The Wildcat Mountain Range has two White Mountain 4000 footers, known as the ‘A’ peak or Wildcat A, and the ‘D’ peak, or Wildcat D. There are literally about 10 peaklets in complete alongside the Wildcat Ridge Trail however these two are the one ones that rely as 4000 footers.
In winter, most individuals climb up the D peak first after which observe the Wildcat Ridge Trail to the A peak, earlier than descending to Carter Notch and mountaineering out the 19 Mile Brook Trail. This route requires a brief shuttle from the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead on Rt 16 to the Wildcat Ski Resort car parking zone just a few miles to the south. You also can hike the identical route in reverse and descend from the D peak.
When climbing the D peak or descending, hikers observe a sequence of ski trails which were marked as a chosen mountaineering route by the ski resort, so hikers don’t get picked off by skiers descending the mountain. You’ll typically see this route known as the Polecat Ski Trail, though it’s truly a sequence of smaller path segments linked collectively. While it’s signed, it’s simple to recollect the route, particularly at the hours of darkness, as a result of it follows the northernmost border of the ski resort. In different phrases, when climbing you all the time need to preserve the forest in your left and when descending, the forest ought to all the time be in your proper.
Wildcat Mountain Off-Hours Access
In the previous, you used to have the ability to climb or descend the hiker ski trails any time you wished. But beginning within the winter of 2022-2023 (this yr), the resort proprietor restricted the usage of the ski trails to sure occasions of the day, when the ski resort shouldn’t be in operation. The ski resort can try this as a result of they’ve a particular use allow from the US Forest Service, although the ski slopes are on public land in a National Forest
If you’re a hiker, you possibly can solely use the hiker-designated ski trails earlier than 8:30 am and after 4:00 pm. It doesn’t matter which path you’re mountaineering, up or down, entry is restricted to these hours.
The upshot of all that is that you just’re more likely to hike to or from Wildcat D at the hours of darkness. Since it’s important to be off the ski path by 8:30 and it takes 2 to three hours to climb Wildcat D from the underside of the ski resort, you’d have to begin earlier than dawn to get off the ski slopes by 8:30 am. Similarly, since you possibly can solely descend after 4:00, you’ll most likely hike some portion of the descent after sundown.
Hiking up or down Wildcat D by your self at evening is usually a little spooky, however a vibrant headlamp does assist gentle the best way. But mountaineering at evening in winter shouldn’t be unusual, particularly on longer routes within the Whites, and it’s a superb factor to get some apply doing.
Climbing up or down Wildcat D at the hours of darkness can truly be fairly a deal with when the moon is vibrant or when the sky is evident and you may see the celebrities. The Wildcat Ski Resort doesn’t have evening snowboarding they usually don’t gentle up the slopes or the chair lifts at evening, so you possibly can expertise the marvel of the winter sky with none gentle air pollution. That, alone, is an effective cause to climb up or come down the Wildcat ski trails at evening even if you happen to don’t care about climbing a 4000-footer.