Wildcat, NH
March 8, 2001
March 8, 2001 goes down in the books as one of the best days of skiing I've ever had in my life. Two days after a foot of snow got dumped on New England, I took off around 5:30AM for Wildcat in Pinkham Notch of New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest. I picked up a pair of Volkl P40 Platinum demo skis on the way through North Conway (cause my Rossy 9x's broke at Magic), and hit the slopes around 9:15AM.
A PERFECT DAY! Ski days don't get any better than this; especially in the Mount Washington Valley. Blue skies all day, lots o' sunshine, and very little wind. Temperature was hovering around the mid 40's at the base in the morning. The snow was nice and soft in the sun, and a perfect hard pack in the shade. Snow conditions never get any better than this, and everyone on the mountain agreed. Wildcat was 100% open with about 25% of the mountain ungroomed and bumped up. The pictures really don't do this day justice, and the glare coming off the snow makes the pictures more bright than they should be which causes the details and contrast to lessen. But still, they're great so enjoy!
Pictures From The Parking Lot
Pictures of Mount Washington
Pictures of Al's Folly Trail
Pictures of my Run of the Day
Pictures From the top of Wildcat
6,288 Feet High... Mount Washington, highest peak in New England. Please visit my Mount Washington Trip page for more pictures of Mount Washington during the summer of 2000 when I hiked it.
Picture of Mount Washington from the summit of Wildcat.
Mount Washington from top of the "Lynx Lair" trail.
From half way down the "Upper Catapult" Trail. Left to right are Mount
Washington, Mount Adams, and Mount Madison
Again, Mount Washington from "Upper Catapult" Trail. Notice the
gully that runs down the center of Mount Washington... this is the Cutler
River which after the Crystal Cascade at the bottom of Mount Washington, dumps
into the Ellis River at the base of the Notch. Also notice the white trail to
the left of the Cutler River... this is the John Sherburne Ski Trail that
begins at the base of Tuckerman's Ravine. Mount Washington is not serviced
by any lifts... one must hike to ski.
From the "Upper Wildcat" Trail, Mount Washington. Pictured from
left to right are the Gulf of Slides, Boott Spur, Tuckerman Ravine, Mount
Washington, Huntington Ravine. Tuckerman Ravine is often skied late in the season by hiking up three hours with
all your ski gear.
From the top of Al's Folly, a picture of Mount Adams and Mount Madison (left to
right).
And Further down the trail, a look back up at the carnage. Now that's what I
call a fun trail!
Close to the bottom of Al's Folly, another look at Mount Adams and Mount
Madison.
This run was a bump run from the top, almost all the way to the bottom. Very soft and fun bumps with the sun shining down the whole way!
A look up "Top Cat" towards the lip of the run. Soft Bumps
Everywhere!
Further down "Top Cat" with Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison in the distance.
Perfect soft bumps...
A look to the north.
"Top Cat" merges with the "Upper Catapult" trail here...
...and "Upper Catapult" goes that a way towards Mount Washington...
...but I continue this thrilling lift line top to bottom run on the Double
Diamond trail called "Black Cat." BUMPS!
(Right Picture) "Black Cat" turned into a Blue Square close to the bottom of the run called "Alley Cat." This picture taken from the bottom of "Alley Cat" looks back up the mountain towards my Run of the Day. Great Stuff!
