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Cannon 2/23

MichaelJ

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Date(s) Skied: Feb 23, 2009

Resort or Ski Area: Cannon Mountain

Conditions: Powder, drifted powder, piled powder, blowing snow, fog up high

Trip Report:

Cannon on Monday with over a foot of freshies was stellar. The wind up high was blowing hard and sucked, and made for the Notch side of the upper mountain to be a real mess, with enormous drifts (reportedly as much as 6' high on Vista way). We stuck primarily to the other side, Taft to Hardscrabble, Taft to the connector to Upper Ravine, and Skylight. Up high, more alternating scratch and snow drifts (do not try to hit them dead on!), but as soon as we dropped a bit, it was sweet silken goodness. It was still possible to find a scrape or two on these lower sections, between the big bumps, but not an issue at all. We had a couple of opportunities where for long stretches we had freshies to hit on the sides of the trail, otherwise things were broken out but still soft and plow-through-able. Hitting the fresh on any runout was a quick stop. :)

Over on the Front Five, Zoomer, Rocket, and Paulie's Folly all very nice, soft, chopped up. They tended towards smoother in the middle and big to enormous bumps on the side, so we could take our pick of line. It was much easier to let it out and go on these trails, though the skilled powder skiers were definitely flying down those upper trails.

We did not hit Kinsman Glade. As badly as I wanted to (I've never been before) the tram was not running (reportedly due to ice on the haul rope) and that would have meant a super-suck traverse at the bottom that neither of us wanted.

It snowed the entire time we were there; I imagine (and see the TR's) that Tuesday was dreamy. The "taco soup" was basically meat and cheese in a bowl and was an excellent lunchtime recovery aid. :) There were no crowds, never a lift line. I skied until I was forced to call it quits when both quads cramped up solid.

Cannon is *definitely* my favorite day-trip mountain.
 

MichaelJ

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So, on the Notch side of the mountain we only did Upper Cannon and with the way that trail twists and turns, it came to pass that the right side of the trail was windblown scratch while the left side was deep drifts.

On the other side, from the top of Cannonball Quad down Taft it was windblown scratch with drifts across the trail and along the edges for the first drop, then no wind at all below the "wide spot" just before the last descending pitch in the trail where there's a tiny gap in the trees to the right and a stool sitting there (Global Warming Glade?). Skylight had a little more exposure and was scratch with just tiny (1-2" deep) drifts until about the same corresponding elevation then no wind at all. No wind or wind damage on any part of Hardscrabble.

Oh, and Big Link was a face full o' wind, as well as that open pitch on (Lower Cannon?) with some wind scratch but still snow cover.

And when I say scratch I do mean that - edgeable stuff, not glare.
 
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