Wildcat Ridge Trail - update

[Jonatha]

I was very grateful for the input I had before heading out. For what it is worth, I found this trail very hard to follow. It was pretty much all blown in, so I had the added joy of breaking trail alone. I know we are all at different levels of experience, but being on a poorly blazed trail alone that is incredibly overgrown was not fun. I also had "blades" (very short trick skiis) on the back of my pack, and although they weren't much taller than the pack, they caught on everything. I realize we are up a several feet off the ground due to snow.

The ski patrol at Wildcat was kind enough to let me go inside their hut to adjust the blades, regroup etc. Then it was a fairly quick ski down from the summit.

 

[spencer]

Hi Jonatha,

I'm sorry to hear your trip up wasn't so much fun. I hope the glide down was much better.

A couple years ago, I carried full length fat skis up on my back and I got a lot of snow down my neck.

I think the problem with that trail is that the snow piles up above the blazes. I remember only one difficult section to follow: where the trail takes a 90 degree left turn and flagging goes straight, as was previously mentioned.

remember, it doesn't take much snow before the blazes are a thing of memory....

I'm glad ski patrol took you in....regrouping can make all the difference on an otherwise tough day!


spencer