Cannon, NH: 03/14/05

riverc0il

riverc0il

New member
my predictions of sunday being an epic completion to three days of incredible skiing at cannon went wrong. the snow storm never materialized in full at cannon. i would estimate a three day total of about 5-8 inches (matching the actual numbers provided on the web site, not hyped which deserves props with loon reporting 14 was it?? :roll: ) with not a heck of a lot falling after i left saturday night. sunday brought out a huge amount of people which would explain why the crowds were light on saturday. the cannonball quad went down for 2 hours in the AM which drove HUGE lines to the tram (people were queued up over the bridge!!!) and the zoomer triple chair (5 minute wait). longest lines i have ever seen at cannon by far due to the chair being down. someone mentioned that they had to run the chair in reverse to get people off, but that is completely 100% unverified rumor. it was back up and running by noon time thankfully.

i was hurting BAD from the get go after thursday's and saturday's romps. honestly, i didn't think i was going to make it past noon time, the turns were hard and painful. bumps are solidifying across the front face trails with regularly groomed sections of zoomer and avalanche featuring ice between the bumps, the regular bump lines are okay in the troughs except zoomer lift is a tad thin. lakeview was very packed down but skied well. a lot of scraping everywhere on the mountain, it was still snowing during the day and loose snow bumps were forming on nearly every trail by day's end.

snow report at 7:15AM said ALL 55 TRAILS OPEN, but kinsman and tramline were roped. the snow report for today that was posted at 3:52 yesterday still lists these two trails as open?? did they close it just due to the crowds to keep the joeys off? honestly, tramline was definitely skiable from the view above. was disappointed for my skiing partners who wanted to give that trail a run as it skied fine saturday and looked fine sunday from above. oh well.

i still found some untracked sunday, but it was very heavy snow and i would rather have been skiing through something more tracked up in all honesty. holiday restrictions no longer in effect, fwiw.
 
Thanks for the two reports! Sorry we missed you on the mountain. You weren't the only one disappointed in the overnight snow accumulation. We all had big hopes after skiing through snowfall most of Saturday, and expected more than the couple inches that fell after the lifts closed Saturday at 4PM.

Our biggest disappointment was being on-time, but missing Tram #1 on Sunday because there were 70+ people ahead of us in line. A couple hours later, when the Cannonball Quad broke down, we got caught in the 3-car wait for the Tram. Thank God the lift mechanics got it back up and running, the Tram lift lines would have been intolerable if it was down for the day. As you mentioned, Sunday was unusually crowded at Cannon; I suspect Loon sold out, and we caught the overflow.

Though not qualifying as "epic", I was not disappointed in the skiing conditions on Sunday. Conditions were still generally good. Our expectations have risen a bit high since the poor start to the season. Who would have thought this December or January, when the hill was an ice skating rink, that in March people would be discussing the merits of fat skis at Cannon?!

I loved you NBS Profile trail desription:
nasty with powdery bumps building up in between groomer tracks etched into the ice
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When conditions aren't "epic", I just keep reminding myself that Cannon Mountain conditions are usually rocky, icy, windy, cloudy, and cold. If any of these five are not true, then you're having a better than average day. I haven't hit a rock in weeks, even at Mittersill (but then, I haven't skied Tramline, LOL). The icy patches were short enough that I was still able to ski in control from bump to bump across the groomer tracks etched into the ice. There were no high winds either Saturday or Sunday, and it was relatively warm. If you must have sunny slopes, I bet it was shining at Loon on Sunday.

Although conditions on the mountain were not "epic", we did have a few epic runs both days, managing to find hundreds of vertical feet of untracked OB. Kinsman Glade was good early on both days, better Saturday, but not too bad Sunday. Still lots of snow on the edges on Mittersill trails, though the Taft Race Course from the saddle to the top of the Mittersill chairlift was pretty scraped by Sunday PM. Both in- and out-of-bounds on Mittersill, most skiers and riders scraped out the same 2-3 lines on every trail and glade, which left lots untouched on the edges, and even in between.

Yes, the groomers flattened out a few trails overnight Sunday. I guess the powder-maker couldn't till up anything from the cat-tracks-etched-in-ice on Profile, so they turned Taft Slalom into a GS course. Still great in-bounds bumps wall-to-wall on Paulies and Middle Hardscrabble (dear Lord, please don't let 'em groom MH!), and skiers left or right of Zoomer.

I can't resist 2 rants:
First, if I catch up with any snowboarder (or skier!) side-slipping down Mittersill trails/glades or Tuckerbrook, I'll personally clip your lift ticket. All weekend, I repeatedly came down some of my favorite lines, finding some inept wannabe rider had slipped the course. Some of it is parents bringing kids to Mittersill, but the stuff in the trees has got to be teenage M***holes. Lift-served BC skiing in NH is a privilege, and requires the ability and commitment to carve a turn or jump turn. It requires respect for the mountain and others who enjoy it, which means you fill in your sitzmark, or take 5 minutes to clean up the buried tree branch that tripped you before the next guy or girl gets caught on it. There's plenty of terrain in-bounds for you knuckleheads to hone your skills before you go OB and ruin the conditions for those who follow.

Second, it drives me crazy that Billy Roy will probably close the Tram a week or two before the end of the season, leaving only the Cannonball Quad to access the summit. During the final days of Spring skiing, he shuts down the best ski lift in New Hampshire, and runs a fixed-grip quad. No wonder Cannon can't attract enough skiers to make operating expenses after Easter. That leaves the Loon gondola as the best ski lift in New Hampshire, after the Tram is closed. We've got 3 weekends left to the end of Cannon's season, April 2-3. I haven't seen any announcement of a closing date for the Tram, but next weekend may be the last.

Finally, thanks for a great weekend, Dee!
 
OK, I retract the remark about riders from Mass.

It's a local knuckledragger (or a conspiracy?).

I skied late Tuesday, and there it was again - side-slipping all the way down top of obvious glade, and side slipping down Kinsman Glade.

Tram was supposed to close after last weekend; looks like we'll get to ride the Tram at least through this Sunday, 3/19. I hope the Cannonball Quad isn't going to breakdown after the Tram closes for the season!
 
Tram was supposed to close after last weekend; looks like we'll get to ride the Tram at least through this Sunday, 3/19. I hope the Cannonball Quad isn't going to breakdown after the Tram closes for the season!
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good to hear that the tram will be operating through next weekend. given the crowds this past weekend, it's a wonder why they won't keep it open through the end of the year! man, i don't know how pass holders put up with some of this stuff. my decision not to buy a pass paid off financially, so i am certainly in no position to bitch :lol:

looks like i won't be lumped in with other massholes any longer! just learned this morning i landed the job up in lyndon so northeast kingdom here i come, woo! sucks about the side slipping issue though
 
From_the_NEK":3mlni70z said:
Welcome to the NEK. Bring your skis and your bike and you won't have to leave!
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Then why's your avatar from A-Basin? :lol:
 
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