riverc0il
New member
Happy Birthday to Me! \
/
well, technically the 31st is my bday (oooooh, spookie!) but this is close enough! i have gotten some fantastic presents over the years, but this... you could almost say it... takes the cake!!! YEA BABY!!!
arrived an hour early due to forgetting to set back the clock :roll: never had to worry about that before during the ski season if you know what i mean
suffice to say, i was not alone as after claiming first place in line at 8:15AM, folks quickly lined up going almost back to the quad! heh! as i remarked to the liftie: "better one hour too early than 15 minutes late!" which i thought i was. seats were loaded around 8:45AM.
heading up, it quickly became apparent that much consolidation had occured since the previous few days' romps. a few brooks were openly flowing on the lower mountain, especially a big one winding down the center of the glade under the lift line.
grooming had occured on most of the main trails, but those great trails wildcat has that are not as obvious had EXCELLENT natural snow. cat track to middle catapult was first up and i wasted no time in tearing up EXCELLENT bumps on mid cat. got winded quite quickly though! this is the type of conditions i look forward to in hopefully january and definitely february. cover was superb and the bumps were soft and delicious! definitely something to repeat, which i gladly did two more times. down lower on the mountain things were quite as hot with lower catapult sporting decent packed powder with occasional thin cover, not mind blowing.
feline started having some visitors underneath the triple. feline reminds me a lot of a slightly less steep but narrower red line at magic. cover was great overall and i was REALLY PUMPED to be dropping a steep and narrow liftline trail with great cover and an audience to watch. i got some hoots and holars up top and then i saw a little slice of aerial heaven... an 8+ foot drop off a rock cliff. part of me said it was WAY too early in the season to be going big. heck, i don't know if i've ever hit anything that large and exposed before let alone first day of lift serve when my legs aren't all there. but i was feeling it and NAILED IT! craptastic, just an awesome air (something in my skill set i am looking to develop this season). i repeated later and nailed the landing again but got ejected from my right ski
catanary up next with some great natural but thin in spots and water bars could have used a little more filling, but no issues there. nice bumps per usual down lower.
i think i ended up doing lynx at some point during the afternoon. there was some GREAT stuff at the feline exit, but in general the lower you went the less tasty the snow got. still good, but not the same level as the packed pow up higher.
noon time came and that was my pre-approved time to give the lift a break and head for the top. and man oh man was i not alone. about a dozen other folks were booting up while i was doing the skin thing. felt weird applying the skins at the top of the tomcat chair. got a few questioning looks until i took off, heh! SO SO many boot tracks going up upper polecat. any hope of fresh was dead before it even began. the skin was short and sweet putting at the top o' the cat with fantastic views of MW. i grabbed a snack and hung out for a while, enjoying the summit. a stark contrast was noticable looking off the backside of the cat into the north conway area and surrounding hills... with no snow to be seen any where. then, turning around, MW looks almost mid-season form except for some gullies, tucks, and the slides yet to fill in. really impressive and not a cloud touched washington all day despite one hovering over wildcat for part of the afternoon.
coming down the wildcat trail was friggin sweet! all natural and nice and packed down. incredibly packed down! it is amazing to consider just how many people hiked for turns at wildcat. these folks weren't your typical tele or AT crowd either... it was mostly people knowing there had been pow to be found and earning a run. good for them. probably best top to bottom run i have ever had on the wildcat trail. i have had some good runs too.
exiting out of feline, i had to exclaim "this much fun shouldn't be legal in october!" apparently it is! wildcat did the smart thing (sadly for those of us skiing this weekend!) and groomed out nearly every trail that gets groomed during the winter on a regular basis. even the upper trails like polecat and lynx got the once over. and understandably so! my pole could go over 2/3's into the snow on the wildcat trail. that is a base that isn't going to completely disappear in the next few weeks. lower mountain will likely take a beating and i doubt lower mountain will be skiable next weekend.
lines were managable, but the line did get backed up to the gondi building! :lol: just before lunch time though, other than that only a few minutes wait. thankfully they got a single line going, so less than that for me
it is in my opinion that wildcat likely made A HUGE PROFIT this weekend. with no snow making, most employees likely not making more than 7-10 an hour tops, only one slow lift running, no snow making, lots of people, lots of people buying food, lots of people buying beer, etc. i would like to hear how wildcat did in the $$$ department because if they did well, it totally disputes the later opening for money theory. kmart is legit on this because most people skiing kmart early season aren't buying lift tickets (yea, season pass holders are paying customers too, but no additional revenue for the resort THAT DAY to pay for THAT DAY"S costs). but a no frills place like wildcat with only one lift lays it on the line and packs the parking lot two days in a row and has people dropping bills like crazy. this is all under the assumption the area can open without making snow, which becomes a tough issue this time of year. props to wildcat for making the early opening call, smart business decision in my opinion as well. i have a short film coming up for next month because october bandwidth is maxed, check back in two days.
