Day ski trip advice from Boston?

[Cannonball]

Cannon and Wildcat are my 2 favorite Mtns in NH. As a long-time Cannon pass holder I could go on all day about the ins & outs of Cannon. But I'll just stick the 'pod' layout of Cannon vs the top-to-bottom layout of Wildcat:

Wildcat is pretty much all or nothing. When conditions and weather are good it's hard to beat the long T2B runs off the quad. But if there are wind holds (which is often) you are SOL. Or maybe the snow is fluffy up top and manky down low? Tough, you've got to ski it all. Or maybe the wind is only brutal up top? There's no (good) choice to stay out of it down low. And if it's a crowded day there is no dispersion, just long lines at the quad.

Cannon's 'pods' offer so many options. Zoomer down low, Cannonball up top, Peabody lower 2/3, Tram top to bottom. Pretty much every weather situation can be handled by playing the lifts correctly. And that usually means optimizing conditions throughout the day. Plus there's a fantastic dedicated beginners area where people can learn stress-free. Plus Mittersill....

It's a little hard for me to think of Cannon as 'under the radar' considering it's been in operation for 75 years, looms directly over the Interstate, has the largest vertical in NH, and has (had) the state symbol jutting off of it's side. But I'm glad you're hearing about now and possibly ready to check it out.

 

[deadheadskier]

It would be nice if Wildcat had an Upper Mountain lift. They do have the bottom covered for wind situations with the Bobcat and Tomcat. Unlike Cannon with Zoomer and Peabody, Wildcat doesn't run either of those lifts full time. Midweeks is typically only the Summit Quad and beginner chair. Weekends they'll run the Bobcat, but that's not the best chair to ride because of how slow it is. I've often stated they should upgrade one of those lifts to be a faster chair, maybe a conveyor on the Bobcat would do. It would attract more people away from the top of the mountain and preserve snow on those trails better.

The reality is that it's hard to justify running more lifts when the lines for the Summit Quad look like they did yesterday at 1PM.

It's a catch 22. It would be nice to have more amenities at Wildcat like having all the lifts running, but it takes more business/people to do it. I don't want the people when I ski there.

 

[dlague]

Cannon's 'pods' offer so many options. Zoomer down low, Cannonball up top, Peabody lower 2/3, Tram top to bottom. Pretty much every weather situation can be handled by playing the lifts correctly. And that usually means optimizing conditions throughout the day. Plus there's a fantastic dedicated beginners area where people can learn stress-free. Plus Mittersill....

It's a little hard for me to think of Cannon as 'under the radar' considering it's been in operation for 75 years, looms directly over the Interstate, has the largest vertical in NH, and has (had) the state symbol jutting off of it's side. But I'm glad you're hearing about now and possibly ready to check it out.

Much better stated than my version of everything you said! :beer: Maybe we should be talking negatively about cannon!

 

[Brad J]

I don't see how wildcat is 1 hour longer ride than Cannon, It is about 145miles to cannon from boston and 155 miles to wildcat, I know that rt 16 is slower but I make wildcat in 2:30 from Newbury,Ma and it takes me 2:30 to Cannon so one can do cannon in 2hrs from boston at anywhere near the speed limit?

 

[Cannonball]

I don't see how wildcat is 1 hour longer ride than Cannon, It is about 145miles to cannon from boston and 155 miles to wildcat, I know that rt 16 is slower but I make wildcat in 2:30 from Newbury,Ma and it takes me 2:30 to Cannon so one can do cannon in 2hrs from boston at anywhere near the speed limit?

You might not feel it from Newbury, but it's accurate from Boston. I live South of Boston so have to pass right through the city. It's 2.5hrs to Cannon for me with the first 0.5hrs getting me to Boston. Wildcat is 3.5hrs no matter which route i go.

 

[deadheadskier]

All Interstate definitely makes a big difference. It's 1:50 for me to get to Cannon @ 120 miles. 2:10 to get to Wildcat at 100 miles.

Wish they'd turn the Spaulding into a two lane highway all the way up to where 25 splits off in West Ossippe.

 

[frapcap]

Man, you guys got it easy! We're out of the Southcoast of MA and routinely make the day trips that are easily 3.5-4 hours each way; Sugarbush, Wildcat, Attitash, Stratton- you name it. Its not the most fun, but its totally do-able with two people. The time investment is killer if you have a family though. Getting up early sucks, but as soon as you're one of the first chairs up that mountain, its worth it!

