PINIHAM NOTCH, New Hampshire ??” Wildcat Mountain entered a five-person team in the Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon held on Saturday, April 16th, and landed first place in the Ski Area Challenge category, and fifth place overall.

Stephen Nichipor, of Wildcat’s Ski Patrol and Bartlett Backcountry Adventures, organized the team which included three other members of Wildcat’s Ski Patrol, along with one former member. Erin Kimball did the run segment, running 8.3 miles in 65 minutes; Rusty Partridge took the kayak leg, paddling six miles in just over 47 minutes; Matt Bowman, who you see at As You Like It bakery and sandwich shop in Jackson, NH, cycled 18 miles in just over 62 minutes.

Kyle Whittemore hiked three miles to the base of Tuckerman Ravine in just over 53 minutes; and Stephen Nichipor’s ski run in Tuckerman Ravine took four minutes and 12 seconds. While Bowman snagged an impressive second place in the bike leg of the race, the combined effort landed Wildcat fifth place out of seventeen teams entered in the event. Kyle Whittemore says, with a wide grin, “I look at Tuckerman Ravine every day from Wildcat, but this was the first time I’ve ever hiked up there.” In under an hour – Impressive.

The Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon is hosted by and for the benefit of Friends of Tuckerman Ravine, a non-profit organization founded to provide citizen support to the US Forest Service in preserving and protecting Tuckerman Ravine and the Cutler River Drainage Area that surrounds it on Mt Washington and in Pinkham Notch, NH. For more information about Friends of Tuckerman Ravine, visit www.friendsoftuckerman.org or call (603) 356-0131 and speak with Al Rish, also a former member of the Wildcat Ski Patrol.