Cannon, nh: 12.27-12.28

riverc0il

riverc0il

New member
where to begin? for all those who did not get knee deep into the powder this past weekend, my sincere sympathies. that said, i need no sympathy from any body regarding the utter destruction i wrecked on my bases. ever dig, scratch, gash, and core shot (there are two!) were well worth it. <BR> <BR>knowing it was going to be rough going, i started out on my p40 "rock skis" which actually only got one seasons worth of use before i was tempted into my new p50 motions. i quickly discovered i've been spoiled but my new p50's to the point i couldn't be bothered with the p40's. not a dig against my old babies, they were awesome skis and i sing their praise highly. but the 10cm shorter p50s are much more agile and powderful through the crud. any one looking for a pair of p40 platinums in a 193cm, feel free to email me! i know if i wouldn't use them this weekend, they are never getting skied again! <BR> <BR>zoomer, paulie's, and avalanche began the morning roped. that didn't last long though! essentially, there was ZERO base on these trails under a foot of fresh from thursday night. the freshies were had friday, but there was excellent cut up fluffy snow left over for saturday morning. skiing through, around, and over the bumps that formed became essential as where the "trough" in the bump usually formed had a mere inch of snow cover and then dirt, grass, or worse. i playfully hoped through, around, and over these powdery bumps all morning. a pure delight!!! pinch me, is it still december!?!?! <BR> <BR>the goodness last till about noon time, then the pickings got very slim. much base damage was had, but well worth it for the quality of the snow and turns! the cut backs and traverses to the tram were UGLY. the paulie's/avalanche cut back leading to the banshee slopes actually required either walking through a 10 foot section of mud, or successfully navigating the woods (i took the later option!). <BR> <BR>the holiday crowd really socked it to cannon. busiest i've ever seen the place with all lots full. despite that, no more than a 4 minute wait on the chairs, one tram wait for the summit ride. middle cannon was a bump field by noon time, and the links were a wreck. forget the front face, forget the hards, and forget tramline... making it down safety from teh high speed quad is cannon's biggest challenge that all must face. <BR> <BR>okay, THE GOODS!!! cannon roped the goods off. taft slalom, fantastic! aside from some man made moistness that poked through the trees from upper ravine where they were blowing. Upper Hard - BEST conditions i've ever skied it! occasional untracked, excellent fluffy powder! Middle Hard, WOOOOO!!!!! final pitch was a bit thin, but YES! <BR> <BR>over to mittersill for my first turns there for the season. taft race course... YES! PPP!!!! occasional small bumps... but the snow! wow! barron's run... KNEE DEEP POWDAH!!! oh yea, and a core shot, lots of scrapes, tripped up twice, landed hard on something unplesant, and pretty beat up. so needless to say, i didn't track down mittersill more than once that weekend, but it was SO worth it. i can't imagime what it looked like sunday, ick. or now after the warm weather. <BR> <BR>simply put, there was NO base on the natural snow trails and the fresh snow was fading fast. <BR> <BR>for sunday, zoomer, paulie's, and avalanche got the rope and RIGHTFULLY SO! PROPS to cannon for having the GUTS to open those trails on saturday. a wise choice to shut things down on sunday, they were toasted. bumps on skier's right of both rocket and gary's... DELIGHTFUL! thanks again to cannon for excellent half grooming on the blue squares! could it be... tuckerbrook opens up so the cruisers get their nice terrain and the bump lovers get ours! YES! <BR> <BR>tuckerbrook... WONDERFUL new area. really impressed with the quality of design and practicality. just what cannon was missing. also, really noticed a huge display of ski school and ski instructors. cannon really has out done themselves in catoring to the family crowd and learning skier. with this new additional, seeing it first hand... i highly recommend cannon as a place to learn. <BR> <BR>back up top, sunday saw great conditions under the rope on taft slalom and upper hard. middle hard a bit more chewed up, but epic none the less! profile was pretty scratchy, but groomed. <BR> <BR>sooooo.... two blue bird days at cannon in a row. in december???? WTF??? it happens! looking forward, natural snow trails are surely screwed by now and roped for good reason. no base and only trace amounts of remaining powder after this weekend and the warmer weather. hope for a major dump soon folks! we're back to square one in terms of building a base on natural snow trails. those trails already groomed looked like they will get through the warmer weather without too much issue. though that base is going fast too. <BR> <BR>pics and full write up with an awesome pic of the northern presis: <BR><A HREF="http://www.netway.com/~theway/ski/2004/cannon2004b.htm" TARGET="_top">http://www.netway.com/~theway/ski/2004/cannon2004b.htm</A>
 
