Cannon 4/6/08

[polski]

Date(s) Skied: Sunday 4/6/08

Resort or Ski Area: Cannon Mountain

Conditions: spring

Trip Report: Great spring conditions but they groomed the mountain to hell -- no bumps to speak of on any open trails except some that may have been a day old on Zoomer Lift Line. Some bumps started forming on the frontside trails by late in the day. Not really sure why they were compelled to flatten everything -- the trails report from Saturday had indicated the frontside was all ungroomed, but 'twas not to be.

Went with my 7-year-old who made his first trip to Cannon. Beforehand he was intimidated, having seen the mountain from I-93 after days skiing at Bretton Woods last year. The second run he decided he wanted to do Paulie's Folly. By the end of the day we had skied every open black diamond and he declared them all easy. I had to agree ... Best fun we had was in Lakeview Glade (next to Zoomer Lift Line), the easier/smaller woods run Turnpike Glade, and what was nearly a snowfield amid the scrubby trees at skier's right off the top of Vista Way.

A beautiful day including lunch al fresco (ahh, springtime) but the overgrooming was a surprising disappointment.

 

[Angus]

we skied cannon a few times around xmas (before and after) and alot of trails were bumped up and we had a blast. went back two weeks ago and everything had been flattened with exception of some ungroomed on edges of paulie's, zoomer and avalanche - couldn't figure it out either.

 

[riverc0il]

Not really sure why they were compelled to flatten everything -- the trails report from Saturday had indicated the frontside was all ungroomed, but 'twas not to be.

Cannonistas don't like bumps and natural snow. Must as I love Cannon, I have been giving the mountain crap for years about over grooming. To hear they flattened everything going into April and spring skiing really boils my goose. Few years ago, they started half grooming a lot of stuff, especially the front five minus Paulie's which has historically always been bumped until they decided to winch groom it this year. The new GM is from Sunday River, not sure if that has anything to do with it. Hey, it is a banner year for Cannon profitability, people love flat trails!!! Can't wait until they groom Mittersill.

Okay, time for another 90 minute IPA and then I will tell you how I really feel....

 

[Johnskiismore]

I'm with you, I didn't mind when they would groom half of Avalanche or Zoomer, but now, all groomed. Booo

 

[polski]

I didn't have time earlier for more than a very quick report, thought I'd expand on it a little.

I'd done my usual extensive research before settling on Cannon as our destination, with MRG being the other main contender; Forecasts for more southerly areas in VT/NH indicated clouds, not sun. Judging from the other reports here I think I nailed it in terms of weather -- no fog, mostly sunny, and lower elevations already were corning up by the time we did our first run around 10 a.m. On the ride up 93 it was overcast but I told my son the conditions could be dramatically different on the other side of Franconia and sho' 'nuff as soon as we could see the notch we saw blue skies ahead. It actually warmed up enough that by the afternoon there were a few slushy spots at middle to lower elevations but nothing too problematic.

Cover was great, top to bottom. Only bare spots we encountered on anything open were a few patches in Lakeview Glade and one part of lower Turnpike that was roped off. But especially with such a deep base, I couldn't help but think of a certain poster on another board who quite vehemently articulates the case for NE ski areas to invest in seeded bump runs and how if he saw the Cannon front five groomed flat he would have had an aneurysm.

Meanwhile, a little personal story. I mentioned above that my 7-year-old had been a bit intimidated by Cannon beforehand. Actually what happened was that at bedtime Saturday night he talked me out of going to Cannon and instead hitting ... Mad River Glen. This is particularly funny considering I'm an MRG shareholder and all other things being equal I want to give them my business. I was proud of my son -- he'd only been to MRG once and only skied Sunnyside, not the single, but he gets it. Only problem from my perspective was I knew I would be skiing yesterday (Sunday) and tomorrow (Tuesday) with a day business trip to NYC sandwiched in between, and I could hit MRG only one of those days. Cannon is a 2-hour drive for me, MRG a solid 3, and not only would a shorter drive help me but it would get my son home earlier on a school night. At 5:45 a.m. Sunday I talked him back into Cannon. Tomorrow I ski the hell out of MRG.

 

[kickstand]

Interesting review of Cannon. I'm hitting it tomorrow (Tues) and I was hoping for some soft bumps here and there. Hopefully the weather will make up for the lack of bumps. And 2-for-$60 is hard to pass up. Hey, I'll be happy no matter what. It's skiing........

 

[polski]

Some smallish soft bumps did start forming in places on the front five by the end of the day and FWIW the trails report as of this afternoon indicated no further grooming there, but who knows. Agreed, hard to go too wrong with 2-for-$60.