New Hampshire — After a tough past few years, Wildcat Mountain had some good news to share this week.
Today, Wildcat Mountain reopened the Snowcat chairlift. The fixed-grip chairlift services Wildcat’s beginner area, providing important learning spaces for novice skiers and riders. It was out of service for the entire 2024-25 season due to extensive repairs. The refurbishment of Snowcat was completed this past offseason, with the lift receiving the state’s thumbs-up to operate this week. Another positive development for Wildcat skiers is that uphill access opened for the season today.
This news comes amid ongoing scrutiny of Wildcat’s snowmaking efforts. Over the past few ski seasons, the ski area has lagged behind others in the region in terms of trail count. The ski area was once known for its early openings and late closing dates. Critics have attributed it to Wildcat’s corporate operator: Vail Resorts.
In response, the Wildcat Mountain team has increased its transparency. Brandon Swartz, who’s the GM of Attitash and Wildcat, explained in the Cat’s snow report how heavy winds have impacted snowmaking efforts.
“You may have noticed that Middle and Lower Lynx are all set up and ready to go, and we expect to fire that up as we see favorable temps returning Sunday night and into Monday morning. We are going to give that trail a lot of attention to bulk it up for the remainder of the season, then we plan to move onto the Middle & Lower Catapult / Alley Cat / Black Cat pod of terrain next. Once that is complete, we plan to go back to key areas across the hill to build base depth to ensure we have a long season ahead of us no matter what mother nature throws at us. We are not slowing down!
I have received some questions about our snowmaking and grooming progression and want to assure our Wildcat faithful that we continue to push hard to make snow balancing all factors to make smart decisions. Although we have been experiencing consistent cold temperatures, with our regular wind events we want to be sure that we are not just making snow in the woods, but that it lands on the trails to maximize our water capacity. The persistent extreme cold also slows our water flows that we depend on to fill our snowmaking pond, so we need to hit the windows just right. The silver lining with these warm ups & rain events has been the reactivation of flow.
These are not new challenges to our beautiful and rugged mountain but want to assure you that the team and I are extremely dedicated and passionate about providing you the best experience as soon as we can, and we are not letting off the gas! We want to open as much of the mountain as quickly as we can and are not holding back.”
As of January 9th, Wildcat Mountain has 15 of 48 trails open. Three out of five lifts are operating, including the Wildcat Express.
Image/Video Credits: Wildcat Mountain
