PINKHAM NOTCH, New Hampshire ??” On Monday, March 6, 2006, 26 challengers, including 24 men and 2 women (26 skiers, one telemarker, and one snowblader) participated in Wildcat’s Third Annual 100K Day Challenge for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. This day-long event was a test to see who was tough enough to tackle 100,000 vertical feet in one day of skiing or riding — that is at least 48 runs down the Lynx trail, 2,112 feet of vertical per run, all in one day. This fund-raiser raised $17,750 for Make-a-Wish Foundation, over two times the amount raised last year and more than five times the amount raised the first year. 25 of the 26 100K challengers reached the goal of skiing at least 100,000 vertical feet.

Top prizes were awarded to the top fundraisers for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Manfred Raschke for the second year in a row took first place, raising $4,250, and won his choice of a brand new pair of Rossignol skis or boots. The first year, Raschke came in third with over $600 raised. Through his three 100K skiing efforts to date, Raschke has so far raised $6,350 for Make-a-Wish. Ralph Livermore came second this year with $3,110 raised, moving up from third place the year before, when he came in with $730 raised. Livermore completed the 100K challenge with his wife, Judianne, and won a new snowboard from Vitamin Water. Tied for third were Patrick Ramsey of York, ME and R.D. Jenkinson of North Hampton, NH , both haling from Berwick Academy and raising $1,369.50 each. Ramsey and Jenkinson were the youngest of this year’s 100K participants. And for the second year in a row, Dan Levesque of Rochester, NH, came in fourth place having raised $815, bringing his Make-a-Wish contributions through 100K skiing to $1,355. Levesque was the first person to meet the 100,000 vertical challenge this year, clocking his 48th complete run down the Lynx at 3:00pm, having skied 100,000 vertical in 7.5 hours.

The Wildcat Express high speed quad brings skiers and riders to Wildcat’s 4,062 ft. summit in just about six minutes, making it unique in the East in giving access to so much vertical in so little time. 25 of the 26 100K participants reached their goal of skiing 100,000 vertical, and many continued to ski because the conditions were so nice and it was a beautiful day with Wildcat’s famous stunning views of Mt. Washington.

Wildcat’s Ski School Instructors Mark (“Homer”) Holmes, Bruno Janicki, and Roland Dubois also participated for the third straight year, and pulled in over $1,000. Homer hatched the concept of racking up the vertical feet when he set the benchmark of 52 runs down the Lynx shortly after the Wildcat Express quad was first installed in 1997.

This event was organized by Wildcat Event Manager Erik Spinney. This is Spinney’s third season working at Wildcat, and he has been skiing and riding Wildcat since he was a young child. Spinney looks forward to hosting this event again next year, with a tentative date set for Monday, March 5, 2007.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation?В® is an organization which “grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to in order to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy.” For more information, please visit www.wish.org.