With the lift-served ski season quickly vanishing, I schussed both Wildcat and Sunday River this past weekend.

On Saturday Jonathan Keck and I had a perfect spring day at the big Cat in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire -- schussing in sunshine and warm breezes. Wildcat was the last ski area in the Granite State still operating.

Riding the high-speed summit quad at Wildcat Mountain Saturday.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

Skiers and riders on the summit of Wildcat Saturday.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

As might be expected, snow conditions were deteriorating quickly, with many bare spots to work around.

Jonathan Keck mulls his options upon reaching a bare spot Saturday.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

Contemplating more bare spots.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

They decided to try the left side.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

Sure the bare spots were a pain, but I'm grateful to management for giving us one more opportunity to enjoy those incredible views that are such a Wildcat signature.

I think the Cat will call it quits, but they're holding out the possiblity of re-opening for May 3-4. But don't go without checking ahead of time!!!

Fast forward one day. The River was rather foggy and soggy yesterday. Many skiers and riders wore plastic bags to stay dry.

Many skiers wore plastic bags to stay dry yesterday at Sunday River.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

Riding the Barker Mountain quad yesterday at Sunday River.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

The cloud cover blanketed the upper half of the mountain, so I didn't bother to take any more pix.

Yesterday was definitely last call for Sunday River. For the record, I skied the River the first day of the season: October 31, 2007. And for the record, readers of this blog were there too.

Driving home, I detoured a bit to poke around the old Evergreen Valley ski area in Lovell and Stoneham. I'm working on a project for the Ski Museum of Maine and the Lovell Historical Society, and wanted to refresh my memory.

After more than a decade of planning, promotions, commotions and convulsions, Evergreen Valley operated for three seasons between December, 1972, and spring of 1975. The ski area had nine trails, three chairlifts and about 1,050 vertical. And lost about $4.5 million. The convulsions continued to revolve for many years after the bullwheels stopped turning and the lifts were sold off and removed.

E-mail this entry to a friend