Learning to ski glades at Cannon

[massbmx]

I echo what has been said in here...the upper mountain glades at Cannon are no joke if you are new to glade skiing/snowboarding. There is hardly room to turn in some spots, and sections get pretty steep. I unfortunatley followed a group of about 12 kids going through Global Warming saturday, it was painfully slow going and they defiantley didn't look like they were having fun. I agree with whoever said those glades probably shouldn't even be on the map.

Lakeview is a perfect learning glade, seems to hold a lot of snow and is pretty open/mellow, had a blast in there last year on april 1 during a 12" dump. Unfortunatley the lower mountain glades don't seem to have very much snow this year, heck even the upper mountain stuff had a few rocks and stumps.

 

[from_the_NEK]

You have to pay for a lift ticket somewhere else if you are serious about learning the woods. If you "need to take it to more challenging terrain" then you don't have good glade technique or else you'd already be in there. Go to Jay or Bretton Woods and have at their glades. Or throw yourself down one of Cannon's summit glades and have fun eating bark. You can't have it both ways. Everyone that replied to you that knows Cannon's glades are in agreement... there is not intermediate step between the blue square glades and the black diamond glades. IMO, the summit glades shouldn't even be on the map, way too tight for all but good glade skiers with reasonable experience.

I think a Burke lift ticket is $40 with a Cannon pass.

Here is a progressive list of glades at Burke:
Enchanted Forest - low angle beginner glade on the lower mountain
Little Chief - lower intermediate. This is the one that Rivercoil was wondering about after the new lift was installed (it is still mostly still there but it lost a 1/4 of the skiers left side to the liftline).
Marshland - lower intermediate. Moderately pitched hardwoods
Sasquatch - Intermediate (All dense softwood, not very steep but you can't see very far ahead. This one is good for learning to choose lines in Cannon's thick softwood glades).
Throbulator, Caveman, and Ynot - Intermediates. fairly steep open hard woods.
Dixieland, Birches - Expert. Fairly steep start in softwoods opening up into Hardwoods.
Jungle - Expert. Longer section of steep tight softwoods and several steep headwalls that take some planning to negotiate.

Then there is the of the map stuff.

 

[St. Bear]

Everyone that replied to you that knows Cannon's glades are in agreement... there is not intermediate step between the blue square glades and the black diamond glades. IMO, the summit glades shouldn't even be on the map, way too tight for all but good glade skiers with reasonable experience.

You know how I know this is true? I've looked for some of the summit glades, and I haven't even been able to spot the entrances.

Granted, I didn't look hard because I knew I wouldn't be entering and I wanted to see what they looked like, but they're definitely not traditional on-map stuff.

 

[Skier4life]

Seems like your question has been answered...there is no value one can place on learning something right the first time and reaping the benefit for the rest of your life...pay that extra, go to a mountain that will not completely intimidate you and get comfy! Then go back to Cannon next season or end of this and tackle the harder glades.
Jay is real good for this...

 

[rocojerry]

my general rule for glades -- and determining difficulty, is look at the trails on either side of it..

If the glade is nestled between two black diamonds, its probably going to be a gnarly steep glade -- could be tight trees...

if its between two blues, or a blue/green its gonna be a bit easier... also, knowing you may have an escape route to get back to a trail is a nice feeling..

and any glade nestled between two green trails? or on a beginner area of the mtn (tuckerbrook?) they should be easier to handle....

 

[Skier4life]

my general rule for glades -- and determining difficulty, is look at the trails on either side of it..

If the glade is nestled between two black diamonds, its probably going to be a gnarly steep glade -- could be tight trees...

if its between two blues, or a blue/green its gonna be a bit easier... also, knowing you may have an escape route to get back to a trail is a nice feeling..

and any glade nestled between two green trails? or on a beginner area of the mtn (tuckerbrook?) they should be easier to handle....

As obvious as this sounds, people, and i for one, have generally glossed over this extremely simple but usually true to life litmus test!

Thanks roco

 

[Northernflight]

Waterville is a little limited with there glades, not that many but they can def be fun. The glade between and tyler too and Tecumseh is pretty fun. Phyced out glades and sunnyside are short and not too challenging so that could be what your looking for. Phyco glade is the best but it can get pretty steep in there. I cant speak to how the snow as I haven't been there since Dec. but from my experience they need a good amount to cover everything up.

 

[Cheese]

Waterville is a little limited with there glades, not that many but they can def be fun. The glade between and tyler too and Tecumseh is pretty fun. Phyced out glades and sunnyside are short and not too challenging so that could be what your looking for. Phyco glade is the best but it can get pretty steep in there. I cant speak to how the snow as I haven't been there since Dec. but from my experience they need a good amount to cover everything up.

I'd stay clear of the glades at Waterville. Maybe Green Horn glades for kids but everything else is poor at best. Psycho Glades are steep and tight. Actually linking more than a couple turns will be difficult. Psyched Out glades are flat, super tight, ski more like a kid path than a glade and dump you out at a half pipe that doesn't exist this year. Old T Trees get steeper at the bottom and then exit with a chute perpendicular to a cat track (Siegel Street). Sunny Side glades have a steep rocky entrance and then exit over a snow making pipe onto a closed trail (Lower Bobby's) or True Grit.

Plenty of better glades around than those at Waterville.

