Epic! Powder! Best day of the year!
Cannon got rammed by the recent storm. Yesterday had limited operations at Cannon due to the storm. With the upper mountain lifts not operating yesterday, today was just as good. Cannon is now fully open except for Profile and Bypass which took a huge hit from the wind and look about as ugly as I have seen them. Vista Way was rather ugly too except skier’s left which was nice featuring some wind slab jumps with extra soft landings.
Opened the morning with some hot groomer action via Middle Cannon to Extension to Rocket. The groomers in great shape! I am not one to rave about groomers but the snow was excellent under foot. Front face trails were quite variable with diced up choppy wind slabbed powder. Slabbish at times, bumpy at others, and occasional powder to keep it interesting. Essentially, I could ski any of the three conditions but the variability was not choice within the same run. Untracked powder on banshee was followed by a tram to the summit.
Five times over the saddle, five times untracked pow was found! It was a grabby and heavy powder, but it was frigging boot deep and I will take it however it comes! Cover and base were simply fantastic. If we keep up this weather pattern with more snow in the next two weeks, I will be skinning here for turns long into April. Traffic was light considering the fresh powder after a storm.
Met up with fellow skier Scott while hiking the saddle who told me that Kinsman Glade was not so fun in the morning due to the wind slabbed snow. However, Kinsman was fantastic in the afternoon! Wow! Still thin cover on the steepest parts of the glade with obvious signs that more trail work needs to be done during the summer. While skiing Kinsman Glade, I noticed that a guy had brought his significant other down Kinsman Glade despite the fact that she could not turn in the woods. Relationships end that way!
Tramline was fantastic! Untracked boot deep fresh down old tram line and I could not stop screaming for joy, it was so good! Some folks skiing this trail were in over their heads and were not able to handle the chock below Tower One. The unfortunate effect of skiers in over their heads is side slipped snow that deteriorates conditions.
Twice while skiing over the saddle, I found myself literally chocking on powder. After falling down in the deep snow, I landed head down the fall line on my back with snow in my mouth. I had to exhale deeply and cough the snow at as the white fluffy stuff had begun to solidify and coagulate. It was a rather interesting experience that puts a full blown avalanche into perspective. I certainly had a phenomenally good laughing session after the experience due to the wonder of having that much snow to enjoy.
