Cannon Lover's Thread

[Black Phantom]

Not yet

Been training early this season. Hoping this storm pulls through.

Is Cannon just a complete disaster nowadays?

Where is your beloved billski?

 

[Abubob]

Not yet

Been training early this season. Hoping this storm pulls through.

Is Cannon just a complete disaster nowadays?

Where is your beloved billski?

Good question. Where is @billski?

 

[Puck it]

Not yet

Been training early this season. Hoping this storm pulls through.

Is Cannon just a complete disaster nowadays?

Where is your beloved billski?

Cannon is not a disaster but could a little more intelligence. I have no clue.

 

[thetrailboss]

LiftBlog is reporting that new tram may be coming sooner than later…..

https://www.nhstateparks.org/getattachment/About-Us/Commissions-Committees/Cannon-Mountain-Advisory-Committee/CMAC-minutes-Nov-14-2022-DRAFT.pdf

 

[Duke61]

I'm 100% against a new tram. When was the last time the tram served skiers? It runs 2 days a week for skiers, but miraculously runs 7 days a week for summer tourists. Science says its not the best way to get skiers to the summit. Sorry to be a grouch but I've got a few issues with how Cannon runs the last decade.
43 year cannon (exclusive) skier & yeah I have a pass this year.

 

[Smellytele]

I'm 100% against a new tram. When was the last time the tram served skiers? It runs 2 days a week for skiers, but miraculously runs 7 days a week for summer tourists. Science says its not the best way to get skiers to the summit. Sorry to be a grouch but I've got a few issues with how Cannon runs the last decade.
43 year cannon (exclusive) skier & yeah I have a pass this year.

snow making is 100 times better than 10 years ago.
And agree the tram isn't the best for getting skiers up to the top. Gondolas are better but I like chairs better

 

[Duke61]

snow making is 100 times better than 10 years ago.
And agree the tram isn't the best for getting skiers up to the top. Gondolas are better but I like chairs better

Yeah snowmaking is so good they closed 4 (well 3) consecutive days during xmas....75% of your revenue is xmas and feb vacation.....Cannon had NO beginner terrain open as of christmas ?......None Cannons days of pretending to be a big dog are over, check out wv, bretton woods, loon acreage and trail counts compared to Cannon. Or stupid stuff, Rocket is open for a week, but covered with snowmaking whales, not groomed out......really? Or only way down is through rock garden, but watch out snow making underway (as we squeeze skiers through a rock garden a narrow chute).

How about the new 'rfid system' Cannon didn't choose a vendor until November of this year, yes folks 3 weeks before the season opens! They then sat on the vendor to try to get it done in two weeks? Tell me, why wasn't this done months ago? Even now we adopt RFID (twenty years later than most resorts) the tickets still need to be scanned, why no gates or sensors to make it work? Apparently that would make too much sense.....Then I get notices that say, please don't show up valued pass holder because we don't want you in the building and there is a long pass processing line OUTSIDE ?......who serves who here?

what other major resort would close over xmas holiday? DeVivo screwed up, failed to negotiate better electric rates, and is looking at trying compensate for the (est) $800k increase...how, shut down the mountain as much and as often as possible to save money, Cannon runs in the red year after year while trying to tell the legislature cannon is self-sustaining & we should give them another $30m for a tram.....

Sorry but my favorite, is trail 'xyz' is groomed only to find they ran one pass down the middle and left the other 2/3rds ungroomed....Yup Cannon is a legend.

 

[raisingarizona]

I'm 100% against a new tram. When was the last time the tram served skiers? It runs 2 days a week for skiers, but miraculously runs 7 days a week for summer tourists. Science says its not the best way to get skiers to the summit. Sorry to be a grouch but I've got a few issues with how Cannon runs the last decade.
43 year cannon (exclusive) skier & yeah I have a pass this year.

I'm guessing the summer tourist traffic helps float the ski area costs. I can't say for sure but if we new the actual numbers it may make complete sense.

 

[snoseek]

I want one of those fancy bubbles with heated seats. As a midweek skier that Tram doesn't exist. Still two off the top which is my only real complaint this year. I'm pretty sure Cannon makes money year round

 

[ceo]

As I've said before, the Tram is an extremely popular summer tourist attraction that happens to be next to a ski area. This article from LiftBlog makes the point that "nobody cares about a gondola".

 

[Bumpsis]

I want one of those fancy bubbles with heated seats. As a midweek skier that Tram doesn't exist. Still two off the top which is my only real complaint this year. I'm pretty sure Cannon makes money year round

Like snoseek, I'm also a midweek Cannon skier and not having the Tram available during the midweek just sucks. One of the unique joys of skiing Cannon is being able to rip down its full vertical in one go, as in chasing the tram. That is what lets you feel you're skiing a big mountain. If you just ski the chairlift served terrain, the relatively big mountain skis really small. Zoomer is ridiculously short and the Cannonball lift isn't all than much longer so the runs feel short. Yes, of course, you can ride Peabody and then Cannonball to the top but it's just so much better to get this in one go. If the new tram would be on full time duty during the ski season, I'm all for it. No, a bubble lift will just not happen.

