Trip Reports
5.0 (1 trip report)
mike
Jan 17, 2026
Hiked on August 1, 1965
Hiked it when I was 17 with friend Gibby McIlvain after taking buses up from Washington DC and spending a night at the AMC Carter Notch Hut. Remember the smell of pine trees.
4,422 ft | Carter | 0 routes
Feels like 64°F
Recent Precipitation
Rain: 0.54" (24h) · 0.65" (48h)
~2.4°F drop per 1,000ft
Wildcat Mountain (A Peak) is showing DANGEROUS conditions
See exactly why with full AI conditions — hazard alerts, gear recommendations, and the best hiking window.
See Full ConditionsBest Hiking Window
Avoid entirely Tuesday night through Wednesday due to the extreme wind and severe weather event. Thursday carries a renewed frontal passage with wind ramp-up and storms in the afternoon — if hiking Thursday, an early morning start is the only viable window, and conditions should be monitored carefully given continued instability. The earliest reasonably safe window may not arrive until Friday or later, pending confirmation that the strong low and associated frontal activity has fully cleared the region.
Trail: Ski trails, Wildcat Ridge Trail, Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Carter Moriah Trail, North Carter Trail, Imp Trail
Conditions: Dry Trail
“I started up the ski trails. Middle Polecat/Upper pole Cat. Friends started on Lost Pond and up Wild Cat Ridge. we met up and continued. Overnighted at the hut and up and out over Carter Dome. All good on the trails. Just a few bugs if you stopped, so no summit stops.”
Trail: Ski trails, Wildcat Ridge Trail
Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable
“Great early morning out to tag the Wildcats. Everything was mostly dry, including some of the spots on Wildcat Ridge that can be tricky if the rocks are wet. All mud spots were easy to get around or step in without any lost shoes and any water on the trail was below the plank bridges. Please note that there is a lot of construction happening at Wildcat right now near the base so please proceed with caution. If you stay on the access road on the stream side of the lifts at the base, there are a couple of breaks in the construction barriers and ropes for you to access Lower Polecat. It is wide enough for the side-by-sides to go through as well.”
Trail: Ski trails, Wildcat Ridge Trail
Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable
“This was a lovely day for an out and back to grab these. There is construction work going on at Wildcat so you have to walk a little farther before you start to cut up to the uphill access trails. There is signage indication what sections are employees only. The ski trail were super dry which always makes the footing more tedious. The WRT is in awesome shape. Much better footing and the rocky sections were all dry which made for faster going in both directions. I only saw a handful of hikers today but all seemed to be having a great day. It's always nice to finish a hike before lunch time!”
Conditions synthesized from: NWS Higher Summits Forecast, NOAA Open-Meteo, Mount Washington Observatory, NETC Trip Reports, NOHRSC Snow Depth, Mt. Washington Avalanche Center, USGS Stream Levels, OpenWeather Air Quality.
AI-generated from public data. Always verify conditions before heading out — backcountry weather can change quickly.
No routes available for this peak.
Highest of the Wildcat peaks with ski area on slopes. Great views of Tuckerman Ravine and Mount Washington.
Elevation
4,422 ft
Range
Carter
Rank
#20 of 48
Difficulty
Moderate
Coordinates
44.2590, -71.2015
mike
Hiked it when I was 17 with friend Gibby McIlvain after taking buses up from Washington DC and spending a night at the AMC Carter Notch Hut. Remember the smell of pine trees.