Catamount Ski Reports 2024-2025 season

NELSAP

Feb 15 2025

On Saturday the 15th, I hit up Catamount on the Indy Pass. I knew it was going to be a busy day, so I arrived at 820am, got a good parking space and chatted up with my friend Rich Edwards who was parking cars, got my ticket (no line), and was skiing by 835.

Most of the mountain was open minus some of the natural terrain. The Glades Triple is down for repairs for the season. For the first 1.5 hours, there was no significant lift line on the summit quad, so I lapped that as much as I could. First two runs were down Catapult, which was in prime shape and groomed, before it got too skied off. Christopher's Leap was hit after that. The picture doesn't do it justice. That trail is incredibly steep and actually gets steeper at it's midpoint. It drops 346' in 961' of length, just slightly less steep than the Rumor at Gore. Best to hit this trail when it's been freshly groomed, first thing.

I pretty much covered the rest of the mountain during the rest of the morning. The lift lines did grow for the summit quad, though they weren't awful, less than 10 min in the singles line. Catamount Quad was ski on. The two triples in the Meadows area didn't have major lines but with kids, families, and skiers that only go out a few days a season (this being a holiday Saturday), they did stop a fair amount.

View of the mountain from the Meadows area:

Upper Bobcat, a relatively newly restored run (used to be a part of Bobcat back in the day when it was served by a T-bar, but had become overgrown) was in good shape:

The Race Trail has been renamed Toni Matt and has a nice dedication plaque:

I ate an early lunch, to take advantage of less crowds at noon, and made several more runs until 130pm. I would have skied longer, but we had a messy winter storm coming, and I didn't want to drive in that. Just as I got home there was steady snow, so great timing!

14832' of vertical, 17 runs, 16.7 miles, not bad for a holiday Sat.

NewEnglandSkier13

I've heard that those trails are legitimately steep! Looks like fun.

skizilla

I skied there saturday as well I do not think the singles lines were more than 5 minutes. Honestly it was weird the summit lift was not busier. Yes Ripper and christophers leap are legit steep they rival anything up north. They kind of remind me of white heat at SR in that if you fall nothing is going to stop you because it is groomed so evenly. Would not want to ski it on an icy day. I hit them early myself and they were fine.
I have said this before and I will say it again I hate how the new steep trails specifically ripper destroyed the mountain. They make it look ugly they destroyed turnpike and expressway which could be fun and are only really usable by like ten percent of the ski population. Also why they do not make snow on Look OUt which is right above sidewinder and would take pressure off of the lynx sidewinder trail intersection is beyond me. They should really concentrate on opening blue terrain before black steeps.
They also need to clean out woods on birch and cathedral glades and probably could find glades elsewhere even if they are small. The glade along the top of side winder for instance is a great beginner glade

Stan51

It has been over 50 years since I skied Catamount (I now live in Montana, so it isn't exactly on my ski circuit, now) Before they had chair lifts, there was a T-bar going up to about half way, and a rope tow that operated as a pulse tow going up along what was probably the predecessor to Catapult. When I was about 10, I remember my father grouping up with five other skiers, the tow being activated, and being pulled up to the top of the trail. Doing the late 1960s, when my high school held slalom races there, that tow was gone, and I am pretty sure that trail was abandoned. Glad to see it resurrected!

NELSAP

Stan51;c-67563 wroteIt has been over 50 years since I skied Catamount (I now live in Montana, so it isn't exactly on my ski circuit, now) Before they had chair lifts, there was a T-bar going up to about half way, and a rope tow that operated as a pulse tow going up along what was probably the predecessor to Catapult. When I was about 10, I remember my father grouping up with five other skiers, the tow being activated, and being pulled up to the top of the trail. Doing the late 1960s, when my high school held slalom races there, that tow was gone, and I am pretty sure that trail was abandoned. Glad to see it resurrected!

Hi Stan, I believe the rope tow you are talking about when up parallel to the Rifle Barrel trail (now abandoned, overgrown, and partially part of the Lynx trail now), which came down and ended to near where Catapult is today. Here's a 1953 trail map I have. The T-bar you mentioned wasn't installed yet but went in roughly up the slope between 1,2,5,6 tows. #3 is the tow that I believe you rode up. Catapult today is located just left of the number 3.

Stan51

That sounds about right. I remembered the name of the trail as something firearm related. I didn't realize that there was an additional rope tow that went to (or close to) the summit back then.
My family used to make day trips up there around 1960 or so. I do remember that my sister and I were almost too light for the T-bar; it would lift us off the snow in a few places on the way up.