If the density of skiers at Cannon is any indicator, demand is seriously exceeding supply. Much like last year, Cannon opened with one crowded route via Middle Cannon to Gremlin. Unlike last year, Thanksgiving leftovers were still available for turn earning.

Despite bringing both alpine and touring setups, I concluded it would be a lift serviced day. I thought the natural snow would be manky given the warm temperature. So I boarded the Peabody Quad for a few runs down the gauntlet.

While riding the Quad, I looked around and reflected on how Cannon continues to be my mountain. I’ll ruminate in a future post about what factors induce love of particular mountains. I won’t be spoiling anything by stating the nuanced connection is both irrational and emotional.

After five runs down the gauntlet, I wondered how bad could the natural snow possibly be? No matter how manky, the natural snow had to be better than skiing the gauntlet. And it was. Though even if it wasn’t, I was enticed by the thought of a hike.

Despite my fears of mank, turns down Avalanche were sublime. Six inches of peel-away-corn peeled away down to the grass. Thankfully, Avalanche is well manicured. And the manicure job got even better with every turn. The corn snow was surfy and far superior to the product available on the other side of the ridge.

One might think I might regret having rode the lift for five runs instead of hammering the front five from the start. But without having run the gauntlet, how would I have known how much better the alternative was?