Skied Cannon Friday-Saturday-Sunday, and I could not write a better report. Thanks, Steve! Friday was obviously the best snow. Wow, what a shock. I drove south through the Notch at 10AM on Christmas Day, where it was 36F and raining, and the Front Five were devastated. I returned from taxachusetts barely 24 hours later to find a foot of fresh powder. Of course, as you pointed out, it fell on bare grass, dirt, rocks. <BR> <BR>Funniest moment was on Saturday: overheard Ski Patrol on the Tram discussing opening Vista Way, because it was so good. Next tram car ride up, 70 skiers come down the stairs from the mountain platform, and the door is open to Vista Way & Tramway! So virtually all 70 skiers & riders went out that side, and immediately tracked up what was left. Vista Way was great! I got down to Bypass, and even that was "open"! Just a few rock ledges to jump over, but not bad (heck, Kmart would've had it open with a "thin cover, xperts only" sign). Paulies Extension was pretty good, too. Got down Avalanche, and back to the Tram base, and three Ski patrol are asking "who opened the door?!". I said, "it was open when we got there, we thought you guys opened it!". "Yeah, the guy who got hurt on Bypass thought it was open, too!" (I don't think he was hurt bad, or it wouldn't have been funny). A piece of rope was firmly tied around the door handle for the rest of the weekend. <BR> <BR>Visibility Saturday was crystal clear, with great views to the West of Killington, Sugarbush, and Stowe. Not bad on Sunday, either. I was counting on you taking some great photos, and you came through as always! Nice photos at your site! (the "December 8, 2003" subtitle threw me at first).
 
oops on the 12.08.03 subtitle! that was from my last write up! gotta fix that. <BR> <BR>i never saw the door open or without rope on the tram building for that exit. i thought about doing vista way or tramway once or twice. i guess i should have!!! more proof that the best stuff at cannon was under the ropes. bypass did look pretty mean from the quad tho, i can see how someone who didn't know what they were doing could get cut up on that. <BR> <BR>amazing about the visibility! i forgot to mention that! only the second time i've ever been able to make out stowe from cannon, and amazingly clear! i could just about pick out certain trails.
 
thanks for the comments about the pics! re: the pic of the presi's... this one was actually planned. last year i drove right by this location without a cam and was amazed by the view. i lodged it into the back of my mind for future reference. beautiful day for the photo! the drive between gorham and cannon is fairly long for lodging (just under an hour), but the drive around the presi's is one of the best drives around on a clear day.
 
Great pics and report. I read a few other on your site, real good stuff. I was trying to look at mitersill and cannon maps to see if any more terrain on mittersill is skiable without a hike due to the new cannon expansion. Do you have any idea? I'm probably going up in january or february and hope to check it out but just wondering if you knew of anything. I know releasing secrets on the web ain't everyones favourite thing to do. Thanks
 
suffice to say, there are very few routes down mittersill that require more than a few minutes walk balk to the tuckerbrook quad. if you know where to duck through the trees ;) no walk is usually ever needed. just do some exploring or partner up with someone heading in a new direction.
 
cool thanks. Thats what i was thinking after looking at some topos and other maps of cannon and mittersill just wanted to check. Explorings always fun, but local knowledge can never be beat.
 
Agree with you on this one, woodi ! <BR> <BR>If I took 10 years to find all the spots at Alta (and I still found 2 other great ones last friday), I'm sure it would take 100 years (with an average of 2 days by season) to find all the spots at a mountain like Cannon with just exploring !!
 
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