Hiking Ski Areas (Wildcats, Cannon & Tecumseh)

This past winter Nicole and I hiked Wildcat D via the ski area with our snowboards on our backs. We didn't have any trouble with the staff of the mountain and enjoyed bagging a peak with a very easy descent. We were hoping to follow the same plan for Cannon and Tecumseh this winter, but judging by the stories I've read on here that might not be possible.

Has anyone explored the prospect of purchasing a xc ski ticket from the mountain to allow access to the property? What about contacting the staff ahead of time and possibly purchasing a "void" ticket that would allow travel on the trails without lift access?

Please reply with any experiences that you've had and i'll try and keep the table up to date.


Wildcat:
Hiked without any problems (carrying ski gear)

Tecumseh:
Hikeable by ascending hiking trail and descending ski trails.
No official policy regarding hikers on the trails

Cannon:
No ski trail hiking allowed.
People have successfully skied down after ascending via the trail.

I am not a skier, but I often hike Tecumseh, and have often seen skiers climb up the trails (Mt. Tecumseh and Sossman trails) to ski down. No idea about how receptive the ski area is to people hiking up the ski slopes.

Mohamed Ellozy said:

I am not a skier, but I often hike Tecumseh, and have often seen skiers climb up the trails (Mt. Tecumseh and Sossman trails) to ski down. No idea about how receptive the ski area is to people hiking up the ski slopes.

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Is the Tecumseh trail open enough to carry ski gear on your back? Is the grade shallow enough to be ski-able with skins?

Call. Write down the date & time & who of the conversation in case you have trouble.

Skiing down w/o having paid is generally considered theft of services. And you wouldn't want an XC ticket at Waterville as that won't let you on the mountain proper.

Tim

Funny, we were just having this conversation in another thread

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=19472

Summary: access depends on use agreement and selective enforcement. Your mileage may vary, but you should not assume free access to maintained ski area facilities.

I haven't skied Mt. Tecumseh trail, but my impression is it is generally quite open (not bad for packing gear). The grade is generally gradual, though there are definitely steep areas. I haven't hiked with skins, so I can't tell you the limitations, but I would guess most of the way is skinnable, with a few areas you'd be booting it.

Coming down the Sosman and Tecumseh trails -- again, hearsay, I am plain chicken about tight steep trees -- friends who are very good skiers tell me it's an absolute scream. Again, YMMV, because the particular friend I am thinking of is a PSIA Level II instructor who's probably taken more than one tree branch to the cranium.

bignslow said:

Is the Tecumseh trail open enough to carry ski gear on your back?

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Since I have often seen people do it, it must be doable

Is the grade shallow enough to be ski-able with skins?

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On the other hand I have never seen anyone skin up it.

Agreed Wildcat in my experience has no problem with the hiking/skinning factor....although I would probably stick to the PoleCat Trail (Hikersleft/Skier's Right). Cannon on the other hand is quite explicit about not hiking as they have signs posted...although early season skiing/skinning(before lift operations) seems to be accepted. Waterville seems to be in my experience off limits all around.

Cannon is definitely a no-go. I've hiked Tecumseh and they didn't seem to mind at all.

David Metsky said:

Cannon is definitely a no-go. I've hiked Tecumseh and they didn't seem to mind at all.

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Is it possible to hike up the trail on Cannon and ski down the ski area?

I'm probably going to try and call the individual mountains to get it straight from the source.

bignslow said:

Is it possible to hike up the trail on Cannon and ski down the ski area?

I'm probably going to try and call the individual mountains to get it straight from the source.

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I'll be interested to hear the reply on that prospect. It would be nice if they would but in the past (my brother and I were ski insructors at several NH areas)they classified walking up but skiing down a usage one had to pay for. That was awhile ago however. They never seemed to mind hiking up and hiking back down. Two years ago we hiked up what Bretton Woods calls the West Mt. on snowshoes just to get a peek into Zealand Valley and they just provided a void ticket. Now there is new ownership(out-of-staters)so who knows if its allowed. Especially since they promote snowshoe rentals and trails of their own, fee charged.

bignslow said:

Is it possible to hike up the trail on Cannon and ski down the ski area?

