Category: Reports by Event

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

Cannon Mountain, NH

Taft Slalom

I am not even sure where to begin. How do I put into words the type of day I had at Cannon? Suffice to say, it was one of the top three skiing days in my life. I had what I consider to be my best and most memorable run ever. I have never smiled, laughed, whooped, yelled, giggled, and all out had such a fun six hours in my lifetime. It was pure bliss, euphoria, uncontrolled hysteria. I was a kid again, carefree and fun loving. I had a ball.

I began my day with my customary early wake up time of 5:30 A.M. for the two hour drive to Cannon. Roads were still a little slick and drivers had an attitude. Not a fun drive up. As I laid eyes on the notch, I got an awesome feeling. The whole notch was cloud free… except for Cannon. The top 750 vertical feet of Cannon were socked in. It was the proverbially cloud over the head of Angry Old Man Cannon that followed him where ever he goes. As I drove through the notch, and smiled at Cannon’s personification and stammered my favorite mountain saying “Cannon, you big grumpy old man you!”

I was the polar opposite of that grumpy old man, I was a giddy smiling little kid. The weekend storm had dumped over half a foot of fluff on the broad shoulders of Cannon Mountain, and I was about to hit the candy store.

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2002-2003 Season, Articles, December, Powder Day, Ragged Mountain

A Different Breed: The Ragged Mountain Experience

Stinky's Slide

Driving to a ski area before the break of dawn, you realize that you share the road with a different breed of the human species. Normal people do not wake up at 5:00 A.M. on a Saturday and gleefully pack their cars in below freezing temperatures. Normal people do not embark on two hour crusades to remote far off mountains that are cold and covered with snow.

Normal people do not know the feeling of trying to earn first tracks on a powder day.

Once on the highway, you pass a Chrysler Minivan with two blurry eyed parents in the front seat, two kids zonked out in the back. You get passed by some college kids in a 1988 Subaru Wagon with bumper stickers that read “Mad River Glen, Ski It If You Can” and “Cannon – It’s A Blast!” Roof racks adorn the many SUVs driven by yuppies that can barely suppress their shit eating grins knowing that they will soon be devouring powder in a few short hours. These are a few examples of the rare form of the human species known as “Skiers,” and together we all drive far and wide to earn turns after a foot and a half of fluff gets dumped on central Vermont and New Hampshire.

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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, Burke, March, Pond Skimming

Pond Skimming at Burke Mountain, VT

Originally, I had planned to pay my final respects to the 2001-2002 Ski Season at Cannon Mountain in the Franconia Notch. I was leaving open the possibility of visiting Burke in mid-April considering they recently received some of the best snow of the year. However, Friday night I learned that Burke would close that weekend despite having all of their trails open with ample coverage to last well into April.

My dilemma began. Cannon is my favorite mountain in New England and the front face trails beckoned for me to ski them one last time this year. Both ski areas were having Pond Skimming events on Saturday; however, I could only choose one. I went to bed Friday night with thoughts of Cannon in my mind.

Saturday morning, I got a late start on purpose due to rain and poor weather. I packed up and had the wheels rolling from my home in Haverhill, MA at 6:30 PM. The entire drive up I-93 was miserable with rain (rather heavy at times) and low visibility. While driving through Concord, NH, I phoned both mountains for their trial reports. Cannon reported fewer trails open than expected with a quad on hold, while Burke promised sunny skies with all trails open! The decision had been made, but that didn’t make driving by Cannon any easier. A look at the Front Face trails at Cannon confirmed my decision to be correct. The Front Face looked to be in awful condition with thin cover, dirt, rocks, and low base depths showing prominently in many spots on all of the Front Face trails. Amazingly, after passing by Cannon and driving out of the Notch, the skies cleared! The further North I drove, the more sun and fewer clouds I saw!

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2001-2002 Season, February, Lost Ski Area, Whaleback

Whaleback, NH

On my way to Jay Peak, I stopped by a ski area on I-89 that was no longer in operation. Whaleback stopped operations after it’s 2000-2001 ski season; however, the area was sold and reopened for the 2005-2006 Ski Season. The ski area is currently marketing itself towards the freestyle and park crowd.

I had never skied Whaleback; but looking at the mountain, I sure wish I had had the opportunity! Whaleback does have rather limited vertical, but they make excellent use of what little they do have! From the base area, a number of interesting runs are visible; including a couple of decently pitched and fairly narrow trails (including a sweet looking glade trail). The trails seem to have a decent pitch and are cut into natural fall lines. Although probably not the most challenging terrain, given the right conditions I am sure Whaleback offers tons of fun.

As far as their facilities, they are all in tact and surviving a winter of inactivity just fine. The blue double chairlift still looked to be in fine condition and none of the trails have grown in. In a matter of fact, several of the trails featured ski and snowmobile tracks! Had I some company, I would have gladly earned some turns myself!