Peak Reviews
5.0 (1 review)
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 11°F
Recent Precipitation
Rain: 0.02" (24h) · 0.19" (48h)
Snow: 0.2" (24h) · 0.6" (48h)
Below freezing at all elevations
~3°F drop per 1,000ft
Best Hiking Window
Friday mid-day offers the best — and likely only — reasonable window in the next 48 hours, when the Clipper briefly allows winds to decrease. Plan for an early morning start to summit and descend before winds ramp up Friday afternoon. Avoid Saturday entirely, as conditions are forecast to be dangerous with hurricane-force gusts and widespread snow.
Trail: Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Wildcat Ridge Trail, ski trails
Conditions: Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Snow/Ice - Small Patches
“It was an incredible day for Suzanne’s grid finish! We started late so that we could come down the ski trails with our butt sleds. Trails were slushy, but we were still able to spike it to just about before the hut/junction. Lots of standing water on trail, breaking bridges, bare ice now exposed. Once past the hut we put our snow shoes on for the rest of the day. We thought getting up A would be the hard part, but the hard part was actually going from A to D, which was as others have said today, incredibly challenging. There are deep post holes from where we and others punched through with snow shoes, the trail is deteriorating rapidly and looks like a late April early May trail. Lots of treacherous spots and very tedious stepping. Having broken my ankle in the middle of the Pemi, I was very conscious and aware of where I was putting my feet 🤣 because the ridgeline was downright ankle breaking. I joked that we were down to a 3 inch monorail [that's not monorail] and others said you got a monorail? It was absolutely terrible trail conditions, but somehow the best day ever. 🩷❤️🧡💛🩵💙💜”
Trail: Camp Dodge Cutoff, Imp Trail, North Carter Trail, Carter Moriah Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Wildcat Ridge Trail
Conditions: Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular
“Snow conditions were perfect, almost no ice on Imp, easy to avoid. I bareboot from car to jct with Carter-Moriah trail, then snowshoes all day. Trail to North Carter is filled with snow drifts. The steep pitch down to Carter Notch is free of ice, no problem going down. Didn’t go across the pond. Great day to be outside, saw only one person doing a similar itinerary but opposite direction (came up from Wildcat ski slopes).”
Trail: Ski trails, Wildcat Ridge Trail, Nineteen Mile Brook Trail
Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder
“Trails are 90% awesome for snowshoes. Pole Cat was groomed and packed. Wildcat Ridge was the fastest I’ve ever seen it, but the hike down to the hut intersection is a post hole mess. Go slow and you’ll be fine. 19 mile Brook was so hard packed we could switch to spikes for the trip out.”
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.