An awesome “Ball of Fire” sunrise evolved into bluebird skies in Massachusetts as I began my drive north to Cannon. The majestic morning gave way to snow coming down at a good clip four miles north of Loon when entering the Franconia Notch. Cannon picked up an average of two to three inches with surprise pockets up to but not exceeding boot deep. A small victory for snow deprived skiers during the normally very snowy month of march. But beggars can not be choosers.
Not expecting much from today’s outing, it actually turned out to be a great day with exceptional company. I skied with Porter and his brother and Chris and his friend. Low expectations set the stage for exceptional conditions.
The usual run Front Face runs began the morning with Rocket holding awesome snow but the bumps were scraped under the fluff. Avalanche was also fast and variable with the new snow. Bumps on skier’s left were beastly but manageable. Zoomer was sah-weet in the morning. I opted to play the trail by making very slow and controlled turns down the center. Would return to Zoome later in the afternoon to sample the bumps on skier’s right later.
Boarding the tram, I would never have thought that I might be the first person to duck the rope for Taft Slalom. First Tracks, Woo!! I was really excited about making first tracks as I have never made first tracks on fresh virgin snow. Taft was awesome on the edges with three to six inches of powder over a thin covered and rocky base. The rock ledge was fully exposed and dangerous, but easily avoided. Upper Hard had the goods all day long despite being a little thin with some brush sticking up.
Pressing my luck after Upper Hard, I looked down Middle Hard and spied some nice lines. I decided to try four turns and bail back onto Upper Hard if needed. Five turns later, I was giggling with glee as the powder in the troughs was boot deep. Variable conditions existed underneath the powder which made me work hard. Well worth the effort until the final pitch which was rather suspect. I hacked turns on two inches of fluff that covered frozen grass and occasional rocks. Not cool and not worth repeating but well worth a nearly top to bottom untracked run.
Porter found the the goods on Vista Way of all places. Boot deep freshies were available in abundance though the trail had definitely been well tracked since the lifts had been turning for a few hours. Vista Way definitely contained the highest quality powder of the day.
After repeating the Taft/Upper Hard route twice, I was tempted down Lower Hard by more boot deep freshies. The initial pitch was spectacular. I tore it up and let out much verbal praise in the process. Below that first pitch and through the flat run out, the trail was scraped with occasional ice. Ski control was rather difficult due to the variable conditions. Worth the effort for one run, but not worth repeating.
Rounding out the day, we sampled Upper Cannon and Ravine which were both spectacular. Tramway was variable and scraped with occasional fluff, Middle Cannon was an ice rink, Middle Ravine was fast and fun, Paulie’s Extension was variable, Paulie’s Folly was a really bad decision.
Paulie’s has been in generally decent condition this season. On several occasions this year I proclaimed that Paulie’s Folly had the best conditions on the mountain. I thought for sure that Paulie’s would continue to offer up the goods. But there was a reason that Paulie’s was untracked and that is because underneath the two inches of fluff in the troughs of the bumps was bare ground and no base. I skied along the tops of the bumps and hopped over the troughs when ever possible. I etched a solo pair of tracks into the bumpy blanket of white and stretched the line between nuts and guts to its breaking point.
Excellent day with some fantastic skiing where the wind and powder loaded things up. Even the lower half to the mountain that did not benefit from much powder skied well. But upper mountain trails such as Taft, Upper Hard, and Vista made today a nice powder day after months of lack luster weather.