 

[Puck it]

I'd stay clear of the glades at Waterville. Maybe Green Horn glades for kids but everything else is poor at best. Psycho Glades are steep and tight. Actually linking more than a couple turns will be difficult. Psyched Out glades are flat, super tight, ski more like a kid path than a glade and dump you out at a half pipe that doesn't exist this year. Old T Trees get steeper at the bottom and then exit with a chute perpendicular to a cat track (Siegel Street). Sunny Side glades have a steep rocky entrance and then exit over a snow making pipe onto a closed trail (Lower Bobby's) or True Grit.

Plenty of better glades around than those at Waterville.

Burial Ground is okay, but WV is not the glade mecca!!!!!!

 

[Cheese]

As an example, I stole this pic from a Sunday River trip report. You'll not find anything close to this at Waterville.

 

[Puck it]

As an example, I stole this pic from a Sunday River trip report. You'll not find anything close to this at Waterville.

That looks easier then Ridge Glade at Sunapee.

 

[CapyB]

Bretton Woods was not fun, but I might return sometime midweek next year if I get a chance (and a really good discount). I headed up to Cannon today and wound up making my way through Go Green I think it's called- it's the one off of Skylight. It wasn't too hard, there's some nice snow in there. It was actually slightly easier than the one labelled Snowmaker's on the map (a blue glade between Time Zone and Gary's) but that might be because I've gotten slightly better and so have conditions. It was slow going, but fun.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Here is a progressive list of glades at Burke:
Enchanted Forest - low angle beginner glade on the lower mountain
Little Chief - lower intermediate. This is the one that Rivercoil was wondering about after the new lift was installed (it is still mostly still there but it lost a 1/4 of the skiers left side to the liftline).
Marshland - lower intermediate. Moderately pitched hardwoods
Sasquatch - Intermediate (All dense softwood, not very steep but you can't see very far ahead. This one is good for learning to choose lines in Cannon's thick softwood glades).
Throbulator, Caveman, and Ynot - Intermediates. fairly steep open hard woods.
Dixieland, Birches - Expert. Fairly steep start in softwoods opening up into Hardwoods.
Jungle - Expert. Longer section of steep tight softwoods and several steep headwalls that take some planning to negotiate.

Great little rundown. This will be useful if I end up there next weekend.

 

[WJenness]

As an example, I stole this pic from a Sunday River trip report. You'll not find anything close to this at Waterville.

Hey Look!

It's my photo!



-w

 

[rocojerry]

I think a Burke lift ticket is $40 with a Cannon pass.

Here is a progressive list of glades at Burke:
Enchanted Forest - low angle beginner glade on the lower mountain
Little Chief - lower intermediate. This is the one that Rivercoil was wondering about after the new lift was installed (it is still mostly still there but it lost a 1/4 of the skiers left side to the liftline).
Marshland - lower intermediate. Moderately pitched hardwoods
Sasquatch - Intermediate (All dense softwood, not very steep but you can't see very far ahead. This one is good for learning to choose lines in Cannon's thick softwood glades).
Throbulator, Caveman, and Ynot - Intermediates. fairly steep open hard woods.

Burke 2/26: Caveman

Dixieland, Birches - Expert. Fairly steep start in softwoods opening up into Hardwoods.
....

Burke 2/26: Birches

 

[Cannonball]

The pictures in this thread made me think about the subtle difference of the term "skiing glades" vs "skiing trees". And maybe it gets to the heart the original post. There have been some great pictures of "glades" in this thread. The upper Mtn portions of Cannon are "trees". Get comfortable in the glades suggested in this thread before getting skewered in the trees at Cannon....

 

[rocojerry]

Another thing to consider is the type of trees, and their size/age-- I'm a big fan of mature birch tree's without many lower branches. Some of the most difficult I find are young conifers, that sometimes can have sharp jacket impaling branches sticking out of them-- they also tend to be tighter together. Larger trees and mature areas of the forrest have by nature taken some light away from the younger trees in the area and create a more sparse layout of trees. Sometimes on trail maps, they denote spacing of trees too.... glades that look like wider trails with a few trees are usually a bit easier than anything that appears to be a tight chute w trees... Things off the map are generally tight trees, so be wary of following the 'locals entrance'. And lastly -- if the glade is wide enough, you can tend to zig/zag and almost traverse within glades to make them a bit less difficult by choosing a less aggressive line.

 

[Cheese]

And lastly -- if the glade is wide enough, you can tend to zig/zag and almost traverse within glades to make them a bit less difficult by choosing a less aggressive line.

Eh ... this one sort of falls into that "fighting for your right of way" vs. "avoiding getting hit" territory. Unless you know for sure you're alone in the glade or tree run, I'd be very careful making traverses.

 

[rocojerry]

Eh ... this one sort of falls into that "fighting for your right of way" vs. "avoiding getting hit" territory. Unless you know for sure you're alone in the glade or tree run, I'd be very careful making traverses.

good point. I guess i've been lucky to not encounter much traffic from above in my glade/tree experience, but learning -- you surely do.

 

[CapyB]

I did do a bit of traversing, but most of the time I was just making really slow turns. It went a little like my first time in the moguls, which was basically how I treated it. They were a little tight for my skill level, but they weren't super challenging. I managed to get some super cheap lift tickets at Mt Abram, does anyone have any comments on the glades over there?