(MAN, I cannot wait to move to NH this year...)

 

[deadheadskier]

No stranger to the long day trips here. Done Jay, MRG and Burke trips this season, which are all 3+ hours.

But hey if you're that gung ho, when you move up to NH next year you can most certainly be my chauffeur.

 

[HouseQuinn]

Malden resident here. Bretton is definitely not the most challenging place in the world, but that mountain is fun as shit IMO. It's really big, and there's tons of nooks and crannies to poke around in. It's my go-to. Checked Cannon out for the first time recently and I liked it a lot, but it's way more challenging and I found the trees (except Mittersill) to be a bit too gnarly personally. Sucks, because Cannon is 30 minutes closer, which saves me an hour round trip, but I think BW would still be my first choice 9/10 days. If conditions were perfect, I'd opt for Cannon. Sunapee is also a nice option on weekdays, but avoid like the plague on weekends.

 

[Root16]

I think I'm gonna do a solo trip to Cannon tomorrow morning. Plan to hit the slopes at 9am. Based on this Feb 21 ski report whether I should start on Mittersil or the left side of the mountain. I'm thinking Mittersil will be a good place to warm up before hitting the steeps since I haven't been skiing much in the last couple years.

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/135766-Cannon-2-21-2015

 

[JDMRoma]

I think I'm gonna do a solo trip to Cannon tomorrow morning. Plan to hit the slopes at 9am. Based on this Feb 21 ski report whether I should start on Mittersil or the left side of the mountain. I'm thinking Mittersil will be a good place to warm up before hitting the steeps since I haven't been skiing much in the last couple years.

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/135766-Cannon-2-21-2015

Without fresh snow Id warm up on the upper Mountain groomers myself......Im going out on a limb here but I think Mittersill may be on the thin / skied off right about now. But I haven't been since the weekend.......my gut tells me no !
Do a few laps off the Cannonball quad, upper Cannon / Vista / Upper Ravine / are all favorites to warm up on and get the good groomed snow early on ! Then you can move around try taft and the Hardsrabbles.......and then try out the front 5 off the Zoomer chair...those seem to be the steepest !

 

[deadheadskier]

Ummmm, this does not sound like a good plan as your facts are a little off.

You do know that for most people, Mittersill is the most difficult terrain pod on the mountain. There is nothing groomed over there (unless they've groomed Baron's which I haven't heard about) and it is all natural skiing consisting of bumps, trees, steep areas with exposed rock.

There is also no place to purchase a lift ticket over there.

Not sure where you got the idea that Mittersil is the easy side of the mountain......

Hope you have a great time

 

[Root16]

Thanks guys; thought I read someone saying Mittersill wasn't too hard. I'll go with JDMRoma's advice. Thanks everyone for all the replies.

 

[1Kathleen]

Don't rule out Waterville for a day trip. It's under 2 hours from boston. You can take the high speed quad ( way better than the slow quads elsewhere). You can take one of 4 solid blacks while your friend takes a blue and meet at the bottom of the sunny side lift and ski together the rest of the way down. You can jump into the woods off both true grit and lower Bobby's run now and do the bumps under the chair on true grit while your friend heads down no grit. There are also blue runs beside black most of the way down under the main quad also. Definitely less challenging than Canon. But probably more enjoyable for your friend. The mountain doesn't get the crowds like Loon and Bretton to and the it's cheaper. Don't bother going to bretton woods if you want to ski diamond. You'll be bored in an hour and wonder why you spent $85. When my son was 6 years old he was a little ripper, we skied Bodie's run and at the bottom he threw his poles on the ground and said "that ain't no diamond, this mountain is boring, where are the diamonds". The diamonds turn to greens after 2 or 3 turns. Bretton does have decent woods trail options but probably not worth the trip. Good luck.

 

[Cannonball]

Thanks guys; thought I read someone saying Mittersill wasn't too hard. I'll go with JDMRoma's advice. Thanks everyone for all the replies.

Yes, take JDMROMA's advice. Mittersill isn't "too hard" within the realm of unmaintained, natural conditions, off-the-beaten-path type areas. In other words, there are bumps, ice, rocks, stumps, and dirt...but it's only moderately steep.

I skied Cannon 2-4pm today. It was a gohst town. Conditions are still very good although the soft stuff is mostly gone.