I'm probably going to try and call the individual mountains to get it straight from the source.

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Legal? Doubt it. Will you get caught? Doubt it. There isn't a lot of checking tickets while you are skiing past someone. It happens at the lift. Worst case, you get caught at the bottom, say "I'm sorry" and leave.

I'm not a lawyer, so this definately doesn't pass as legal advice....

Here's a possibility - go up/down Mittersill. Though it is (or will be, I don't recall how official it is yet) part of the ski area, it is not actively patrolled or marked on the map. No clue if they'd care if you climbed that last piece of trail up high.

If you hike up the hiking trails and pop out from the summit with skis on, no one is going to notice you. Ski patrol doesn't check tickets of people skiing down the hikll. However it's probably against their rules. Hiking up Mittersill and skiing down there happens all the time, but skiing those trails is much different then skiing a groomed and maintained ski run at Cannon. They're rough, brush covered, and have some major rocks.

-dave-

I hiked Cannon with my skis strapped to my back once a ways back. I went up the foot path, warmed up in the tram lodge and then skied down. I know hiking isn't allowed on the ski trails at Cannon, as has been mentioned but I also met a ski patroller as soon as I popped out of the trail on top. He said that the high for the day was 0 without wind chill and I should probably warm up before heading down and had no problem whatsoever that I was stealing one free run from them.

I've hiked Sugarloaf and Saddleback with skis on the ski trails with no problems. Most of the skiers and patrollers are very nice and simply hope you don't get hit.

As many people have testified before, don't even try to hike up either Sugarbush peak, skis or no skis. They sent me packing threatening a misdemeanor trespassing charge.

I know for a fact that Tecumseh and Wildcat have no policies against skiers hiking up and skiing down.

Fisher Cat said:

Two years ago we hiked up what Bretton Woods calls the West Mt. on snowshoes just to get a peek into Zealand Valley and they just provided a void ticket. Now there is new ownership(out-of-staters)so who knows if its allowed.

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They're still hiker-friendly. I stopped in to inquire in September and was told that it's okay, with the common sense advice to stick to the sides and avoid the dangerous blind spots on the way up. I can also confirm what others have said about Wildcat (ok), Cannon (not ok), and Tecumseh (ok).

I don't know about NH, but I have often skinned up VT areas to ski without any issues. You can ski up and down the back side of Cannon. Magic Mountain here in VT actually seems to be encouraging skiing up the mountain this year and I believe it's free.

Russ said:

I don't know about NH, but I have often skinned up VT areas to ski without any issues. You can ski up and down the back side of Cannon. Magic Mountain here in VT actually seems to be encouraging skiing up the mountain this year and I believe it's free.

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As mentioned earlier, Sugarbush in VT isn't very skier friendly.

As to Magic, not only don't they charge, they'll lead you around for a tour on Tuesdays - http://www.magicmtn.com/static_page.php?id=38

Das is some good beta dudes....nice to have some of the pow for a change in December...Thanx Russ looks like the 'ole southern VT. snow belt is kicking in. The history around Magic is some cool stuff. Ditto on consolidation going forward.

I've skiied up Sugarbush to get on the Monroe Skyline to Mad River. Good to know if they may not be crazy about that though. I usually ski on the sides of the easiest trails up and use hiking trails when possible. Maybe I just havn't been noticed. I've never in my life had anyone check for a ticket anywhere else except the lift line. I asked Stratton and they said you can hike the mountain anytime you want free, all you pay for is the lift. That and to obviously stay as out of the way of downhill traffic as possible.

As a season pass holder at WV I can assure you that hiking up the trails is allowed. I’ve seen people on snowshoes, or carry down hill ski. As long as you do not hike up the middle of the trail you will be fine. I have even seen one woman hike up the trail with her dog. Just give the right of way to the skies.