What you'll find is back-to-basics skiing on old-style trails that ebb and flow with the mountain’s contours. It’s a true skiers’ mountain. If you sink your teeth into Wildcat, it might bite back.

Wildcat sits across a narrow ribbon of highway from Mt. Washington, home to some of the highest recorded winds in the world. While Mt. Washington’s summit, at 6,288 feet, is higher than Wildcat’s, at 4,062, the stunted evergreens coated with rime ice on both give testament to the harshness of the environment. Wildcat can be brutally cold, but the location and elevation does have a silver lining: The scenery is magnificent, and snow is plentiful—an average year yields at least 15 feet—and it comes early and stays late, often well into May.

With no residential development allowed in the protected wilderness area, Wildcat struggles financially compared to the fully-developed resorts. However, skiers and riders who frequent this mountain are fiercely loyal and the varied and challenging terrain give Wildcat a true heart and soul. Wildcat has made major progress in the past few years. Investments in snowmaking and grooming equipment have helped tame the conditions. Trees have been thinned to create glades. Trails have been widened, making them easier for lower-level skiers to navigate. Even the once wild and woolly Wildcat Trail is less menacing. It’s been widened, but it’s seldom groomed, so it still growls. The base lodge has been rebuilt. And a high-speed quad now zips skiers and riders from base to summit in a little over six minutes.

Wildcat, in the Mt. Washington Valley, has often been voted the ski area with the most spectacular scenery in the Northeast, with beautiful views across Pinkham Notch to towering Mt. Washington and Tuckerman Ravine.

Wildcat Ski Resort Facts:

Summit elevation: 4,062 feet
Vertical drop: 2,112 feet
Base elevation: 1,950 feet

Expert: +++
Advanced: ++++
Intermediate: ++++
Beginner: +++
First-timer: +++

Dining: +++++
Apres-ski/nightlife: ++++
Other activities: +++++

Address: Rt. 16, Pinkham Notch, Jackson, NH 03846
Area code: 603
Ski area phone: 466-3326
Snow report: (888) 754-9453
Toll-free reservations: (888) 754-9453 (888-SKI-WILD)
E-mail: through website
Internet: www.skiwildcat.com

Number and types of lifts: 4—1 high-speed quad, 3 triples
Skiable acreage: 225 acres
Snowmaking: 90 percent
Uphill capacity: 6,700 per hour
Parks & pipes: None
Bed base: None at the area
Nearest lodging: About a quarter-mile
Resort child care: Yes, 2 months and older
Adult ticket, per day: $59 (06/07)