Wildcat Mountain Removing Summit building

[cooperhill]

Wildcat Mountain Working With U.S. Forest Service to Remove Summit Building

"Aug 2, 2011 - 8:48 AM By AlpineZone News

Pinkham Notch, NH - After considering all reasonable options, costs and benefits, and working with U.S. Forest Service to understand codes and requirements to renovate the existing summit building that once served as the top-station for the original Wildcat Mountain gondola, Peak Resorts has determined that the capital expense is not feasible and instead budget the costs and expense to dismantle and remove the summit building and restore a small, but noticeable, portion of the natural summit.

"You have to admire and respect the history and the individuals that built what remains of the original, but long neglected, infrastructure here", said Wildcat Mountain General Manager Josh Boyd. "But we're in a different era with extensive building requirements and regulations that the U.S. Forest Service has in place to preserve the natural beauty of the White Mountain National Forest. And I have worked with them to understand and fully study what was possible, but building codes and related costs would require us to rebuild the building almost entirely. At this time, we feel the significant capital expense to build at the summit is better spent to simply remove the structure next spring, restore a bit of the natural beauty at the summit, but leave a defined footprint that may allow the U.S. Forest Service to permit a building in the foreseeable future, and to allocate any immediate capital expenses to other more pressing improvements here at Wildcat." Boyd went on to say that an expense of this proportion to create a minor profit center that may never fully see a break-even return to simply even operate season-to-season, is just the type of thing that challenges any ski area owner or operator to have to consider increasing the price of lift tickets and season passes.

The White Mountain National Forest is consulting with the NH State Historic Preservation Office to ensure that the historic building is thoroughly documented and that its history is recorded before demolition.

Of note, the Mount Washington Observatory has already taken immediate action to relocate their summit web cam and Wildcat Mountain has worked and cooperated to provide an alternate location. Known for its legendary views of Mount Washington and Tuckerman Ravine, Wildcat Mountain is host to one of many summit cams that the Mount Washington Observatory website shares with its members and general public."

Another (pretty much the same) article here:

http://www.conwaydailysun.com/featured/story/7-30-old-wildcat-gondola-summit-building-be-dismantled

 

[Tom Rankin]

I assume this means NEAR the summit as opposed to the (brand new!) platform constructed ON the summit.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I would infer the same thing given that the webcam is on the old building not on the platform. It is confused of course be implying that the building is on the summit when in fact it is between D & E in the col.

Tim

 

[JustJoe]

 

[MichaelJ]

This building is the one being discussed:

From the south:

From the north:

It's too bad. It has (had) a really nice deck, shelter from the elements, and could have been a great little place like Waterville's Schwendi-Hutte or the one atop Cranmore. Providing services up there, particularly water and sewer, probably cost a fortune, though.

Then again, having services and even dining up there would be a revenue source, especially in the summer. Sunset dining with gondola access would have been sweet, and given the amount of existing ski area infrastructure, not much of a visible change from a forest perspective.

 

[RoySwkr]

That building used to be the top gondola station, but the resort preferred to use a chairlift that unloaded outdoors so skiers could immediately zoom away instead of having to disembark and put on their gear.

Of note, the Mount Washington Observatory has already taken immediate action to relocate their summit web cam and Wildcat Mountain has worked and cooperated to provide an alternate location.

I helped with this last Thurs. There were fewer than a dozen of us, about evenly split between observatory staff and volunteers (including an older woman who couldn't lift batteries but liked to climb ladders and a young guy who could probably have run up the mountain faster than the gondola since it kept stopping to load materials). We removed the observatory equipment from the old gondola building which is soon to be demolished and reinstalled it along with some new pieces at the ski patrol hut. There were an amazing mix of passers-by, from families in flip-flops to long distance backpackers mostly southbound.

 

[MichaelJ]

Also, the chairlift can run in more adverse weather than the gondola as those cabs present more of a profile to the wind. That's why the current summit lift is a high-speed detachable that uses gondolas in the summer and chairs in the winter.

On a bitterly cold, windy day, most skiers would prefer to be inside a gondola; however, it's better to have a chair that's running than a gondola that isn't.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Not to mention that the uphill carrying capacity of high-speed detachable quad chairs far exceeds the gondolas, which are slower to load/unload and therefore are spaced further apart. Skiers don't like lift lines either

Tim

 

[NorthShore]

This is finally happening:

http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/cam/ravines/ravines.jpg

http://www.skiwildcat.com/press-room.html?key=5386

Edit: Just noticed MichaelJ's post. Excuse the redundancy.

 

[rup]

And workers have moved the summit cam a bit to the south so the view now includes Tux.

http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/cam/