If only everyday could begin like this day. I awoke at the Hiker’s Paradise, a hostel in Gorham, NH. After a short drive down the road, I pulled over to the shoulder of Route 16 to take a picture of Mount Madison and Mount Adams, the northern most peaks of the Presidential Range. Amazing. After a brief drive around the Presidential’s and into Franconia Notch, I entered the parking lot of Cannon Mountain with a wonderful view of its trails.
In the lodge, I met fellow NELSAP’er and SnowJournal’er MadRider. We quickly set off up the Peabody Express Quad. The wind was hollowing ferociously, as one can often expect at Cannon. We tracked down Middle Cannon on pleasantly groomed snow and made our way to the Front Face. Upon seeing Zoomer filled up with 4-6 inches of powder, MadRider’s face lit up like a kid in a candy store. For myself, I was an awful powder skier at the time. I was about to tell MadRider I was going to opt for the tamer Rocket, but he was already riding down the pow. So onward to Rocket I went, not expecting to find what I did.
Another 4-6 inches of powder! Wowzers. I was too far down to slip slide up to Gary’s, so I took Rocket down thinking, “how bad could it be”? About a half dozen falls, two involving ski dislocation, and twenty minutes later… I made it down to the Zoomer Triple Chair. Bah! Horrible start to the day, but at least now I knew what areas to avoid! I met up again with MadRider and wished him well on his powder fix as I went off in search of groomers. During our ride up the lift, I reflected on my poor powder skiing ability, knowing that it was a skiing skill I had to learn. I would develop proficient technique over the next few years and eventually master the fine art of powder skiing on the East Coast.
From the Zoomer Triple Chair, I tracked down the newly named Mickey’s Margin. The thin width trail was groomed on one side and natural snow on the other, both sides forming soft bumps later in the day. Tracking next down Gary’s, also half groomed, which was a bit choppy overall and not to my liking. With the Front Face getting a thumbs down from my style of skiing, I headed back to the Quad.
From the Quad, I tracked down excellent conditions on groomed and fast Middle Cannon, Lower Cannon, Toss Up, Short Link, Easy Link, Middle Ravine, Lower Ravine, and Lower Gremlin. The snow was excellent for carving, so that is what I did. Big and fast GS style carves, small quick turns, and everything in between. I let the skis run and I let them run fast! Franconia Ski Team was taking advantage of the conditions for some training on these runs too.
After lunch around 10AM, the wind died off and the sun and blue skies came out in full force! I returned to the groomers once again for more carving action. This being my third day out this season, I was finally feeling an excellent rhythm and stamina. I quickly tired of the groomers; however, and went in search of more varied terrain. I found such terrain on Parkway, the trail where Cannon places it’s terrain park. Today; however, Parkway featured excellent natural snow with occasional bumps. For more natural snow and small bump action, I returned to Mickey’s Margin numerous times.Without the Summit Trails and the Front Face fully open and free of powder, I quickly tired of the limited terrain open and called it a day around 1:00 P.M. Avalanche and the Banshee Slopes were closed early in the day, and Zoomer (which became very sketchy late afternoon) and Rocket never firmed up quite enough for my liking. Cannon is set to be open 100% by Christmas if this weather continues. Let’s hope so! Last year on this day, Cannon wasn’t even open yet. This is more than making up for it!
