We were having a small Thanksgiving at home and I was not the cook which meant I had a few hours to earn my first powder turns of the season. At least a foot of new snow fell at Cannon. I got a somewhat late start to ensure a skin track was already set when I arrived. Only about a dozen other skiers were on hand for Thanksgiving turns but many more would follow the next day.
En route to Sunday River for top to bottom turns on Locke, I received a message (thanks, Tim!) alerting me that Wildcat was opening on Sunday free of charge. I had checked their web page the night before but the notice wasn’t posted until nearly midnight. Top to bottom on Wildcat was definitely a better (and considerably closer) option than Sunday River. So in Gorham, I turned down Route 16 and made a donation at the Kitty for a free lift ticket.
One month ago, I did not think this would be possible. I gave up. Late season Tuckerman Ravine turns were not going to happen. But inspiration struck and I had a goal. One more ski day. July turns. Something I had not experienced since 2011 due to two back to back poor snow years. I started hiking to test my legs. And I discovered that despite poor health, fatigue, and locomotion issues, I was still very capable of hiking. I determined that I would not be denied.
The biggest storm of the season for most ski areas dropped a foot and a half of dense fresh at Cannon. The powder frenzy was on. Given poor roads and most mountains receiving similar snow totals, staying close to home was a no brainer. I queued up early for the Peabody and went straight for the Front Five taking two laps down Paulie’s before heading for the summit.
The untracked went faster than I could have imagined possible. Later that morning, the trails emptied as many local skiers that skipped out on work for the morning left the mountain to make their afternoon shift. I have done the same, I know the game. But the damage was done, it was time to go hunting off map.
After two false starts, I finally managed to skip out of work early. Three days ago, a storm dropped almost a foot on central New Hampshire. I had the prerogative to shut operations down per standard procedure when the University cancels classes. But duty called, we were needed. Despite my recent resentment towards work, I am not resentful for making the call to open. It was the right thing to do. My upbringing would abide nothing less.
My dad and I used to ski together once per season. Our family skied a lot when I was younger. But he didn’t ski much any more and sometimes that one day was his only real day of skiing all year. I really enjoyed those days. And while I wasn’t impressed with my first visit to Tenney when we skied there, I enjoyed skiing Tenney with him. I’d take another run with him anywhere if I could.
Even Okemo.
So the mountain always brings back memories since I only skied Tenney once when it was open, and we skied together that day.