 

[Duke61]

Mornin' skiers, my last rant then I'm going skiing!
Cannons run red for over 20 years, thats losing money for you non accountants. I'm ok with that, maybe, until I read that DeVivo failed to anticipate the eversource rate increase to the penalty of over $800k. There were alternatives (period) this is BAD management or absentee management.

My main beef is Cannon has become anti-skier. They don't want us on the tram, they don't want to open the summit building, 'due to water issues' WTF is that? Put in a septic system if you need one, well less than 100k one time. For years they consistently open ungroomed trails, make snow then leave the trail ungroomed for a week or weeks? (doesn't want to pay groomers??). When covid shut down early, Devivo promised to 'make it up' to passholders.....backtracked from that pretty fast, no soup for you passholders.

How about lodges? Cannon doesn't want skiers inside! Don't leave your bags, don't stay more than 15-20 minutes, no grandma reading in peabody.....Who thinks this anti-customer facing stuff is how you serve your clients? Cannon says its to reduce crowding, we all know it's only crowded 4 hours a week on Saturday!!! We skiers know the place is a ghost town 6.5 days a week & you don't want me in the lodge ? No bags in lodge unless I fork over $$, ok, its blowing sideways, cold as hell & my extra gloves are in my car or freezing outside with my frozen sandwich? That is unless some shorty has stolen my stuff.... Now that's considerate of clients! NOT. Heck they don't even want me inside to pick up my pass? What the heck is with this anti-skier elitism. I thought they worked for us? Not at Cannon.

So here's were 2023 leads, DeVivo will run as few lifts, and groom as little as possible, expect snowmaking to stop by mid feb.....Note how we opened two weeks late this year?, yeah I know weather is tough, but notice everyone else opened thanksgiving weekend....He's scrambling to cover the unexpected electrical costs and other rising costs, its not about profit, its about trying to minimize real losses and then bury them in the financials.

The future? I fully expect Cannon to start charging for parking soon....why not anything to squeeze the skiers more while providing less and less. I know weather is fickle, but have you folks noticed how many days Cannon has closed for wind or otherwise the past 3-4 seasons ? I've got more than 40 seasons in and don't ever recall this many closures.....of course this past weekend is the best. What ski area closes for 4 days Christmas vacation week? This is always the busiest and highest revenue week of the year......Like I said Cannon doesn't really like skiers.

So after a lifetime of skiing Cannon, I'm voting no on the tram & I'm voting yes on selling Cannon. Look at how great Sunapee runs? The old dogs will try and hold onto their pensions but I think the Cannon team is in way over their heads for the reasons above.

 

[Abubob]

I'm 100% against a new tram. When was the last time the tram served skiers? It runs 2 days a week for skiers, but miraculously runs 7 days a week for summer tourists. Science says its not the best way to get skiers to the summit. Sorry to be a grouch but I've got a few issues with how Cannon runs the last decade.
43 year cannon (exclusive) skier & yeah I have a pass this year.

You’re not wrong. But it’s an uphill battle against tradition. Pun intended.

 

[Duke61]

And for you folks, here's Cannon's latest financials showing 20+ years of operating losses. http://www.taxpayersforcannon.com/files/CannonCapitalAcctMarch2022.pdf

 

[Granite1]

Cannon last to open and first to close. They still only have two trails open from the summit, haven't made snow up there in weeks. Have made very little snow elsewhere. Mittersill totally closed, zero snowmaking over there??????

 

[Abubob]

Look at how great Sunapee runs?

 

[Edd]

I’d 1000% prefer a bubble chair to a tram. Trams are cool, but inefficient for skiing. No idea if it makes $ on a year round basis but I predict there’s no fighting it. A new tram is coming, like it or not. People love them.

 

[Duke61]

View attachment 55678

Ok so I was full of it there.....may you live long and prosper.

 

[Duke61]

I’d 1000% prefer a bubble chair to a tram. Trams are cool, but inefficient for skiing. No idea if it makes $ on a year round basis but I predict there’s no fighting it. A new tram is coming, like it or not. People love them.

That may be true, but we're cheap here & last time 2016 the legislature got their teeth into Cannon all hell broke loose for a while. The 30 million is likely to also bring attention to why Cannon can't make money for 22+ seasons. If it gets that attention it will be usual debate; sell cannon, stop giving geezers weekday passes, charge more for everyone and everything, etc.

 

[Abubob]

Ok so I was full of it there.....may you live long and prosper.

Aren’t you supposed to be skiing by now?