Category: New Hampshire

2004-2005 Season, Cannon Mountain, December

Cannon Mountain, NH

Mount Lafayette

Driving up to the notch, I was amazed how beautiful the day was beginning. Bright blue skies without a cloud to be seen on the whole drive up Interstate 93. The Franconia Ridge was as majestic as I have ever seen it with its white capped peaks fronting a sky of bright blue. Visibility from the top of the quad was about as far and clear as I’ve ever seen it from cannon. everything was perfect about the weather except one thing: the wind.

Cannon opened with Middle and Lower Cannon and Ravine, Big and Short link, and Spookie on the Peabody Slopes with Zoomer Triple Chair turning for Gary’s on the Front Face. The Tube Park was replaced by a handle tow beginners area (great call!) and the Tuckerbrook Quad was spinning, but I did not get over there.

The HSQ was essentially only useful for uploading to ski down to the Zoomer chair. The wind was ferocious, just about as bad as cannon can get and still have that lift turning. The brutal wind made the ride on the Peabody Quad extremely uncomfortable and it was avoided by everyone as much as possible. Conditions off all trails from the quad were boiler plate. By 11ish, Big/Short link and Ravine got roped and a sign was placed at the loading area of the quad stating the lift serviced terrain for experts only. To bad the Eaglecliff Triple wasn’t turning as Lower Cannon had okay snow in between the blown off sections and would have been a more enjoyable ride getting over to Gary’s.

Gary’s was not at it’s best but had it’s moments. Skier’s right featured a few inches of man made pow that blew over from Rocket where the guns were going like crazy. During the morning it was kinda tough to ski, but once it got broken up it was really nice. The rest of the trail was hard pack with moth ball frozen granular.

Not the best day at cannon today, but they should have some more trails opening hopefully tomorrow, definitely by next weekend. It is definitely not Cannon’s fault the wind took all the snow off the trails and dumped it into the woods. I am sure the groomers will fix it up for tomorrow, but it just shows how bad most ski areas are hurting for some natural snow.

2004-2005 Season, Cannon Mountain, December

Demo Day at Cannon

Peabody Quad

Today was Cannon’s demo day: sample all the skis you want for only an Andrew Jackson. It was an incredible deal that I could not pass up. The big winner of the day was the Dynastar Legend 8000 178cm which I have since purchased.

Originally, I planned to ski Cannon on Friday and stay overnight at the ‘Dice in Gorham. When leaving Cannon, I did not believe the hype regarding potential snow fall overnight. So I decided to head home and research the skis online after wrapping the day up at Cannon.

Middle/Lower Ravine with Big/Short Link provided the only route just like the previous weekend. Snow conditions were much better overall this weekend. The conditions were similar: pushed around loose powder on the trail edges and hard pack in the middle. Most of the route yielded mini-bumps and loose snow. I established a standard route down the trails to keep my testing conditions essentially the same for every ski. While the conditions were boring, they allowed for excellent comparisons for the demo.

Regarding other non-opened trails, the groomers and ski patrol were busy on Middle/Lower Cannon today and that is a lot to open for this coming weekend. All other trails had less snow and coverage than last week, especially the Front Five which would need a solid one foot dump to open without snow making at this point, and that is not happening any time soon.

The weather was fair with patchy fog and cloudiness. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the fog in the valleys making an under cast near the lower surrounding hills, but I was too busy pushing the skis to pull out my camera. The mountain saw a small amount of sleet or freezing rain around noon time and just a touch of light snow when I left at three–hardly a prelude to an incoming dump. By the time I got to Plymouth, the sky opened up and started raining. Cannon will definitely benefit from the system moving in this weekend but don’t expect any additional terrain to open other than Middle/Lower Cannon.

2004-2005 Season, Cannon Mountain, December, Earned Turns, Powder Day

Possessed by Powder at Cannon Mountain!

Lafayette from Tramway

Opening day at Cannon Mountain. Regardless of trail count or conditions, there is no place I would rather be. While en route to Cannon, I noticed a familiar pattern: the further north I drove, the more snow I saw. Coming around a corner on I-93 just past the Lakes Region, I spied the four major peaks of the Franconia Ridge caked in white, sparkling in a near cloudless blue sky. A rare perfect day at Cannon: blue bird skies following a major storm.

After breaking the pre-season legs in at Killington twice during November, I thought Cannon might be a disappointment. Despite operating one lift with only one route, Cannon did not disappoint due to mother nature’s bounty and a whole lot of thigh burn. Big Link, Middle Ravine, and Lower Ravine were open, the rest would have to be earned. I eagerly bought my $25 reduced price lift ticket and ascended Cannon’s Peabody slopes.

Guns were blazing everywhere with special attention being paid to a small stretch of Lower Ravine that was closed and Upper Cannon. Guns would be turned off on Lower Ravine and Upper Cannon later in the day as snow making moved down towards Middle Cannon. With a decent base already provided by mother nature, it is not going to take much snow making to get more slopes online.

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2003-2004 Season, March, Wildcat

Wildcat Mountain, NH

Wildcat Trees

Reported in for turns at Wildcat promptly at 9:00 A.M. With an evening rain storm the night before after several warm days in a row, I wondered just how much snow would actually remain. Approaching Wildcat on Route 16 in Pinkham Notch, things looked rather grim. I hesitantly bought my $52.00 lift ticket believing that I would be lucky to get my monies worth. Fifty-two dollars worth of turns later, I departed Wildcat with a smile on my face.

Every time I ski Wildcat, without fail, the first time up the Wildcat Express is always an amazing trip. “Wow!” that thing flies. Hands down the fastest High Speed Quad in New England and after more than a dozen ski days riding it I can still be surprised by that initial rush of speed.

The weather was consistent throughout the day with a cloud ceiling around 3500 vertical feet. Above that elevation, visibility was limited to about fifty feet (about the length of one chair in front of you on the Quad) or less in thick foggy conditions. I got one good look into Tuckerman Ravine and saw a huge cravass from a recent wet slide. Clouds also parted for a head shot of the summit of Big George, spectacular.

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2003-2004 Season, Cannon Mountain, March

Cannon Mountain, NH

What a difference two days makes. Having experienced an epic powder day just two days prior, I had expected Cannon to ski very good this weekend. However, the wind took a severe toll on Cannon today, blowing clear off the mountain most of the snow that fell earlier this week and almost all of what cannon claimed to have received in the past 24 hours.

The groomers did a fine job packing down as much of the snow as possible before the winds swept it all away. But despite the groomers efforts, trails such as Big Link and Profile sported huge scraped (dare I even use the overused and often inaccurate term icy!) sections by noon time that were particularly ugly. Upper Ravine was scratchy by noon. Even some beginner terrain was sporting scraped up sections by noon time! The wind was howling and it was damn cold up there today. Trace amounts of powder were still around but rather hard to find.

Visited the saddle three times and I found untracked lines in two locations where I had hoped they might be. But by noon time, it was slim pickings and things were getting pretty thin almost everywhere. A lot of people were hiking for turns but the snow could not stand up to the traffic for long. Without more snow, I do not know if I will be back to this year. Today was my shortest day out of 2004. I packed it in around 1:30 due to my tired legs, the brutal wind, and conditions rapidly deteriorating. The 2003-2004 ski season is winding down and we could use just one more storm!