Date(s) Skied: January 6, 2006
Resort or Ski Area: Cannon Mountain and Mittersill :beer:
Conditions: Powder (2-4 inches on top of groomed snow, snowmaking on Paulie's Extension).
Trip Report: After a great powder day at Burke, it was tough to go to another ski area, but I had promised a friend that we would head to Cannon on Friday. I got there a bit before 8:30 to find an almost empty parking lot and my buddy waiting.
We scored FIRST chair at the Peabody
and first tracks down Middle Cannon. We then did a quick run down Gremlin before heading over to Zoomer where we hit Gary's, Rocket, and Zoomer before cutting over to the Tram. The conditions from 9-10am were outstanding everywhere--smooth cover and fresh snow on top
After the tram ride, we hit Skylight and then yo-yoed off of the Cannonball Express hitting all of the open summit runs. CB, my friend, lost edge on his Snowblades on Upper Cannon and slid around a corner. He laughed and said, "man, what a sweet trail," before getting up. We also hit Taft-Slalom which was bumps and powder on top, thin cover and bumps in the middle, and crud on the lower section. It was doable. On the way down, my friend noted some wormholes that cut from Upper Ravine over to Taft-Slalom and we tried them out.
From the summit area, we headed to the base to have lunch by way of the entire Hardscrabble Run, which had drifted snow on skier's right and a variety of ice, bumps, powder, and thin cover elsewhere. It was decent and had some mean pitches which I liked. Most challenging trail skied this season aside from Lew's Leap and the Ledges at Burke.
Part the way down, CB found another warmhole and we opted to explore it. What we found was a private stash with a steep pitch and some nice lines, but the cover was a bit thin. The middle and lower sections appeared to have a rock field of some kind :x I bailed out and he continued down it. First glade this season and probably the toughest yet for me ever :roll: We headed to the lodge for lunch and a change of layers.
After lunch we did a couple runs on the HSQ, and hit Paulie's Extension and Middle Cannon Bypass, which had fresh piles of snowmaking on it. Most of the people had avoided it leaving many nice drifts on the sides for me to hit. Amazing! We took it all the way down to Avalanche to the Zoomer Base and I was in heaven hitting powder bumps with my shorty skis and hooting the entire way. :beer:
Next run for me was the Zoomer Liftline, which was steep and bumpy Excellent! CB poached Echo Woods and gave it a thumbs up. But I sensed he wanted more woods, which, regrettably, there aren't too many official woods at Cannon.
Trailboss' First Mittersill Experience
"Listen, I've read up about the former ski area next door, Mittersill, and there are some great old ski trails over there we can check out if you want," I offered. He accepted and I was thrilled because I had always wanted to check it out myself :beer:
So we rode to the top and hightailed it down Taft-Slalom to Baron's and up to the top of Mittersill.
After a 5 min hike, we stepped into our bindings and skied down the narrow chute that spills out to the old lift terminal. The chute was in great shape and was reminiscent of a narrow East Bowl. At the top of the chairlift area, we checked out the remains of the ski area before hitting the former Taft Trail (far skier's right) which was the best covered run at Mittersill. It skied very similar to Lower FIS at Sugarbush, one of my favorite runs. Lots of drifted snow and bumps. The trail spilled out just above the Tuckerbrook Quad.
With snow all over us and big 's, we decided to do it again. This time, we skied under the former liftline and found more debris and thin cover. Looking at the old Mittersill Map, it appears we did Chairlift Trail to Taft Slope before dumping out onto Rabbit Run at the Tuckerbrook area. The first run was better though. Now it was about 3:15pm and too late for another Mittersill run, so we did a couple closers on the HSQ hitting Gremlin and a wormhole off of it that led to a former chairlift terminal just above Middle Ravine.
It snowed all day, which made for great skiing and there were no crowds. We skied almost straight from 9:00am until 3:30 or so when we pulled the plug.
Awesome Mittersill experience, but with more snow, I can see how this place would kick a$$. Some undergrowth poking up and a rock or two, but we could get around them OK and my short skis came out largely unscathed. Amazing two-day adventure.
