Wildcat Snowmaking: What are they thinking?

Say what you will about the Sunday River vs Killington battle to open early. But an argument can be made that it has marketing or branding value.

Wildcat spent two days blowing piles on the top 2/3rds of their terrain. I don't understand the thinking. (I don't know the mountain well enough to know...is there a lift that serves what they blew?)

Was this fully conscious, bad weather forecasting or a branding move that I don't agree with? I don't get it.

http://www.skiwildcat.com/whats-happening.html?id=5754

http://www.skiwildcat.com/live-summit-cam.html

Wildcat does not have an upper mountain lift so they need to open top to bottom. They have a triple that goes from the base to 1/3 up and another that goes 2/3 up but they can't take advantage of their upper mountain vertical for early opening, top to bottom is pretty much the only way to go.

They shared first to open last year but that was on November 9th. They made a substantial investment in their snowmaking last year, mostly because they were forced to after their system crapped the bed the year before that. Their ability to make snow top to bottom with their new equipment is no joke, here is my report from their opening day last year when they tied first to open.

Stockpiling upper mountain snow makes some sense for them. Then they can concentrate all their firepower on lower elevation when the temperatures swing in their favor. I think that blog post of theirs was from last week, who knows how much snow they lost this past week. Was it worth stockpiling? Beats me, we'll see what they do with it. I don't think they would have blown that much snow if it was marketing snow.

Never skied there but heard good things about it.  What is the exposure of that trail?  If north facing they probably did not lose much snow

Gravity? By that I mean is it easier to pile up high and drag down hill? Sorry if this question is totally ridiculous but I don't really know anything about snowmaking.

Pretty sure it's all north facing.  How long will piles last with highs in the upper 40s?

Looks like there may be a small window to blow next weekend, not much this week.

That's 2 days on and maybe 2 weeks off.

Not claiming to be an expert on this.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=44.2649&lon=-71.2403#.Vi1nzRCrRE4

I skied at Wildcat in early Dec last year on the way to Sunday River.  First time checking out the place.  There were more or less three choices for top-to-bottom runs.  The long green with great views of Mt. Washington that has poleguns almost all the way, a blue to skiers left of the summit lift, and a steeper blue route down the middle.

The guns were on all day on the green trail.  Fresh tracks in the afternoon.  The relatively flat blue next to the summit was all giant snow whales with several inches of "frosting" on top.  Not exactly powder runs, but pretty fun.  Could either go over the whales or ski the edges.  The steeper blue trail was a bit on the slick side.

I was lucky to meet a long-time local retiree and skied with him in the morning.  It was a weekday and there were very few people around.  He grew up in the area and used to have a lifetime pass.  Now has to pay about $250 for a discounted pass, but thinks it's well worth it because of the improvements that have happened in recent years.

The express quad to the summit takes 6 minutes for 2000 ft vertical.  The Whiteface Summit lift is about 1800 ft vertical.

Harvey wrote

Pretty sure it's all north facing.  How long will piles last with highs in the upper 40s?

Have watched Massanutten in northern VA build piles on the upper mountain that last through warm days in early season more than once.  Deep snow is a pretty good insulator.

There is a good overview of snowmaking basics on the SMI website.  A family-owned company based in Midland, MI that's been in the business of selling snowmaking equipment since 1974.

http://www.snowmakers.com/snowmaking-basic.html

Killington is closed with reopening TBD. SR seems somewhat confident about reopening Saturday and they are seeing extended cold beyond that date.  Wildcat's snow report seems to be a week old, can't imagine they blew this weekend.

Should be interesting to see what happens.

Lots of needed rain coming thurs /friday..remnants of the mexican hurricane

Certainly is nice to see them planning for a top to bottom open! The whale is then allowed to set, or cure, for two to three days.  This lets excess water drain off and helps produce a softer snow.  In this case longer but it will stay snow longer not spreading it out.  

Wildcat snow making drone video

Summit cam is cloaked in rain or fog so can't see much.

From the base it does look like there is a some snow left up top, I think:



Still, monsoon yesterday and looks like several days well above freezing on tap.

I haven't skied the Wildcat area since about '98 I think. It was a lot of fun but every time I get in that area I would be drawn to that little bump across the street.

No mention of their stockpile:

"We're gearing up for the next cold spell so we can start cranking out the snow. The snowmaking guns are aligned and ready for the mercury to drop. All of our off-season preparation has worked and we just need the cooperation of the weather to make it happen. Our goal is to open Lynx top-to-bottom as soon as possible. We don't have a set opening date but we'll keep you all informed when we think the time is right to start spinning the lifts again for another season at The 'Cat!

We're well prepared, are you? Take a look around at our new website, we hope you enjoy it. Make sure to check out the Vertical Value Card (on sale now!) for savings on lift tickets all season long as well as additional perks. We've got Gift Cards for sale which make great stocking stuffers and can be used at both Attitash and Wildcat. There's also some great seasonal programs lined up for this season so take a gander at the ski school page. One seasonal program in particular we'd like to mention is the Wildcat Cat Racing & Development Program (WCRDP). This program will help develop your skills in the gates and around the mountain in general. If you take your local Race League seriously, this is program you want to be involved in. There's so much more we'd like to tell you about but we leave it on you to be an explorer of our website and discover the magic within."

Harvey wrote

 Pretty sure it's all north facing.  How long will piles last with highs in the upper 40s?

Maybe they're thinking the higher elevation and north facing aspect will preserve the snow. This time of year, if the sun isn't directly on you, it's much colder as the air itself is cold.

So if it wasn't prime conditions to blow lower trails, they went ahead on the top were conditions for making snow were more optimal, producing more and saving money. Then like RcO said, bury the lower elevations when favorable. Could be a wise strategy putting them ahead and optimizing the snow budget.

Just a guess.

I was being facetious. Kitty seemed to ignore the forecast. All their snow has been gone for days.  Hey we all succumb to pressure and make mistakes.

Harvey wrote

I was being facetious. Kitty seemed to ignore the forecast. All their snow has been gone for days.  Hey we all succumb to pressure and make mistakes.

Speak for yourself.

Thirty days after they started blowing and maybe 20 days after it all melted, Wildcat will open this Weds with one run T2B with 2000 feet of vert.

Love that setup.

Nice but not $49 nice. I doubt that they'll be the only 2k top to bottom this week.