Northern New Hampshire is still being held in the grip of an Arctic blast of very cold air. This was military appreciation weekend at Attitash and Wildcat with free lift tickets for veterans. I couldn't pass that up so I braved the cold, windy temps and decided to ski Wildcat today. It was very cold with below zero wind chill readings. Aside from that it was a beautiful, clear, blue-sky day with spectacular views of the Presidentials!
Before gearing up I decided to get my lift ticket first. The high speed quad was not running. Due to high winds there were only two lifts operating, the Tomcat Triple and the Snowcat Triple. There would be no runs from the summit today. As I put on my cold weather attire the wind was shaking my vehicle - add another layer.
After gearing up I set out into the windy cold. Walking past the Wildcat Express Quad I saw a notice that stated,"Quad is on wind hold 50 - 70 mph 9am". The temp was probably no more than 10 degrees - that's cold! I kept walking to the Tomcat Triple.
The snow gun was going as the chairlift took me up. For about 200 yards the wind was blasting then it calmed right down and the ride was quite tolerable. I have to admit that I was disappointed that there would be no runs from the summit today. On the postive side, there were no lift lines today.
As I got off the lift I veered right and commenced my first run. The trail conditions were actually very good for not having any recent significant snow. The stat board back at the lodge logged only 4 inches in the past week. There was plenty of groomed powder and the runs were very fast. Another good thing about the Arctic air was no melting so not a lot of ice buildup. There was the usual skied down crusty areas but avoidable in most cases and plenty of good skiing off to the side.
I skied steady for 2 hours. The only cold body parts were the bottoms of my feet. It was time for a break so I went into the lodge and pulled off my boots to warm up the feet. After a snack and my feet warmed up I was ready to get outside again. By this time another lift was running, the Bobcat Triple. There was no line and I was the first one on.
Several more runs and it was mid-afternoon. I decided to call it a day. With no lift lines I was able to get in a lot of skiing today. Although very cold and windy it turned out to be a great day of skiing at Wildcat!
Having Fun in the Great Outdoors!
No comments:
Post a Comment