Category: 2020-2021 Season

2020-2021 Season, April, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns

Cannon: The End.

Cannon closed for the season last weekend with barely enough mid-mountain snow to operate. Sure enough, as soon as mountain shut down, mother nature queued up one last hurrah after a few stormless months. It was supposed to be a big one, maybe the biggest of the season. I put in for a day off and planned to end the season just like I begin the season: hiking at Cannon.

It was a total bust. A nasty season’s final insult. Cannon got one to two inches, which was just enough to cover up all the junk, but not enough to make it fun. I enjoyed being outside during a rip roaring storm, despite the lack of snow. But the skiing was tentative and my turns were atrocious with near constant vigilance for rocks covered over by a dusting to two inches.

The 2020-2021 ski season is done and dusted as far as I was concerned. Mount Washington’s siren song called my name. But the road bike called harder. After a winter of indoor training, I was riding faster than ever before, setting personal best times on all of my usual routes (during my first month on the riding season, no less). The feeling of getting stronger and more powerful was addicting. Spring skiing was not in the cards for me.

Today was a fitting end to a lack luster season.

2020-2021 Season, April, Cannon Mountain

Cannon: The End?

Mount Lafayette from Cannon

Cannon barely made its closing weekend target. But, they made it. Spookie and the Links were patched together with mandatory rock and dirt patch connections by mid-day. Zoomer had some decent bump lines down low, but the lower mountain was not worth dealing with. The Cannonball Quad was where it was at: Profile was the theater and Cannon’s rowdiest brought the show. Irregular spaced out bumps with patches of hard pack and ice in between. Access the stage by crossing a semi-frozen mud and rock field: get it.

I couldn’t complain. At least I got a solid day of spring skiing before the season collapsed. My first vaccination was a week ago. The ski season was mostly a write off. The weather was perfect for a COVID year, during which I was unable to travel to Vermont. Very few storms, no significant dumps, consistently cold but nothing to get excited about. I didn’t miss much, and it was hard to care about something so insignificant as a ski season.

It was nice just to get out a few times, make a few turns, and call it a season.

2020-2021 Season, Cannon Mountain, March

Beginning of the End: Cannon

Cross Road Bridge

I created this post on March 21, but I never wrote anything except the title. It is symptomatic of the ski season, there just wasn’t much to say. Nothing worth recording, no thoughts worth sharing, skiing not worth commenting on. But I will record the trip for posterities sake. The snow could have been firm, the snow could have been soft. Either way, I was going through the motions and I wasn’t excited enough to document it.

Probably because I was more excited about cycling than skiing. I just finished an indoor training program on a brand new indoor training. I was going into cycling season in the best cycling shape of my life. The temperatures were above average, the snow was below average, and the roads were clear of snow and sand.

Immediately after getting home from Cannon, I jumped on my road bike for my first outdoor ride of the season. The ski season might have sucked, but the road cycling season was off to a phenomenal start. I’ve never been less motivated for spring skiing, I’ve never been more motivated to push myself on my bike.

2020-2021 Season, Cannon Mountain, February

Neglecting the Narrative: Cannon

Lakeview Glade

The February vacation storm resembles the 2020-2021 season: a massive buildup of expectation vaporized into mediocrity. Possibilities of two feet of snow became two inches of mixed. The wind howled, intermittently pelting cars with rain and sleet. The lifts would eventually turn, but it was a tease compared to what might have been.

Lower mountain lifts opened as the weather relented. I skied all of the trails from Gary’s to Avalanche, and the glades in between. The snow was better than it had any right to be considering the weather. Tracked was often better than untracked, particularly in the trees where a thin layer of skied off snow could covered rocks.

The Peabody Quad eventually opened but not the upper mountain Cannonball Quad. The lower mountain trails were better than mid-mountain trails. Warming temperatures kept the snow soft and forgiving down low, not so much up high. The following evening, temperatures would plummet and turn moisture laden snow into concrete. Entering what should have been the snowiest part of the season, it was already the beginning of the end.

Echo Woods

I lost the narrative this winter. Not the skiing narrative. The skiing narrative followed the foreseen arc: stay local, earn turns, observe travel restrictions, and occasionally ski Cannon when it did not feel like a zoo. I did not ski much, but I did not care to ski much. It was a lost season. I took what I got and I was happy to not miss any epic days in VT (since there were none).

Rather, I mean the personal narrative. I spent more time on my bike indoor training than skiing. I am fitter going into the spring than I ever have been before. But I lost some personal discipline. I lost focus. I floundered aimlessly this winter without making much personal progress. I probably should not view stagnation as a setback. At least I can say that I am fit as fuck for cycling season.

The story goes on and the protagonist has noticed the obstacle and works to tear it down. Onward.

2020-2021 Season, Earned Turns, February, Tenney Mountain

More Mellow

Eclipse Triple

No sense in burying the lead chronologically: When I got home, my partner asked me “how was the skiing?” I replied that it was better than staying home all day and watching YouTube. That sums up a day at Tenney; it honestly is better than than doing nothing.

I was just happy to be outside. I waited until temperatures reached double digit temperatures, which meant a late start. But not too late, as temperatures would eventually rise to near the freezing point. The mountain was quite active with at least a half dozen turn earners, plus some snowshoers, snowmobiles, families, and snow tubers.

Sweet William

The snow was a mix of wind blown soft pack and groomed. Did the owner groom a non-operating ski area again? It seemed like less flora was sticking up through the snow. I was not going to be skiing untracked, so the grooming did not bother me. I did not come for the snow conditions.

I made fast time to the summit and decided to ski the northern side of the mountain. Sunflower and Sweet William provide the most prolonged pitches at Tenney. I skied Sunflower and then skinned up Venus Fly Trap and hit Sweet William. Both trails have some identity, and thankfully lack the mishmash of never ending junctions characteristic of Tenney’s jumbled trail network. I finished the day off with a short hike to the top of the Triple.

I am probably all set with Tenney for a while.

Sweet William