The below average temperatures of November benefited Cannon tremendously. Terrain is opening at a significantly faster rate than last year. Today’s offerings included two fully unique routes from the Peabody Quad along with Gary’s and Rocket from the Zoomer Chair.
That doesn’t sound like much but some of these routes and trails are seriously wide (especially Gary’s and Rocket) and take a substantial amount of fire power to get them open. There is even a decent sized terrain park near the lodge. Last year, the Zoomer chair had not even opened yet whereas this year it is on its second week.
Snow making is in place on Middle Cannon, Middle/Lower Ravine, the Links, the Huckerbrook area, and the Zoomer base area (presumably in preparation for blowing Zoomer and Avalanche). I don’t recall ever seeing as many guns blowing at the same time at Cannon.
Despite arriving well after first chair, surfaces were edgeable hard pack and generally fun to ski. This excepts a few constricted high traffic areas that sported excessively scrapped down snow. Loose snow was plentiful along the edges of Gary’s and Rocket. Packed powder it was not. But it wasn’t bad skiing either.
In fact, I had several “one more run” moments. Despite arriving at Cannon with the intention of only skiing a few hours and being home for a late lunch, I opted to take a break and buy lunch at the mountain so I could ski more. I could say that I was working on technique and conditioning (which I was) but I was also having a great time. I had a few big toothy grins when I dialed in my turns and accelerated down the perfect high speed pitch of Gary’s and Rocket.
With Middle to Lower Ravine added to the mix tomorrow and Middle Cannon soon to be groomed out, Cannon has its core trail system fully online. Tuckerbrook is probably next on the snowmaking radar before a push to the summit perhaps by next week. Cannon is a tough mountain to get opened up top to bottom due to its layout and wide core trails. But they’re getting in done with aplomb this year.
I continue to question the wisdom of opening Gremlin before Lower Cannon and Middle/LowerRavine. The upper section of Gremlin is steep, narrow, and full of obstacles (lift towers) and the trail is always a scraped down mess. Middle Cannon has its own narrow scraped down challenges. Ravine doesn’t connect to Zoomer but it is the widest and least steep of the mid-mountain trails. It used to be the first to open from the Peabody Quad and now it is third. But the Ravines necessitate skiing the Links which are always the worst trails on the mountain regardless of time of year.
The best early season answer (for skiing and snowmaking alike) would be uploading via the tram and opening with Tramway and Upper Ravine. Then open Middle/Lower Cannon and Gary’s and the Tram cut back. But we all know that is not going to happen despite it being a more efficient opening with trails capable of taking a beating without pinches or pitch issues that cause scraped snow. This would also remove Cannon from the dubious distinction of being one of the last +2000′ vertical mountains to open top to bottom.
