This was my first time at Tenney on a cold, as in 10 below zero, morning but the sun shone and the trails looked inviting. There hadn't been any siginificant snow recently, but Tenney had excellent cover on all their trails and glades. I particularly enjoyed skiing uncrowded conditions on a holiday weekend and finding stashes of powder. The glades and Hornet were the picks of the day for me. <BR> <BR>Cannon was warmer than the start at Tenney. Starting at the tram base has advantages including riding up in an enclosed tram at 8:15 for first tracks. Cover at Cannon was good with some boney sections of the natural snow trails like Hardscrabble. <BR> <BR>Mittersil is in good shape with some fluff left if you don't mind turning on pucker brush. There was a decent but manageable crowd at Cannon the quad was ski on as was the tram, but the steeper trail sections got skied of revealing some frozen granular. There wasn't much in the way of bumps at Cannon; the glades and Paulie Folly were the only bump trails. The hardscrabbles had bumps here and there, but nothing continious. <BR> <BR>I'm not sure if the cold kept people in or the universally good ski conditions dispersed the crowd across New England, but it was not crowded skiing this weekend at Cannon or Tenney.
Tenney, NH 1/18 & Cannon, NH 1/19
- Thread starter Talisman
- Start date
Revealing some "frozen granular"? Talisman, have you been sleeping with someone in the marketing department? <BR> <BR>I skied Cannon 1/18, and that's what my Swedish friend would call "blue powder". <BR> <BR>Any ordinary skier or rider still calls it "ice". <BR> <BR>OK, it's not quite boiler-plate; it's that wonderful rock-hard Cannon man-made that got rained on, then froze New Years Day. <BR> <BR>Unfortunately, all the new snow this month has been dry powder, nothing that will stick long on that base. <BR> <BR>You're right-on about the Tram (warmest lift in NH, I'd say), Mittersil conditions, and ski-on & off w/o lines. <BR> <BR>No matter how much the marketing dept tries to "dumb down" Cannon's rep (witness the latest "the big easy" ad campaign), it's still as WINDY, ICY, & COLD as always. <BR> <BR>Talisman, you are obviously hardcore, if you chose to ski Cannon in sub-zero temps!
Not to get too technical, but for me if it is white and hard it is frozen granular if I can get edge set. Ice is blue, shiney and honed edges on stiff skis won't get edge set. I ski the sugar lines at the edges of trails. The poor unfortunates with short, soft skis and dull edges. <BR> <BR>Sunday 1/19 wasn't sub-zero it was five above, not many fun filled degrees. Any wind and Sunday would have been a cruel day to ski. I'm impressed you skied Cannon on Saturday in the deep freeze, Tenney was cold but sunny. <BR> <BR>Why is it that NH seems to have more ice than mtns in VT with similar elevations?
Lift-serviced NH areas get substantially less natural snow than Vermont (~150 vs 200-250 inches per year). Except for Wildcat, which may get wind-stripping as it faces west. <BR> <BR>This is based on looking at numbers and maps. Those with direct experience may have more specific comments.
As a proponent of NH vs, VT, it's scary for me to to look at the scientific numbers, because they show Tony is right. <BR> <BR>Here is the current NY-NewEngland snowfall totals map: <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1868.jpg" ALT="January 24, 2003"> <BR>Check out the National Weather Service site for high res original at the link below: <BR>http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/html/climo2.shtml click "Seasonal nowfall to date" or try <BR>http://www.erh.noaa.gov/nerfc/graphics/snowmaps/sea1_today.jpg <BR> <BR>Mount Mansfield, VT snow depth currently ~66" <BR>Check out the UVM source: <BR>http://www.uvm.edu/skivt-l/?Page=depths.html <BR> <BR>Mount Washington, NH snow depth currently ~34.5" <BR>(at Tucks, snow stake in woods near HoJos) <BR>The OBS source: <BR>http://www.mountwashington.org/backcountry/index.html
Got no opinion on a general question of NH *versus* VT but there's little doubt that the latter, S VT in particular, has been in the bullseye this year as nicely illustrated by the above graphic. Certainly not complaining (and I almost fear jinxing it with analysis!) but anyone have any similar documentation of whether or not this holds historically, or is it just a lucky year for us down here? Unfortunately nobody seems to have gotten a whole lot in the last two weeks or so, but at least nothing has melted or crusted!
Historical averages (over 30 years in some cases) are on my website at <A HREF="http://bestsnow.net/eastnet.htm" TARGET="_top">http://bestsnow.net/eastnet.htm</A>. <BR> <BR>The most extensive data is from Mt. Washington (may differ from that published elsewhere because I start at 1966-67 and they go way earlier), Stowe and Killington. Cannon had 25 years of good data until it became spotty and unreliable about 5 years ago. Jay has 21 years of data but there is some controversy over the last few (I have tried to adjust). Everyone else has incomplete data which I project to seasonal average using the most closely correlated nearby area with complete data. <BR> <BR>So it is the Cannon vs. Stowe/Killington data which caused my NH vs. VT snowfall generalization above. Mt. Washington is a unique microclimate wich has little relation to any lift-serviced skiing except maybe Wildcat. <BR> <BR>Marc is correct in that latitude is the main driver of snow preservation in the East as altitudes are similar across New England.