Cannon Mountain: January 2, 2006

[thetrailboss]

Date(s) Skied: January 2, 2006

Resort or Ski Area: Cannon Mountain, NH

Conditions: P/PP/FG

Trip Report: LAST NIGHT I found myself torn--where to ski? I know, what a horrible position to be in But I had planned on making the drive to Burke for a few hours of midweek skiing. After looking at the snow report and seeing that they were not grooming too many trails, and that snowmaking work was on the lower mountain and not on the runs I preferred, I began having second thoughts. Thanks to the wonderful interactive conditions map, I seriously considered skiing Cannon on my Sunapee pass instead because my favorite runs--the summit area and a couple on Zoomer Triple--were groomed and ready to go.

So I went to bed not sure what my plans were--but in my sleep, I was skiing Skylight on Cannon (and Ms. Trailboss reported that I was moving my legs in bed ).

I got up, checked the reports, and headed north. After a detour for gas, I took 116 over from Haverhill by Moosilauke and up to Franconia (and if you were the trucker who WOULD NOT pull over as you drove 25 mph, I'd get out of here ). So I got there a bit later than planned, and parked across the road.

After getting booted up, I was surprised to see that there really was no crowd at Cannon. Granted it was not a typical slow Monday, I never waited more than 2 mins for a lift (with the exception of the obligatory Tram run).

First run was down Middle Cannon and then Middle Ravine and Lower Ravine because I knew that they would be a skating rink later in the day. They were decent but getting scratchy. I then hit Gary's finding soft snow on the side of the trail thanks to snowmaking work on the Gremlin Triple. After a quick ride up Zoomer, I then hit Rocket, which was icy on the opening salvo and then softer down below.

I had seen and heard that it was socked in at the top and was hesitant to head up. But the summit was why I had come and I decided to go for it. I rode the Peabody Express and then dove down to the Cannonball Express.

It was cloudy, but not as bad as I had thought it would be. The clouds were just above the ground on the summit and as one headed down, it lifted about 40 percent down to the Cannonball Express, so this made my usual yo-yos off of Cannonball possible.

First run was down Skylight (and you're not surprised ) and it was as great as I remembered it being--nice slopes, rolls, pitches, and no skiers or riders. I hit it at least 5 or 6 times today and later in the day the visibility improved significantly allowing me to rip some bigger GS turns

From here, I went over to the Tram Station and checked out the work. New bathrooms were nice. Upper Cannon was in good shape, but it spills into the HSQ Mess on the links which got icy in a hurry.

I then did Upper Ravine, which is a combination of Upper Cannon and Skylight, and found it to be in good shape. The only thing that the fog was doing was keeping the skiers and riders off of the summit and allowing me to yo-yo without any delay from standing in line at the Cannonball. Awesome!

So I did yo-yo's on the summit until 11:30 or so before screaming down Spookie onto Gremlin, which few people were skiing or riding. I found some soft snow and great cover on this run. I hit it after lunch as well and it was holding up well. (By the way, I was pretty at the gentlemen who decided to take my lunchspot after I had put my stuff down. Real classy, man).

After one more run down Gremlin, I headed over to Zoomer and found some surprisingly soft bumps in the middle of the trail, though the lower section, where the fall-line steepens was icy and a bit treacherous in places. Great adrenaline rush.

From here, it was time for my one tram ride to the summit. The ride was nice but still foggy. Getting out, I saw that Tramline had been ironed out the night before and I decided to hit it. It was decent. I spent about an hour yo-yoing on Cannoball again hitting those summit runs that were groomed before heading back down Gremlin to the base.

I closed out by trying out the new beginner quad down at the bottom. Wow. Nice runs and good place for kids. I did Rabbit Path, Turkey Trot, and Moose Alley before heading back to the lodge via Bear Paw. Great cover and grooming over there and the new quad was nice.

Leaving the mountain, I headed back over Sugar Hill and over to Wells River and I-91. The clouds had finally lifted revealing Cannon and Lafayette--covered in snow and beautiful. A great way to end a great trip

[riverc0il]

Getting out, I saw that Tramline had been ironed out the night before and I decided to hit it.

i suppose you mean tramway, not tramline nice report, sounds like typical cannon!

[thetrailboss]

Yes, Tramway

[NHpowderhound]

Tramline?! Tramline?! Who said Tramline ?
((*
*))NHPH

[thetrailboss]

Originally Posted by NHpowderhound

Tramline?! Tramline?! Who said Tramline ?
((*
*))NHPH

No, that trail was not open

[snowmonster]

They never open Tramline unless they have at least three feet of snow on it.

I was at Cannon on the rainy Thursday before New Year. It was so foggy on mid mountain, you couldn't see three feet in of you. Fog cleared up in the afternoon. Went down Vista Way among others. Was surprised to see it so bumped up, rocky and un-tamed. Only found out when I got home that the trail was closed! Great day at Cannon though.