Canon Mtn. Wed. 1/5/'05

[beswift]

Date Skied: Jan. 5, 2005

Resort or Ski Area: Canon Mtn.

Conditions: Rolled and Packed Powder

Trip Report: After spending the night in Franconia, I skied all day yesterday at Cannon. When I arrived there was about an inch of very dry powder at the base lodge. The summit was shrouded in a cloud with a temperature reading of 7 degrees F. When I left, driving through the Notch I noticed a fresh snowline a few hundred feet below the surrounding peaks. The Tramway has not been available to pass holders yet this ski season. From the summit there were only two trails open. Rocket was also open for expert skiing. The conditions, however, were surprisingly good. The groomers had little with which to work , but they had done a very good job with that. I skied a number of runs on Profile. In the morning the visibility was difficult, but I had the slope to myself. There were no crouds anywhere. When the sun came out, it opened a number of views of cloud enshrouded mountains, Burke and Pisgah to the north. The fresh snow they should be receiving today won't open any new trails, but it should keep the conditions good.

 

[riverc0il]

cannon's latest snow conditions report on their web site says the tram should be open this coming weekend. they don't open up the tram until they have the tram cut back and most of the front face trails open. this is a really late opening for the tram, it's usually going by christmas.

out of curiosity, you was rocket was open for expert skiing. rocket is only a blue square and usually groomed, so i was curious if cannon let rocket bump up?

good to hear that conditions were good and you had a good day at cannon. i should be there saturday to inspect the goods and i am hoping there's enough cover for a hike over to mitt, or at least a few bump trails to open. cannon web site says to look for more terrain to open by the weekend, were they blowing snow and do you know which trails they were blowing on? i would guess perhaps upper cannon, paulie's extension, and maybe (hopefully) zoomer are the trail trails scheduled to open next.

 

[beswift]

most of the front face trails open.

They only had snow on two trails, Rocket and Gary's. I woke to see snow out my window. Even with what is falling now, they won't have enough to open more trails tomorrow.

out of curiosity, you was rocket was open for expert skiing. rocket is only a blue square and usually groomed, so i was curious if cannon let rocket bump up?

Sorry, but I didn't know that rocket was a square. I was skiing with the Holderness School Kids in the P.M. Consequently, the only skiers I saw on that trail were experts. It was fast and slick, but no ice. In the afternoon, I didn't see hardly anyone there. Profile, once the cloud lifted, attracted the intermediates who consider themselves experts.

good to hear that conditions were good and you had a good day at cannon. i should be there saturday to inspect the goods and i am hoping there's enough cover for a hike over to mitt, or at least a few bump trails to open. cannon web site says to look for more terrain to open by the weekend, were they blowing snow and do you know which trails they were blowing on? i would guess perhaps upper cannon, paulie's extension, and maybe (hopefully) zoomer are the trail trails scheduled to open next.

I only saw guns going on Zoomer. It had been washed down to absolutely no snow before yesterday. By the way, that cross way junction area at the top of lower canyon was scraped down to ice at the end of the day. Most of the base they have is boiler plate, but they did a good job of crunching it up. Middle Canyon actually was covered with what one could call snow. Upper Canyon was open (That can be a fun little roller coaster type trail) However, on some of these trails the groomers had kicked up loose pebbles and stones. Not so on Profile. I stopped off in Lincoln and stayed in Franconia the day before. I have to say things are bleak in these towns. They need a good dump to save the season and January isn't famous for dumps. I'ld be surprised to find out that you made a run over at Mitt. Any kind of bump run would depend on how much snow falls there today. However, it is my bet they try and roll it all out. Keep us informed.

 

[riverc0il]

thanks for the update with additional details, curtails my optimism but thankfully will limit my disappointment for the weekend.

Middle Canyon actually was covered with what one could call snow. Upper Canyon was open (That can be a fun little roller coaster type trail)

oops, in my first post i meant that i thought upper ravine might be a strong candidate for next to open, not upper cannon which i saw was open on the report. but if there are no guns blowing, it probably wont' open despite what i suspect witll be at least 8" on the summit of cannon. i have never seen a blue or green trail at cannon opened with anything less than wall to wall white stuff with a solid foot of base minimum.

