Claremont, New Hampshire — This weekend, a small group of skiers and riders will get a glimpse of a ski area’s glory days.
This week, the Arrowhead Recreation Area announced that they are offering cat skiing this Saturday night. Tickets for this experience will cost $30 per person. This offering will give skiers a chance to ski all-natural terrain that typically is only accessible by ski-touring up the hill. The trails that will be skiable will include Bow, Chute, Upper Lion, Lower Lion, and Wheelock. Since this is a night skiing experience without night lights, you’ll need to bring a headlamp.
Arrowhead has an interesting history. Opened during the 1962-63 season, the ski area featured an impressive pitch for a steep local hill. However, a lack of snowmaking and natural snowfall led to the ski lifts closing in the early 1990s.
It was revived in the early-2000s by a passionate group of locals. However, a small portion of the mountain is now lift-serviced, with the other parts of the mountain being skin-to only. The Poma lift that once serviced the upper mountain is abandoned. It appears that cat skiing was offered in prior winters since its 2000s revival, but it hasn’t been provided recently.
Most of the trails on the upper mountain remain maintained, partially because they’re now home to a well-regarded mountain biking trail network. The Wheel House, a popular mountain biking shop in Claremont, now takes up a majority of the space at the base lodge.
Arrowhead also plans to have lift-serviced skiing and riding on the Pony Lift this weekend, as well as tubing accesible from the Pine Grove Lift.
Image Credits: Arrowhead Recreation Area
