked real skim coated. Lower Catapult and AlleyCat appeared done. No base at all. Lynx closed and looking near toast. Not enough base to move around on those trails. Or if there is, how come they couldn't get it done in the two days since the rain? Top to Bottom Lynx is pretty much their signature trail. And you don't have it available for NH Feb vacation week? That type of crap would drive me insane if Wildcat was still my home mountain. Polecat, Bobcat and Wild Kitten were in decent shape. I'll stick to buying a few Epic Day Passes and pick my days there, but what I saw certainly didn't have me doubting my decision to move on from Vail three years ago.

I no longer consider Wildcat home base anymore, just somewhere to go when times are good which is very seldom on a year like this. Its pretty clear the snowmaking budget there isnt appropriate at all. They need to also start earlier for both areas.

That new quad at attitash is fucking awesome though. I probably have as much time down there as the cat and have really been liking the overall experience the last month or so.

 

[machski]

The new Mountaineer should not be a shock how much it changes the Attitash side. That lift change out has been needed for 2 decades at a minimum. The shocker is the excuses made by prior managements for not doing so.

 

[deadheadskier]

I no longer consider Wildcat home base anymore, just somewhere to go when times are good which is very seldom on a year like this. Its pretty clear the snowmaking budget there isnt appropriate at all. They need to also start earlier for both areas.

That new quad at attitash is fucking awesome though. I probably have as much time down there as the cat and have really been liking the overall experience the last month or so.

It would appear Vails plan for the MWV is to improve and run Attitash just well enough that folks will overlook them treating Wildcat as some sorta afterthought bonus. Would love to see them give it the classic New England ski area treatment Cat deserves like Cannon, but the operation is closer to MRG at this point......with 100" less snow a year.

Bums me out, but I've found a more reliable plan that fits our needs. I'll just save Cat day passes for a couple good days a season. Oh well. I bet if I ad up all the money I'll spend elsewhere as I raise my kids skiing, Vail is gonna easily lose out on six figures worth of revenue. Not enough of guys like me for them to consider change I don't believe.

 

[Newpylong]

Attitash had a pathetic trail rollout early on this year but trom around mid-January on (when most are winding down) they hit their stride and really knocked out the trail count. I think they really only ended up with not covering Tim's and Tightrope (getting new pipe this off season). Maybe Upper Mythmaker was skipped too. Needless to say if they are able to get their terrain open earlier (that system is capable of it) they should be able to provide a solid product going forward.

No words for how terribly Wildcat is being run. I looked at a trail report a few times in January and February and we amazed at how many signatures runs did not receive snowmaking this year. Sell the place Vail, it's not a threat to any of your other holdings.

 

[deadheadskier]

Also didn't get to Middle Ptarmigan or White Horse either. Though those weren't always covered by Peak either.

Hopefully they get more aggressive early season at both Attitash and Sunapee. Vail has consistently been pathetic with both until mid January. It's like they don't care about Xmas week at all.

 

[Newpylong]

They made snow on Whitehorse so if it looked bare perhaps they just dusted it it I did see them making snow there. Also I found the attachment in the Snow Report.

Not sure what the deal is with skipping Middle Ptarmigan is. Ptarmigan top to bottom was like THE siganature trail to rip in the ASC era there.

They did make snow on Avenger and Kachina Falls this year and it's been a while on both of those. Vail also fixed the pipe on Wilfred's which Peaks broke and refused to fix.

Hopefully they get their act together earlier for sure.

 

[BodeMiller1]

Also didn't get to Middle Ptarmigan or White Horse either. Though those weren't always covered by Peak either.

Hopefully they get more aggressive early season at both Attitash and Sunapee. Vail has consistently been pathetic with both until mid January. It's like they don't care about Xmas week at all.

Like the Ptar...comment, classic fallline trail. Narrow and steep.

 

[Keelhauled]

Hopefully they get more aggressive early season at both Attitash and Sunapee. Vail has consistently been pathetic with both until mid January. It's like they don't care about Xmas week at all.

With the changing of the weather I don't think this is likely, and not just because of Vail. IMO if you're not a destination resort, Christmas week is going to be a poor time to commit money to, it has become too early to count on being able to make snow earlier in the month to prepare and not watch it all wash away. If you have meaningful off mountain activities you can mitigate the risk a little because people won't have completely wasted a multi day trip and they won't be quite so likely to cancel the whole thing, but that still doesn't get around the problem that everyone in Boston and NYC will be staring at bare ground and less likely to be thinking of skiing anyway.

There was a quote from MRG's GM this year about how they haven't budgeted for a meaningful bump in visits/income during Christmas for years now, and unfortunately I think the same will gradually become true for a lot more areas in New England in the coming decade or so.

 

[Newpylong]

All of Attitash's neighbors typically have triple the terrain open by Christmas, it isn't weather. Vail obviously wants you to visit their other destinations prior to Christmas.

 

[cdskier]

Big difference between MRG that relies on natural snow to open any terrain on the entire top 2/3 of the mountain or so vs Wildcat that has T2B snowmaking capabilities. It makes sense for MRG to not bank on Christmas given their reliance on natural snow.

 

[snoseek]

Treat everyday like it's closing day at this point