I'ld be surprised to find out that you made a run over at Mitt. Any kind of bump run would depend on how much snow falls there today. However, it is my bet they try and roll it all out. Keep us informed.

after the snow within the next 24 hours, i am fairly confident the taft down to the double will be easily skiable. beyond that it will be extremely hairy for certain, but any one who has seen the bases of my skis knows that thin cover are two words i know not i wouldn't expect bumps unless they got paulie's extension or zoomer open, which based on your report doesn't seem likely. zoomer really needs at least a foot of fresh, and even then you still hit bottom occasionally while turning.

 

[Talisman]

My information is old, but as of 1/1 there is no way that Mittersill is skiable. I'm not talking sketchy, I'm talking brown slopes with little patches of white. There is almost no snow pack on the natural snow trails or in the woods at Cannon. I looked at the 'come back' trail from Mitt to Asa's Acre and the ferns are still green and there was no snow on it.

Wildcat faired better on the 12/26 storm than Cannon or the rest of the Western White Mtns.

 

[riverc0il]

thanks for the update Talisman. since we haven't had snow until today since 1/1, i'm counting your info as stil very much up to date. 6-8" won't be enough to cover up patches of brown, sadly.

 

[beswift]

ok

there is no way that Mittersill is skiable. I'm not talking sketchy, I'm talking brown slopes with little patches of white. There is almost no snow pack on the natural snow trails or in the woods at Cannon. I looked at the 'come back' trail from Mitt to Asa's Acre and the ferns are still green and there was no snow on it.

As of my report, it hasn't changed from 1/1 except perhaps with a light cover of snow.

Wildcat faired better on the 12/26 storm than Cannon or the rest of the Western White Mtns.

I actually considered going to Wildcat instead of Cannon. Since I had a good time (although I had some trouble with the cold temps), I don't regret my decision. Nevertheless, rain wiped the slate clean in the White's in the early part of this week.

 

[riverc0il]

Keep us informed.

you bet. on saturday cannon ran the tram for the first time this season and opened up avalanche, zoomer, and by pass. avalanche had delicious man made powder on skiers right but groomed skiers left. zoomer was whaled down the middle with freestylers going big, but my play ground was the man made pow skiers right and left. skiers left had better cover whereas skiers right was thin with better quality snow. bumps on skiers right of rocket were also delicious. props to cannon for having the sides of the four opened front face trails ungroomed with bumps and "man made natural" if you would.

upper mountain was a skating rink with profile looking butt ugly and at least two injuries occuring on tramway. u. cannon was scraped pretty bad two and even skiing the pushed to the side snow wasn't fun. bypass was in as good condition as i've ever seen it, and the rest of the mid-lower mountain needs touching up pretty bad, even lower cannon. guns were blowing on upper ravine and skylight and it'll take just one really big dump to open everything except the woods and tramline. natural ski trails weren't ready for prime time yet, they are still ready for a solid base actually.

 

[beswift]

Thnks. [quote="riverc0il"zoomer was whaled down the middle with freestylers going big[/quote] I figure you mean free skiers who are doing acrobatics (hot-dogging). Freestyle is usually a loosely used term, but in skiing competition it is done on flat pack with little or no pitch with cross-country skiis.

 

[riverc0il]

i didn't know freestyle competitions were even still done. i remember seeing one on TV about 20 years ago. i guess if i'm not misspelling something, i'm missing using a word despite the fact that everyone understood it in context :-? perhpaps i should have said: "dudez, they were going big off those kickers, man... it was knarly!"

 

[beswift]

i didn't know freestyle competitions were even still done. i remember seeing one on TV about 20 years ago. !"

Actually, I have never seen a competition at all. Certainly this is only a semantic issue (I hope no one finds it cause for offense), but when I talk with someone and they tell me that they were freestylers (or do freestyle), I don't think of anything else but the x-c discipline. Consequently,

i should have said: "dudez, they were going big off those kickers, man... it was knarly!"

would not have made me think.

i guess if i'm not misspelling something, i'm missing using a word despite the fact that everyone understood it in context perhaps!"

I have a hard time remembering the term Hotdog when describing skiers as it isn't used now. It seems to me that they keep changing judged on-snow competitions in order to keep a current look to the advertising. It used to be called ballet, but that didn't cut it in North America so they changed it to free-style. That wasn't dangerous enough, so they started hotdogging. Now they have two judged disciplines, acrobatics and bump-competitions. When the resort crouds get bored with that, I expect thumping to make a come-back.