Skiing Catamount Mountain
Wednesday. December 24th, 2025
Runs: 8
Distance: 6.96 miles
Elevation: 5,860 feet
Max Speed: 31.0 mph
Avg. Speed: 16.6 mph
Moving Time: 25 minutes, 11 seconds
Total Time: 1 hour, 26 minutes, 38 seconds
Merry Christmas Eve! I wasn't sure if I was going to ski since it was literally Christmas Eve, but I figured Catamount opened at 8:30am and since I have the Indy Pass, I could absolutely go for just an hour or two, get some laps in, and then make my way down to New Jersey, so that's what I did! The alarm went off at a reasonably 5:30am, I packed up the car for the holidays, and I was off!
Mountain Conditions
Wednesday, December 24th
Early Season Turns!
11 groomed trails are planned today, seviced by 4 lifts. Tuesday's snow was a great refresher and were expecting excellent conditions as it grooms in. Our snowmaking team is also working extra hard blowing lots of snow to open up more terrain on our New York side.
Keeping our fingers crossed on more snow later in the week.
Uphill available on designated trails: Esplanade, Upper Promenade, Ridge Run
Welcome back!
Weekday singing: 9am-4pm.
Weekends & Holidays 8:30am-4:00pm
Huge thanks to our mountain operations team for the nonstop work it takes to make this happen - be sure to show them some love when you seem them out there. See you on the snow!
I had low expectations for the day in terms of trail count and snow quality, but something is better than nothing! I made it to the parking lot around 8:15am and 100% had some princess parking. I got my Indy Pass for the day, christened the bathroom, and it was time to head to the Ridge Quad!
Runs 1-3
Run 1: Ridge Quad - Ridge Run - Mountain View - Holiday
[1.29 mi; 4:51; 1,024 ft; 25.2 mph max; 15.9 mph avg]
Run 2: Ridge Quad - Ridge Run - Walter's Way - Esplanade
[1.24 mi; 4:23; 958 ft; 31.0 mph max; 17.0 mph avg]
Run 3: Meadows Triple - Mountain View - Holiday
[0.62 mi; 2:36; 604 ft; 24.8 mph max; 14.3 mph avg]
My first run of the day was along Ridge Run (the only way down from the top on this day), which had surprisingly great snow! This brought me to the top of the Meadows Triple, and then I had a nice trip down Mountain View and Holiday right on back to the quad, which had zero line!
Run #2 was down Ridge Run to Walter's Way, which I think had the steepest pitch of the day (not very steep) - fun! This went into Esplanade, and instead of skating back to the Ridge Quad, I hopped on the Meadows Triple (which climbs basically all in the woods - so pretty) to hit Mountain View to Holiday again. All the runs were hard and fast minus Ridge Run - I'm starting to really hone-in on my carving technique, focusing weight on my outside ski, so it was good to practice!
Runs 4-7
Run 4: Ridge Quad - Ridge Run - Upper Promenade - Echo's Run - Esplanade
[1.36 mi; 4:59; 942 ft; 31.0 mph max; 16.3 mph avg]
Run 5: Meadows Triple - Mountain View - Holiday
[0.51 mi; 1:45; 554 ft; 24.2 mph max; 17.6 mph avg]
Run 6: Catamount Quad - Toni Matt
[0.33 mi; 1:15; 377 ft; 28.4 mph max; 15.7 mph avg]
Run 7: Catamount Quad - On Stage
[0.30 mi; 1:06; 384 ft; 23.9 mph max; 16.3 mph avg]
Run #4 brought me down the longest way - Ridge Run to Upper Promenade to a bit of Echo's Run before finishing on Esplanade. Overall it's a good one, but the flat on Upper Promenade required some skating. Plus, people were starting to arrive and I was having to semi-dodge some newbies. I did another lap on the Meadows Triple (the Birch glades look like they'd be really fun if they open), and then for #6 and #7 I hit up the Catamount Quad, which servieced two runs on this day (technically three, but I didn't need to ski Cat's Meow). Toni Matt was on the left-hand turn off the lift, and it was a glacier, and On Stage was on the right. People were carving really nicely on On Stage, which reminded me that I have a lot of room to grow! I am definitely getting better every day, but my heart wants to really dig into it!
Run 8
Run 8: Ridge Quad - Ridge Run - Watler's Way - Esplanade - Homeward Bound
[1.32 mi; 4:16; 1,017 ft; 30.3 mph max; 18.5 mph avg]
My final run for the day was back up the Ridge Quad to Walter's Way, eventually skiing all the way down to the lodge to put a bow on things! I'm really glad I got up early to make some turns and practice before the whirlwind family holiday. On, and fun to add, I never had to share a lift!
No comments:
Post a Comment