Wildcat opening day report

[robrules]

Wow, what can I say but what an unbelievable day - the best opening day I've ever had.

Made it to Wildcat around 10:30 on Friday morning with the sun shining down on the mountain like light coming down from heaven, in my head I could hear angels singing while I watched some people sliding down the mountain from the parking lot. I was mesmerized by the amount of snow in October.

Rode the lift up and two tele guys were ripping it up under the lift. Looked like bottomless powder except for the gaps where a small stream ran. Got to the top and it was like the middle of January - snowbound. First run down provided some nice groomer material until I got to the more steeper parts where only a path through the middle was groomed and the sides was left all powder. Woo hoo face shots on my first run of the year.

In the morning they had skiers right side of the mountain open with about 4 different runs to get down. Plenty of light powder for the first half of each run, then the pow got progressively wetter and more capped as you went down. I was easily able to float over the top of the crunchy snow though on my board. Groomed stuff got a little rough on the feet and legs towards the bottom and there were some thin and bare spots near the end of the run, but I've seen the mixing bowl on Snowdown have less cover than that on Thanksgiving weekend.

Looked like it was all natural snow top to bottom with no supplemental snowmaking.

The crowds were non- existent. The parking lot was about 3/4 full when I pulled in, but by 11:30 I had the mountain to myself on each run.

Around 12:30, they opened the rest of the mountain that was accessable to the triple and I hit a few more pow runs before my legs gave out. I wish everyday could be this good.

Hit up Moat Mountain Brewery on the way back for a huge-ass juicy burger and a sampler of beer. Beer is pretty decent, but the food rocked.

Wildcat is a cool mountain, and I would definitely go back and check out the upper part of the mountain later in the year. Too bad they didn't have the quad inspected, since the snow on top would have been real good.

Glad K opened up and everyone got a chance to get out on the hill. This was surely a Halloween treat.

[flip]

I also made the 5 hour trek up from ct with my dad, two brothers, and two of our friends and i must say that the conditions were outstanding, especially considering there was no man made snow. There were freshies to be had all day on reserved trails which was amazing because we normally never get this type of snow in november, let alone october.
Some pictures can be seen here: http://community.webshots.com/album/488269403nxDyRh

[tyrolean_skier]

Glad you guys got to enjoy the snow at Widlcat. Sounds like you had similar conditions to what I experienced on Friday and Saturday at K.

[reefer]

Hit Wildcat Sunday. Mid-winter conditions. Short lift line and many ways down. We had trails to ourselves. Three feet of snow everywhere. Lift went down at 2:00 and they gave free passes to everyone for a return trip. I'll be back!!!!!
Gonna be a rockin' year!!!!!