Category: Cannon Mountain

2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, December, Powder Day

Powder Day, Cannon Style

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.

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2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, December, Powder Day

CANNON!

I love this mountain. Cannon rarely fails to deliver. And when it over performs, it is damn good and like no where else. Even when I was a pass holder at Jay, I still considered Cannon my home mountain. When it is good at Cannon, it ain’t worth driving any where else in the east.

Laziness has crept into my skiing routine lately due to excessive fatigue and not enough sleep. I took Thursday and Friday off from skiing. With non-crystalline precipitation en route for Sunday, I managed to drag my sorry lazy ass out of bed and drive north to Cannon for what I expected to be lack luster skiing at best.

What I found was an extremely pleasant surprise. I found my way to the Zoomer Chair in the morning per my usual pattern when there is no fresh snow. I found Avalanche whaled on skier’s left and awkwardly bumped on skier’s right. Not bad but not what I was looking for. So next run, I took Zoomer Lift Line which was sublime! Blow in from Zoomer snow guns along with some natural combined for very soft natural-ish snow with occasional bumps and slightly thin cover without fear of base damage. Turns were silky smooth. I lapped Zoomer Lift a while before heading for the summit for further exploration.

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2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, December

Returning to My Roots at Cannon

While Rhode Island and southern Boston Metro was getting slammed with almost two feet of fresh, I decided to head to my home mountain for some non-powder skiing. After having considered a four hour round trip drive to the flatlands for powder, I declined the option based on the latest weather runs early Sunday morning.

These forecasts substantially decreased snow totals outside the I-495 belt leaving Wachsuett without much fresh. And with decreasing snow fall later in the morning, what little fell at WaWa would most likely be groomed flat by opening bell. That left one 300 vertical foot trail at Blue Hills that would be tracked out in two runs. Or, I could just drive to Cannon and enjoy a relaxing day of skiing close to home. I chose to stay local and am more than satisfied with my decision.

Despite no new natural snow in over a week, Cannon skied very well thanks to their snow making and grooming teams. These efforts were substantially beefed up when the new GM took over three years ago and continue to offer up a product far superior to the Cannon of old. Available terrain include The Links, Ravine, Cannon, Extension, and Spookie from the Peabody Quad, Gary’s, Mickey’s, and Rocket from the Zoomer Triple, and some beginner terrain in the Tuckerbrook Family area. Ravine was whaled up but no other snow making operations were apparent.

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2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, November, Powder Day

Over a Foot of Fresh at Cannon!

Zoomer Triple Chair
Zoomer Triple Chair

This past week has been nerve wracking. Where to go when it snows? The storm was complicated and many forecasters discussed the difficulties of pinning it down. Doubt was prevalent about the storm right up until the storm commenced. Prognosticators suggested Northern Vermont would get the jackpot with heavy up slope. But I have seen this pattern before. Watching the radar loop last night, I observed a huge gash on moisture attacking south western Maine before slamming into northern New Hampshire and changing over to snow. I had good vibes about Cannon. And those vibes were accurate.

As we drove north on I-93, I was stunned regarding the lack of snow along the highway. Thonton, Lincoln, Woodstock, entering the Notch, into the Notch. There was nothing on the ground at all. Not even a trace amount of washed away snow. Just as we passed the Flume, Ma Nature threw a switch and suddenly two inches appeared. Gradually increasing all the way to Cannon where we stepped out of the car to find a foot of snow at the base.

A skin track was set up the Banshee Slope and we hooked up with another skin track to ascend to the top of Avalanche and then onto Spookie and Upper Ravine. Snow on the mountain was more than a foot but less than two. Generally, most parts of the mountain had around 16″ with some drifts as deep as three feet. The Upper Mountain faired worse than the Lower Mountain due to high winds. The snow was severely wind buffed with half the trail deeply drifted and half the trail bare rock.

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2008-2009 Season, Cannon Mountain, January, Powder Day

Pre-Work Powder at Cannon

Nothing like ripping up two and a half hours of untracked pow before heading into work. I need to do this more often.

Cannon reported a two day total of 9-10″. This report seems accurate to me after accounting for wind effects. On the second day of the two day storm, it skied more like 7″. Though I certainly went 10″ deep in many places where no one skied yesterday.

Lots of trails were reserved and skied great. Some better than others. Minor base damage was had but no core shots. Over the saddle, definitely a lot less total snow compared to Cannon proper. Especially on the open slopes but secrets revealed plenty to make the sucky parts worth one run… but no more. Cannon lost almost all of their natural snow base on trials without snow making, so definitely not for the faint of heart. A dozen untracked runs in two and a half hours before work? Sweet!

The mountain looks great. Especially for early January. With good snowmaking temperatures to continue, Cannon should have all of their snow making trails online within the next two weeks even without any additional natural snow. For natural snow trails…. this storm isn’t going to cut it and by this weekend, it is not going to be worth it. As much as I love Cannon… you either go the day after the storm or you look else where.

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