Where to begin? As I approached the Franconia Notch, all the sky was blue. The Franconia Ridge was as illustrious as I have ever seen it. The peaks of Mounts Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, and Lafayette were caked with brilliantly white snow against a back drop of the deepest blue.

Then enter the fog. As per usual, Grumpy Old Man Cannon had an ugly dark cloud sitting upon his shoulder, daring any to challenge it.

Driving north through the notch, I spied the Front Face trails of Cannon Mountain. Many powder turns had already been etched into the Front Five the day before from creative and eager skiers (Zoomer Triple was not turning, but still many turns were made! That is dedication!). However, much more of the powder had been left untouched than had already been tracked. I pulled of the Interstate at the Peabody Base Slopes exit eagerly anticipating the fine skiing to be had.

To start the morning, the Zoomer Triple was not turning yet and I desired to get warmed up and adjusted to my new Volkl P50 Motion skis. Venturing up the Peabody High Speed Quad, I noticed that the trails were covered in snow! Both man made and natural alike. Huge whales dotted Middle and Lower Cannon just waiting for a groomer to flatten them out. Every trail accessible from the Peabody Quad really should have been open as the copious amount of snow was more than enough for the groomers to smash into a solid base. Although, as I will go into detail later on in my narrative, closed trails were far too inviting to let a rope get in the way!

First two runs of the day were down The Links and Middle/Lower Ravine. Perfect corduroy with occasional and isolated pockets of fresh on the side. *Yawn* Just enough to warm up the legs and then I was heading towards the Front Face. Since my powder skiing skills were not up to par, I opted for the blue square Rocket first. Immersed into untracked knee to waist deep powder, I started bouncing my way down the trail through the powder. Woooo! Still rather dry, I quickly got my legs under me and began adjusting my normally aggressive technique for the more gentle and flowing turns of powder skiing. I quickly learned that falling in waist deep powder sucks! The powder finds a way into your parka and it is a major time consuming science project to regain vertical alignment. For all the untracked Rocket offered, there was a simple reason why no one was skiing it: the snow guns were going and making a thin layer of breakable crust on top of the powder.

Up the Zoomer Triple Chair, I gazed out over a snow field of beautiful powder tracks through the snow. It was a complete free for all and everyone was gunning for the untracked. The powder was a higher quality on Zoomer without the snow gun infused water vapor. Hopping gracefully through the snow, I discovered I am not such a bad powder skier after all! Much like learning how to ski bumps, I simply watched other skiers and mimicked their movements while retaining my posture and fundamentals.

Who needs rock skis? When I bought my new Volkl P50s a few weeks ago, I figured I would relegate my older P40 Platinums to handle any situation that might contain thin cover. But the P50s were just too sweet and were far better at this condition than my older P40s. So, I already have a few marks on the base? Big Deal! Skis are meant to be skied… and skied HARD! I never bottomed out on the ground early in the day; but by early afternoon, occasional scrapes were being heard and some bare ground exposed.

After a snack, I headed back over to the Quad. The Links had some bumps forming on their edges, but got quite scratchy as per usual. Not even three feet of fresh can save those two trails from being skied off! Middle Ravine was quickly becoming a dream as the groomed snow had been pushed around forming small soft powdery bumps, my dream snow condition. I was having flash backs to some voyages down the Mittersill slopes last year as I mini-bumped my way through the sweetness that was Middle Ravine.

Again, back to the Front Face which was mostly tracked up by noontime. Occasional untracked areas could be found easily enough though. The powder was still light and fluffy and had begun forming occasional non-packed bumps which could be skied through, over, or around depending upon skier preference and style. I made several runs down Zoomer Lift Line, as I am a sucker for the steepest fall line and an audience. Ventured over to Avalanche once, but did not really find anything better than what was on Zoomer, so I opted for laps under the lift line.

Seeking out additional untracked, I headed for Lower Hardscrabble which had a closed sign in front of it… but whatever. Other skiers were hiking up to Middle Hardscrabble and probably even Upper Hardscrabble and on towards Mittersill. Must have been sweet, but I was already too tired. So I found some fresh lines on the not so tracked up Lower Hard and even earned my first face shot of the year!

Since I am partial to skiing where I want whether there is a rope or not, next I ducked into the much tracked up already Middle Cannon for playful powder and bumps around the whales. Continuing on towards Paulie’s Extension, I found some incredible snow! I was beginning to tire, but still made some quality turns through occasional waist deep virgin powder. By this time, Mount Lafayette decided to come back out of the clouds again, a site that always stirs my soul when ever I am in the area of Paulies Folly. Speaking of which, I finished the extension and dropped into Paulies, a trail which can be the best trail on the mountain or the worst on any given day. Today it was to be the best.

Although the cover was the thinnest on Paulies out of the Front Face trails, the cover was an ample match for my growing grin. Sometimes Paulies kicks my ass, sometimes I kick Paulies ass, today it was the latter of the two. For my run of the day, I hopped and bounced down the steepest fall line I could find. Occasionally pausing to catch my breath, I noticed I had the entire trail to myself. Knowing it would be my last run before heading back for the lodge, I gave up the rest of the energy that I had, powering my way through the glorious and occasionally still deep powder. After getting some air over a bump, I came down into some deep snow earning yet another face shot! YES!

Not feeling like the day was complete without exploring some more terrain, I ducked the rope into Mickeys Margin on the way back to the lodge. For crying out loud, what is up with roping trails with excellent snow and coverage! Already tracked up despite the rope, the snow was still sweet and to my liking. And for a final romp through the powder, I ducked into Toss Up under the Eagle Cliff Triple Chair for my final tracks.

Suffice to say, an epic powder day that has spoiled me for the rest of the season! Glad I could take advantage of a day off from work to partake in three feet of fairly dry powder. I am officially a powder lover now that I have got the technique down. I only wish I had been in shape to enjoy it more! Only my second day on skis for the season, I spent most of my runs sucking wind before getting halfway down the trail! And calling it a day at 1:30 just is not my style. At the least, all of New England just received enough snow for every ski area to build a solid base on most trails. It will not be long now before the real all mountain insanity begins.