Areas in the East that have had Cat Skiing

joshua_segal

(Areas that have done a one-day special event don’t count.)

Great Gorge (corrected) - Vernon Valley, NY (the combined area before it was renamed Mt. Creek)

Petersburg Pass, NY (For one season after they cut new trails, but never added the lift to serve them)

Arrowhead, NH

Proposed: Upper trails at Big Squaw, ME

What can you add?

bousquet19

That would be Vernon Valley-Great Gorge Resort, NJ.

Also:

Mt. Ellen (at Sugarbush), VT – offered late season upper-mountain ’cat skiing around 5 years ago.  I don’t know whether this was a one-season trial or a regular offering.

Whiteface NY – I think ’cat transportation provided access to the the upper runs before TTB lifts were installed.

The only time I rode a ’cat for skiing was at Sugarloaf ME when the uppermost chair (Timberline) was down.  That was cool!

Woody

NewEnglandSkier13

Currently Sugarbush offers this: https://www.sugarbush.com/activities/cabin-cat/

It doesn’t access exclusive terrain nor is a traditional “cat skiing” experience, but it is still snowcat transported skiing.

mapnut

IIRC,  little Arrowhead, NH proposed to do it not so long ago after they re-started their bunny slope operation. They have 500 vertical feet and some real steeps, once served by a platterpull. They would have needed a lot of snow. We used to have an Arrowhead correspondent, Spence, but he seems not to have made the crossing.

NewEnglandSkier13

They did offer it for a few years, but when I went there two years ago the cat that they had used for it was just sitting unused.

rickbolger

Belleayre did a regular snowcat service to Cathedral Brook for a couple years, mid 00s. 

Only full service one I can think of is Blomidon, Newfoundland but I don’t believe it’s affiliated with a ski area

steamboat1

Not cat skiing but Le Massif in Quebec has school bus skiing. You had to ride a school bus from the bottom to get back to the top before lifts were installed.

sugarloaf

Picture of the snowcat skiing at Belleayre from 2006:

Bill29

Many, many years ago, Al Risch, then head of the Wildcat Mountain Ski Patrol, ran a snowcat trip to the Mt. Washington summit. After the season ended at Wildcat, Al, his wife Alison and the captain of the Dartmouth Ski Team (whose name I can’t remember) ran the enterprise, I went on the first trip which was for the press. At. that time I wrote a ski column, among other things, for the afternoon Worcester paper. It was early April, the mountain was pretty solid (an expected temperature warm-up did not occur) and that first trip was kind of wild. I have described it in the past in the previous snow journal format.

The idea was to spend the  morning skiing the east snow fields, ski around the cone to the top of Tuckerman Ravine, eat lunch which Al and crew provided, then ski into the ravine and finally ski down to Pinkham Notch. As I said, it was solid (read icy) and Al and crew were able to keep up alive, but it was close. A month later I did the trip again. The snow conditions were great, the weather was perfect and it was a memorable experience.I don’t know how many springs that endever  lasted. Later, Al was one of the founders of Friends of Tuckerman Ravine, an organization that still exists. No more snow cats to the summit, as far as I know.

joshua_segal

Summary #1:

Great Gorge - Vernon Valley, NY (the combined area before it was renamed Mt. Creek): They used the CAT for one season to connect the newly combined areas.

Petersburg Pass, NY (After they cut new trails, but never added the lift to serve them)

Arrowhead, NH: As far as I know, they did this for at least a couple of seasons.

Mt. Ellen (at Sugarbush), VT: Late season for at least a year or two.

Whiteface NY; Cat transportation provided access to the the upper runs before TTB lifts were installed.

Belleayre, NY; did a regular snowcat service to Cathedral Brook for a couple years, mid 00s

Proposed: Upper trails at Big Squaw, ME

Other odd ball situations that don’t really fit:

Blomidon, Newfoundland but not affiliated with a specific ski area

Mt. Washington, NH: It seems like it was a very limited ad hoc thing

Bus or car service:

Le Massif, QC: Before lifts were installed.

Prospect Hill, MA: Beginner area was small, so the beginners were going to be bused to the upper mountain (which was very flat).  They had the bus.  It was such a bad season, I don’t know if they ever used it.

Wachusett, MA; In the 40s, a bunch of guys would squeeze into a car, drive to the top of the auto road. All but one would ski down; thhe other would drive down to pick up the others for the next run.

Got more?

jaytrem

Haystack/Hermitage on certain days when their lifts are closed.  $55 for a 1.5 hour session, 3 sessions per day.  Gotta be a member though.

Oh and what about Whittier when they had the gondola cabins bolted on the back of one.

ciscokid

I know it’s not the east but close( and Eastern Canada was mentioned) and not sure if they’re still offering it but talk of Bohemia’s addition involves cat skiing I believe

Porkies

http://www.theporkies.com/?p=27

Voodoo

http://mtbohemia.com/index.php/voodoo-mountain

ciscokid

NewEnglandSkier13

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Bill29”>Many, many years ago, Al Risch, then head of the Wildcat Mountain Ski Patrol, ran a snowcat trip to the Mt. Washington summit. After the season ended at Wildcat, Al, his wife Alison and the captain of the Dartmouth Ski Team (whose name I can’t remember) ran the enterprise, I went on the first trip which was for the press. At. that time I wrote a ski column, among other things, for the afternoon Worcester paper. It was early April, the mountain was pretty solid (an expected temperature warm-up did not occur) and that first trip was kind of wild. I have described it in the past in the previous snow journal format.

</blockquote>I am a close relative to Al and Alison and I spend a lot of time in New Hampshire with them, especially during the winter. I have heard many stories about patrolling at Wildcat and about the Ravine. :)]

bmwskier

That doesn’t look like a standard kind of snow grooming track from the Belleayre photo. What was that– some kind of repurposed APC or something. It’s pretty close to an M113’s running gear. 

mtsnow123

Smugglers notch runs them in the winter. Took one in March of this year. Got to the summit just after sunrise and had a great time. I believe it was $35 a person. Not much longer to get up compared to the Madonna 2 chair. Very good conditions though. Cat skiing in the East can be so variable that you might be unfortunate to book early

NewEnglandSkier13

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“mtsnow123”>Smugglers notch runs them in the winter. Took one in March of this year. Got to the summit just after sunrise and had a great time. I believe it was $35 a person. Not much longer to get up compared to the Madonna 2 chair. Very good conditions though. Cat skiing in the East can be so variable that you might be unfortunate to book early </blockquote>Yes, here are the details: http://www.smuggs.com/pages/winter/activities/cat-trax.php

bousquet19

Brown’s Peak in Shrewsbury, MA

Bill29

NewEnglandSkier13, Al and Alison are terrific skiers and  very nice people. I didn’t make the Boston Ski & Snowboard Show this year and, since they usually are at the Friends of Tuckerman Ravine booth, I missed seeing them this year, if, in fact there was that booth this year. If you talk to them, please give them my best. If you tell Al that the guy who used to write a ski column in Worcester said “I’m lucky to be alive,” I’m pretty sure he’ll know who it is. 

ski_it

Yes FoTR was there. I didn’t know to say hi to Al, but loved the pics of TR they had up, as well as Great Glen’s & Wildcats.They still have Cats up the big guy to the 4200ft level. However, as explained to me at the Ski Expo, you MUST free heel down the auto road most of the way until you reach the Great Glen XC network and you MUSTN’T head towards any ravines. Perhaps I can make it up there this year…….http://greatglentrails.com/winter/outdoor-center/snowcoach/