Category: Cannon Mountain

2002-2003 Season, Cannon Mountain, December, Powder Day

Cannon Mountain, NH

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.

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2001-2002 Season, April, Cannon Mountain

Cannon Mountain, NH

Sunday Morning, I awoke just prior to my 5:30 A.M. alarm. For some reason, getting up on a Ski Day is always so much easier than getting up any other day. Only problem with getting up this morning was that I forgot to set my clock forward an hour! Yep, that damn Spring Ahead thing caught me off guard and as a result I was an hour late getting the wheels rolling. No biggie… for my last day of the 2001-2002 season, I was taking it easy and savoring every moment.

I had the wheels rolling around 7 A.M. (which would have been 6 A.M. if I had left on time!) and made the base lodge promptly at 9 A.M., half an hour after the first lift turned. Approaching the Front Face of Cannon, I was greeted by what would normally be a disturbing site… but instead made me giddy with anticipation! The Front Face was beyond thin cover. From the Franconia Notch Parkway, twenty foot long patches of dirt were visible. For some odd reason, I was really looking forward to skiing these rapidly deteriorating trails.

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2001-2002 Season, Cannon Mountain, February

Cannon Mountain, NH

Cannon once again offered up Two-Fers for the popular Super Bowl Sunday lift tickets. It was impossible for me to resist a day at Cannon for only $22. With the pre-game festivities not scheduled to begin on TV until 6 P.M., a full day of skiing was to be had; and not a second of the Super Bowl was to be missed.

The night before, I set my alarms a little earlier than usual because I needed to stop for gas and money. After getting to bed rather early (9 P.M.), I found myself tossing and turning for hours; unable to sleep a wink. Maybe it was the Pats in the Super Bowl, maybe it was anticipation of skiing Cannon, maybe I was trying to sleep after being awake less than nine hours… who knows! In any case, I abandoned sleeping around 3:30 A.M. and finished preparations.

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2001-2002 Season, Cannon Mountain, December

Cannon Mountain, NH

Cannonball Quad

The forecast depicted today as possibly the coldest day of the 2001-2002 winter so far. Given recent abnormally warm temperatures, this was not saying much. But given Cannon’s well earned reputation for fearsome winds and cold temperatures, I was prepared for the worst Cannon had to offer.

Much to my surprise and relief, the weather was not bad at all and quite pleasant at times! Winds were at their worst on the Peabody Express Quad. Winds seemed to only effect the north facing slopes of the lower mountain. Winds and temperatures were actually pleasant on the Cannonball Quad and the upper mountain trails which normally show Cannon at its worst.

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