/ well, technically the 31st is my bday (oooooh, spookie!) but this is close enough! i have gotten some fantastic presents over the years, but this... you could almost say it... takes the cake!!! YEA BABY!!!
arrived an hour early due to forgetting to set back the clock :roll: never had to worry about that before during the ski season if you know what i mean
suffice to say, i was not alone as after claiming first place in line at 8:15AM, folks quickly lined up going almost back to the quad! heh! as i remarked to the liftie: "better one hour too early than 15 minutes late!" which i thought i was. seats were loaded around 8:45AM.heading up, it quickly became apparent that much consolidation had occured since the previous few days' romps. a few brooks were openly flowing on the lower mountain, especially a big one winding down the center of the glade under the lift line.
grooming had occured on most of the main trails, but those great trails wildcat has that are not as obvious had EXCELLENT natural snow. cat track to middle catapult was first up and i wasted no time in tearing up EXCELLENT bumps on mid cat. got winded quite quickly though! this is the type of conditions i look forward to in hopefully january and definitely february. cover was superb and the bumps were soft and delicious! definitely something to repeat, which i gladly did two more times. down lower on the mountain things were quite as hot with lower catapult sporting decent packed powder with occasional thin cover, not mind blowing.
feline started having some visitors underneath the triple. feline reminds me a lot of a slightly less steep but narrower red line at magic. cover was great overall and i was REALLY PUMPED to be dropping a steep and narrow liftline trail with great cover and an audience to watch. i got some hoots and holars up top and then i saw a little slice of aerial heaven... an 8+ foot drop off a rock cliff. part of me said it was WAY too early in the season to be going big. heck, i don't know if i've ever hit anything that large and exposed before let alone first day of lift serve when my legs aren't all there. but i was feeling it and NAILED IT! craptastic, just an awesome air (something in my skill set i am looking to develop this season). i repeated later and nailed the landing again but got ejected from my right ski
catanary up next with some great natural but thin in spots and water bars could have used a little more filling, but no issues there. nice bumps per usual down lower.
i think i ended up doing lynx at some point during the afternoon. there was some GREAT stuff at the feline exit, but in general the lower you went the less tasty the snow got. still good, but not the same level as the packed pow up higher.
noon time came and that was my pre-approved time to give the lift a break and head for the top. and man oh man was i not alone. about a dozen other folks were booting up while i was doing the skin thing. felt weird applying the skins at the top of the tomcat chair. got a few questioning looks until i took off, heh! SO SO many boot tracks going up upper polecat. any hope of fresh was dead before it even began. the skin was short and sweet putting at the top o' the cat with fantastic views of MW. i grabbed a snack and hung out for a while, enjoying the summit. a stark contrast was noticable looking off the backside of the cat into the north conway area and surrounding hills... with no snow to be seen any where. then, turning around, MW looks almost mid-season form except for some gullies, tucks, and the slides yet to fill in. really impressive and not a cloud touched washington all day despite one hovering over wildcat for part of the afternoon.
coming down the wildcat trail was friggin sweet! all natural and nice and packed down. incredibly packed down! it is amazing to consider just how many people hiked for turns at wildcat. these folks weren't your typical tele or AT crowd either... it was mostly people knowing there had been pow to be found and earning a run. good for them. probably best top to bottom run i have ever had on the wildcat trail. i have had some good runs too.
exiting out of feline, i had to exclaim "this much fun shouldn't be legal in october!" apparently it is! wildcat did the smart thing (sadly for those of us skiing this weekend!) and groomed out nearly every trail that gets groomed during the winter on a regular basis. even the upper trails like polecat and lynx got the once over. and understandably so! my pole could go over 2/3's into the snow on the wildcat trail. that is a base that isn't going to completely disappear in the next few weeks. lower mountain will likely take a beating and i doubt lower mountain will be skiable next weekend.
lines were managable, but the line did get backed up to the gondi building! :lol: just before lunch time though, other than that only a few minutes wait. thankfully they got a single line going, so less than that for me
it is in my opinion that wildcat likely made A HUGE PROFIT this weekend. with no snow making, most employees likely not making more than 7-10 an hour tops, only one slow lift running, no snow making, lots of people, lots of people buying food, lots of people buying beer, etc. i would like to hear how wildcat did in the $$$ department because if they did well, it totally disputes the later opening for money theory. kmart is legit on this because most people skiing kmart early season aren't buying lift tickets (yea, season pass holders are paying customers too, but no additional revenue for the resort THAT DAY to pay for THAT DAY"S costs). but a no frills place like wildcat with only one lift lays it on the line and packs the parking lot two days in a row and has people dropping bills like crazy. this is all under the assumption the area can open without making snow, which becomes a tough issue this time of year. props to wildcat for making the early opening call, smart business decision in my opinion as well. i have a short film coming up for next month because october bandwidth is maxed, check back in two days.
