After work 4/26, I hiked up Cannon (which closed for season 4/15). A tele skier came down Gremlin at 6PM, as I was starting up from Peabody base. Easy hiking in snow cat tracks left by the day shift, who appear to have been cleaning up leftover snowmaking guns & hoses. 1:15 to the summit via Gremlin > Middle Ravine > Upper Ravine > Taft. Estimate 0"-48" base on lower & middle mountain; Gremlin still pretty good cover. Several undermined spots on Middle Ravine, and getting narrow at junction with Turnpike. Profile still has top to bottom cover, though some bare spots cross most of the trail at several water bars. Very good top to bottom cover on Upper Ravine, should last a while, 48"-72" base all the way down below the Cannonball Quad. Saw a big bare spot bottom of Skylight as I hiked by, looked like you could still ski around it. Mid-day high was in the 60s; by 6-7PM, mid 40s at base, lower 30s at Summit by sunset; snow starting to set up where shadows had fallen, but sunny side of trails was still plenty soft. Tagged the antenna farm on Summit and headed down at 7:15PM. Descent via Taft was fun, with sun setting in the West, <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/your_image.gif" ALT="1,Top of Taft"> though you could barely squeek by on skier's left of the bare ledges half way down. Cut over to Upper Ravine, then down to Middle Ravine, then crossed over by top of Turnpike to Lower Cannon to catch the last rays of sun. Lower Cannon was in much worse shape than Gremlin, though I managed to get down it by jumping over a short bare spot, and following a narrow strip of snow halfway down until it widened out again. Managed to ski all the way around the new base lodge on thin, dirty snow, and partway down Brookside to the car in time to watch the sunset.
Cannon Mt., NH 4/26/01
- Thread starter Lftgly
- Start date
Hiked it again Saturday afternoon, 4/28, same route up and down. Seven other skiers came down Ravine while I was going up. Taft now required jumping over a 5 foot bare spot at the ledges halfway down (though one of the other skiers took his skis off). Looks like Upper Ravine is now the better choice. <BR> <BR>Losing snow fast at the bottom of Gremlin. Couldn't ski around the lodge anymore, had to stop at bottom of halfpipe. A widening bare spot a hundred yards up Gremlin will soon cross the whole trail. <CENTER><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1109.jpg" ALT="Gremlin"></CENTER>