Wildcat behind the pack this year

[yeggous]

Looking forward to it. Probably going to skip getting a pass there this season and just get a Vertical Value card for next season, a few other discount cards and wonder a bit. If things are much improved, I'll gladly get a pass there again down the road.

After last year we are buying just one season pass instead of two. I am a loyal Wildcat skier, but even I could not stand the place this January.

Reading through the details... the debt service should be just about covered by the diesel savings.

9 miles of pipe should cover four top-to-bottom routes. That might actually just replacing current snowmaking areas without expanding:
1) Polecat
2) Lynx
3) Catapult
4) Lower mountain: Cheetah, Bobcat, Wildcat Pitch, Wild Kitten

 

[yeggous]

I am hoping this means they plan to put on a gun show early season this year to showcase their new toys.

 

[deadheadskier]

I wonder if they'd be willing to comment on which specific trails will be seeing the new pipe and guns.

I hope they're not done after this year. It would be great to see trails like Upper Wildcat see some new equipment as well.

 

[yeggous]

I wonder if they'd be willing to comment on which specific trails will be seeing the new pipe and guns.

I hope they're not done after this year. It would be great to see trails like Upper Wildcat see some new equipment as well.

At the passholder meeting this year they said that they were planning to blow on Upper Wildcat this year (80th anniversary and all) until everything hit the fan. They also said that Upper Wildcat has some of the oldest pipe on the mountain so it might be a prime candidate for replacement. It does have a couple awful chokepoints, like the Upper Catapult / Wildcat intersection, which might create issues.

 

[xwhaler]

Wonder if this firepower will extend the season on both ends? Could we see Wildcat possibly getting into the October game w/ Killington/SR or just trying to compete on the back end?
Early season if they could somehow cover an entire route down off the HSQ they may corner that market entirely.
Regardless, its a nice step for them.

 

[yeggous]

Wonder if this firepower will extend the season on both ends? Could we see Wildcat possibly getting into the October game w/ Killington/SR or just trying to compete on the back end?
Early season if they could somehow cover an entire route down off the HSQ they may corner that market entirely.
Regardless, its a nice step for them.

That was the stated goal at the passholder meeting. They said they want to blow early on Lynx and be the first in New England to open top-to-bottom. Big words but we will see. They finally will have the capacity to make an attempt. After Lynx they will move to Polecat.

 

[deadheadskier]

At the passholder meeting this year they said that they were planning to blow on Upper Wildcat this year (80th anniversary and all) until everything hit the fan. They also said that Upper Wildcat has some of the oldest pipe on the mountain so it might be a prime candidate for replacement. It does have a couple awful chokepoints, like the Upper Catapult / Wildcat intersection, which might create issues.

I've always felt if Wildcat could do only 1 trail expansion project, they should put a perimeter trail coming off Upper Wildcat and reconnecting at Cheetah / Lower Wildcat. Middle Wildcat is always such an icy mess due to the amount of traffic that funnels through there to get to the lower mountain trails on that side of the mountain. Such a trail would reduce the amount of traffic on Middle Wildcat making it less icy / safer and it would also make for a pretty cool, long sort of intermediate version of Polecat on that side of the mountain. I know permitting would be near impossible due to the ski area being on NFS land, but I think it would be worth applying for under the guise of "improving skier safety" at the mountain.

 

[MadMadWorld]

I've always felt if Wildcat could do only 1 trail expansion project, they should put a perimeter trail coming off Upper Wildcat and reconnecting at Cheetah / Lower Wildcat. Middle Wildcat is always such an icy mess due to the amount of traffic that funnels through there to get to the lower mountain trails on that side of the mountain. Such a trail would reduce the amount of traffic on Middle Wildcat making it less icy / safer and it would also make for a pretty cool, long sort of intermediate version of Polecat on that side of the mountain. I know permitting would be near impossible due to the ski area being on NFS land, but I think it would be worth applying for under the guise of "improving skier safety" at the mountain.

Upper Wildcat can get beat up by the wind and I would hate to see trails there for my own selfish reasons