Category: Powder Day

2012-2013 Season, Cannon Mountain, February, Middle Hard the Hard Way, Powder Day

Cannon: NE Wind FTW

After fierce deliberations during the evening prior, I decided to make a “driveway decision” in the morning. Seeing the winds on Mount Washington blowing only 40-50 MPH out of the northeast suggested that all lifts at Cannon would run and they did. Indeed, the Peabody Quad was as calm as I’ve ever seen it during a storm.

I would like to personally thank Deval Patrick for being a pussy. Otherwise, I would have feared the hoards of Massachusetts skiers heading north. Other options included four mid-sized ~1000′ areas that would have had snow and no crowds but not the same level of terrain. I’d say that I choose wisely.

Cannon reported a two day total of 16″ and that sounds about right. Six of those inches fell yesterday and the remainder fell last night. It snowed all day and they might have picked up another two inches this afternoon. Much deeper drifts could be found so while boot deep was the average, exploding knee deep was still plentiful.

(more…)

2012-2013 Season, Earned Vertical Assistance, January, Jay Peak, Powder Day

Jay Peak: The Boom & The Bust

Beaver Powder

I was fairly well set on skiing Black Mountain in Maine today. With generally poor conditions throughout New England, I thought it was another good opportunity to continue to work on The List during a holiday weekend. Fifteen dollar lift tickets, no crowds, and 100% open were all strong factors. But before leaving, I checked the Jay Peak Snow Report (not that one) which was reporting 5-7″ in the past 24 hours and 9-13″ in the past 48 (with upper mountain lift holds). Boom?

(more…)

2012-2013 Season, December, Mad River Glen, Powder Day

Mad River Glen: Down the Rabbit Hole

MRG Rabbit Hole Skiing

Of all the mountains that I might suspect to score a “day after the powder day” powder day (during a holiday period), Mad River Glen is not a prime suspect. But adventurous woods skiing yielded everything from packed powder to loose fluff to honest to goodness completely untracked lines, two days after a holiday weekend storm. Friggin’ sweet!

I wasn’t expecting expansive off map opportunities but Mad River Glen delivered. Throughout the morning I kept thinking “there is no way that such and such a shot is going to ski well” and invariably I would try it and score excellent snow and quality turns. Despite the “woods are thin” signage at the Single, I found the off map woods to be very well covered and one dump away from being chargeable.

(more…)

2012-2013 Season, December, Earned Turns, Powder Day, Tenney Mountain

Redemption in Central NH

Dusk Patrol Near Home

When I got home from Jay, I dejectedly flopped down into my chair and started flipping through trip reports. I quickly found myself at the NY Ski Blog reading Harvey’s latest post on ski touring right outside his backdoor. And the thought occurred to me that I could keep reading about other people skiing or I could head outside my own backdoor and earn some turns myself. There was only an hour and a half of daylight left but I could just barely squeeze it in.

I quickly ran through the house and gathered up my touring gear. Much to my chagrin, I later discovered that I had been too hasty in gathering my gear. While applying my skins in the howling wind, I cried out in dismay as I realized that I had the wrong pair of skins! I applied a quick fix that worked and commenced skinning on skins that were 3cm short of full width coverage and 10cm short in the tail.

(more…)