Wildcat Ski Area this time of year

at the end of the ski season this year, we came down Polecat trail for a ways and then made our way over to the Gondola corridor. Whats the most direct route down at this time of year?

There used to be a good herd path worn into the old gondola line (when looking down the mountain, the trail immediately left of the current HSQ/gondola). On the whole, the old gondola line is much smoother than the current one.

The polecat trail is the easiest, just follow the maintenance road down. If in doubt keep right except near the bottom where another trail diverges right but the road stays on the Polecat

Keith, Polecat is probably the easiest. I used the old Gondola cut a few years ago. It was pretty brushy then which hid some ledge in spots. Overall not bad but you can pretty much jog down Polecat.

If you want the most "direct route" the black diamonds down the front of the mountain are much shorter, although much steeper, than Polecat. Lift Line, Black Cat, Alley Cat and the Chutes is probably the straightest trails without literally following the Gondola line. I was under the impression that the ski area frowned on walking the trails though. I've only skiied there in the winter. Never hiked it so I can't comment on that part. Pole Cat is definitely easy grades as everyone has noted but if I remember right was about 2 3/4 miles long, versus 1 1/4 miles or so for the trails down the front. Much more fun to blast through the bumps in the dead of winter!

I ended up taking Polecat, with a short detour on Tomcat. Joe, you were right, you can pretty much jog down Polecat, well, you could