Monday evening I retired to the bedroom at approximately 10:00 P.M. Which is when the day dreams began. Visions of untracked powder dancing through my head for two hours during which sleep was entirely elusive. It was a secular snowy equivalent of Christmas Eve and I was an anxious child unable to sleep a wink.

It reminded me of my childhood on evenings just prior to family ski trips. Those were big occasions only under taken a few times each year. Friday nights were torture. It did not matter where we were going the next day. I could hardly sleep a wink in anticipation of the family ski trip. Not much has changed in twenty years. I am still that anxious kid that can’t hardly wait to hurry up and get to sleep so I can wake up the next morning and get to the mountain.

Cannon reported in with seven inches this morning. Much to the management’s credit, Cannon is often honest to a fault with snow total reporting and often errs on the side of caution and underestimates (especially when the snow is blowing). It may be, in fact, that Cannon did receive only seven inches of wind blown fluff. But it skied more like 8-12″. Suffice to say, it was more than enough to make skiing absolutely sensational.

After riding the first tram, we skied down to the front face where we scored third and fourth tracks on Paulie’s (open for the first time this season). Sensational turns were had with snow billowing over my knee caps. I opened up the skis and let them run fast and smooth on the silky pow. Waterbars were still very much in play and the powder fell on minimal base. I repeated that run with more tracks evident before hitting skier’s right on Zoomer which had bumps under the powder making things variable. Next was Avalanche to Banshee slopes to the Tram where I opened up the skis on more virtually untracked powder. A very nice start to the morning!

We went on to lay tracks on a variety of runs and slopes in various states of untracked and slightly tracked. Turns ranged from sensational to sublime and the powder was silky smooth with ample base depth excepting one ill advised pursuit. Winds were tolerable down low and absolutely horrendous at the summit with likely frostbite occurring on any exposed skin after only five to ten minutes. Otherwise, temperatures else where on the mountain were low but not completely unpleasant except when skiing near active snow guns.

Much as I wanted to ski the rest of the day, I cheated the man enough already by taking a half day (it is nice being the boss!). But it would set a bad example to change plans that late in the game. Leaving Cannon after only three and a half hours of skiing was a benefit in one way as it ensures that I have a fresh pair of legs for this coming weekend’s powder fest, likely to include three days of skiing in a row.

Instead of thinking about how much untracked I was leaving behind, rather I choose to think about how fortunate I am to have made the right decisions to put me in the right place to be able to take a half day and ski this type of powder at my favorite mountain. Something wholly unattainable a mere six years ago. Some days I can’t remember what the dream was. Other days I live it and then some. Today is one of those days. I can’t wait for this weekend.