Wildcat Mountain, New Hampshire - New England Ski Area Expansions

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Wildcat Mountain
Pinkham's Grant, New Hampshire

Overview

Wildcat Mountain: Wildcat Express

Wildcat Express - 1997 - Open

The new Wildcat Express (left) and old gondola (right) (2003)

As soon as opening in January of 1958, the lack of uphill capacity of the then-new summit gondola was quickly noticed. Initially remedied with T-Bar lifts, multiple chairlifts were eventually installed on the upper and lower mountain to help open all of the terrain to more skiers.

With the gondola nearing its fortieth birthday, a sizable change was planned for Wildcat - the installation of the fastest chairlift in the state.

While the gondola would remain in place, the upper mountain Catapult Triple had to go. In addition, the Catapult's lift line (known then as Cat Line), had to be extended to the base (the new lower lift line trail would be called Panther). Finally, with the addition of the Tomcat triple in the late 1980s, as well as the upcoming new lift, the Lynx double was no longer needed.

In 1997, a new Doppelmayr high speed detachable quad, 6,616 feet long and 2,041 feet vertical, was installed on this new lift line, just to the north of the gondola. With a line speed of 1,100 feet per minute, the new lift was 10% faster than any other high speed quad in the state.

Initially only a chairlift, gondola cabins were purchased a few years later for summer operations. In 2004, the last remaining towers of the old gondola were removed.

The bottom terminal of the Wildcat Express Quad (2007)

The top of the old gondola (2003)

Removal of the final old gondola towers (2004)

The Wildcat Express Quad lift line (2007)

The top of the Wildcat Gondola (2007)

The top of the Wildcat Express Quad (2006)

Resources

Wildcat Mountain - NewEnglandSkiHistory.com

Wildcat Mountain - official site

Last updated: October 28, 2010