Resort or Ski Area: Cannon Mountain and Mittersill :beer:
Conditions: Powder (2-4 inches on top of groomed snow, snowmaking on Paulie's Extension).
Trip Report: After a great powder day at Burke, it was tough to go to another ski area, but I had promised a friend that we would head to Cannon on Friday. I got there a bit before 8:30 to find an almost empty parking lot and my buddy waiting.
We scored FIRST chair at the Peabody
and first tracks down Middle Cannon. We then did a quick run down Gremlin before heading over to Zoomer where we hit Gary's, Rocket, and Zoomer before cutting over to the Tram. The conditions from 9-10am were outstanding everywhere--smooth cover and fresh snow on top After the tram ride, we hit Skylight and then yo-yoed off of the Cannonball Express hitting all of the open summit runs. CB, my friend, lost edge on his Snowblades on Upper Cannon and slid around a corner. He laughed and said, "man, what a sweet trail," before getting up. We also hit Taft-Slalom which was bumps and powder on top, thin cover and bumps in the middle, and crud on the lower section. It was doable. On the way down, my friend noted some wormholes that cut from Upper Ravine over to Taft-Slalom and we tried them out.
From the summit area, we headed to the base to have lunch by way of the entire Hardscrabble Run, which had drifted snow on skier's right and a variety of ice, bumps, powder, and thin cover elsewhere. It was decent and had some mean pitches which I liked. Most challenging trail skied this season aside from Lew's Leap and the Ledges at Burke.
Part the way down, CB found another warmhole and we opted to explore it. What we found was a private stash with a steep pitch and some nice lines, but the cover was a bit thin. The middle and lower sections appeared to have a rock field of some kind :x I bailed out and he continued down it. First glade this season and probably the toughest yet for me ever :roll: We headed to the lodge for lunch and a change of layers.
After lunch we did a couple runs on the HSQ, and hit Paulie's Extension and Middle Cannon Bypass, which had fresh piles of snowmaking on it. Most of the people had avoided it leaving many nice drifts on the sides for me to hit. Amazing! We took it all the way down to Avalanche to the Zoomer Base and I was in heaven hitting powder bumps with my shorty skis and hooting the entire way. :beer:
Next run for me was the Zoomer Liftline, which was steep and bumpy
Excellent! CB poached Echo Woods and gave it a thumbs up. But I sensed he wanted more woods, which, regrettably, there aren't too many official woods at Cannon.Trailboss' First Mittersill Experience
"Listen, I've read up about the former ski area next door, Mittersill, and there are some great old ski trails over there we can check out if you want," I offered. He accepted and I was thrilled because I had always wanted to check it out myself :beer:
So we rode to the top and hightailed it down Taft-Slalom to Baron's and up to the top of Mittersill.
After a 5 min hike, we stepped into our bindings and skied down the narrow chute that spills out to the old lift terminal. The chute was in great shape and was reminiscent of a narrow East Bowl. At the top of the chairlift area, we checked out the remains of the ski area before hitting the former Taft Trail (far skier's right) which was the best covered run at Mittersill. It skied very similar to Lower FIS at Sugarbush, one of my favorite runs.
Lots of drifted snow and bumps. The trail spilled out just above the Tuckerbrook Quad. With snow all over us and big
's, we decided to do it again. This time, we skied under the former liftline and found more debris and thin cover. Looking at the old Mittersill Map, it appears we did Chairlift Trail to Taft Slope before dumping out onto Rabbit Run at the Tuckerbrook area. The first run was better though. Now it was about 3:15pm and too late for another Mittersill run, so we did a couple closers on the HSQ hitting Gremlin and a wormhole off of it that led to a former chairlift terminal just above Middle Ravine. It snowed all day, which made for great skiing and there were no crowds. We skied almost straight from 9:00am until 3:30 or so when we pulled the plug.
Awesome Mittersill experience, but with more snow, I can see how this place would kick a$$. Some undergrowth poking up and a rock or two, but we could get around them OK and my short skis came out largely unscathed.
Amazing two-day adventure.
