SKIING/BOARDING: Cannon's Opening Day, December 3, 2005

[awf170]

Not a fact. Killington is grooming about 20 out of 60 trails. You're bound to find untracked powder there. The Loaf has 41 trails open, and I'm sure at least a few of them are untracked. Even Wawa had powder for a few runs today

yeah, but k-mart and sugarloaf sure are far. And ya both those places looked awsome. So i was kinda just referring to places with 5 trails open like crotched, sunapee, loon and waterville.

 

[riverc0il]

About Cannon, did this really suprise you guys.

actually, yes. cannon usually makes their set opening day when conditions allow.

Cannon is just known for doing stuff like this.

pardon me? site specifics of stuff that cannon is know for doing like this?

Atleast when they have $40 tickets this wasnt a big deal, but when there charging $54 atleast try to make a decent amount of snow.

they haven't had $40 tickets for a long time now (unless you count the two fer days). also, early season is only like $25 so that is a pretty misleading statement. i think they owe it mostly to the pass holders considering what they charge.

And Steve, saddlebacks summit is 4,120 ft and there vertical is 2,000 and there not opening until the 17th

damn, i didn't know saddleback was that big. but they still fall into the burke and mrg camp of their opening date not having arrived yet. cannon is the only one with those stats not to have either met their scheduled opening date or opened already.

 

[riverc0il]

Not a fact. Killington is grooming about 20 out of 60 trails. You're bound to find untracked powder there. The Loaf has 41 trails open, and I'm sure at least a few of them are untracked. Even Wawa had powder for a few runs today.

are you serious? :blink: do you know what untracked powder is? untracked powder is completely natural snow with no previous tracks. i won't even find that at cannon today. i'll find copious amounts of powder and there is NO WAY killington has any powder or untracked powder left on any of their open trails. not a chance, i'd bet my life on it. powder at an open ski area gets trashed within a few hours, especially the bigger ski areas. i've seen it enough times. unless you go to a lesser known uncrowded area, you can count on skiing powder the day after the storm only inbounds, and likely not much past noon time that immediate day after.

trailboss, to answer your question, cannon looked like a million bucks when i drove by the other day. i had trouble sleeping tonight just thinking about it. will report back latter this afternoon.

 

[awf170]

About Cannon, did this really suprise you guys.

actually, yes. cannon usually makes their set opening day when conditions allow.

Ya, I guess it was kinda suprising, but for reason I thought something like this would happen.

Cannon is just known for doing stuff like this.

pardon me? site specifics of stuff that cannon is know for doing like this?

Nothing this bad. But they have done things like this before. Last year cannon did not make there opening, and I know it was because it was too warm. But about a week before thanksgiving when it was cold and everyone was making snow, cannon did not make any snow because they had to get their electric meters checked, and they could not use anymore electricity for snow making until that happened. What I just said probably wont make sense because Im really bad at explaining it, but pretty much they made no snow because they could not spend anymore money. Not really cannons fault, but still is something like that. Maybe this years fail to open could be something like that where they dont have enough money to make a lot of snow. Its probably just related to cannon not getting enough money from the state, and not the management.... What was my arguement again :lol: And like I said all of that probably make no sense.

damn, i didn't know saddleback was that big. but they still fall into the burke and mrg camp of their opening date not having arrived yet. cannon is the only one with those stats not to have either met their scheduled opening date or opened already.

Ya, saddleback is defiantly in that list with burke and MRG. Probably even more leaning towards MRG and Magic, since burke is now a yuppie mountain with its HSQ :wink:


And remember I still love Cannon, and I would really like to know what is truly going on at Cannon in why they did not open. Because with this snow and cold, there has to be a serious reason(frozen guns, meter check again, or some other kind of screw up) why Cannon did not open.

 

[riverc0il]

powder all day! powder up high, powder down low, powder powder powder! in cannon's defense, lower cannon and toss up seemed wind blown so i can understand why they didn't open this weekend. NOT. probably going down as a top five powder day of the year folks, no joke. cannon had no excuse. i'll follow up with more details and pics later. man, i would be REALLY pissed off if i was a season pass holder!

 

[thetrailboss]

Nothing this bad. But they have done things like this before. Last year cannon did not make there opening, and I know it was because it was too warm. But about a week before thanksgiving when it was cold and everyone was making snow, cannon did not make any snow because they had to get their electric meters checked, and they could not use anymore electricity for snow making until that happened. What I just said probably wont make sense because Im really bad at explaining it, but pretty much they made no snow because they could not spend anymore money. Not really cannons fault, but still is something like that. Maybe this years fail to open could be something like that where they dont have enough money to make a lot of snow. Its probably just related to cannon not getting enough money from the state, and not the management.... What was my arguement again :lol: And like I said all of that probably make no sense.

After this opening fiasco, I now find myself firmly in the 'lease Cannon to a ski resort operator' camp. No excuse IMHO except NH was keeping up as the most miserly state in the country. They could have opened but did not want to. If anyone can correct me, speak now...

(btw Sunapee was EXCELLENT and is opening MORE terrain tomorrow...snowguns runnin' all day long...50 miles south and 2000 less feet, but hell, they can do it).

 

[salida]

Part of me wants to complain about the delayed opening, but skinning up today I had more fun than had the place been open.

I believe they are dragging their feet just for people like you Trailboss, they are trying to convince the public (and members of congress), falsely so, that the state is incapible of running a ski resort. They are trying to off load it, and by slacking the state will easily vote to off load it, and then it wont be their problem. Personally, I believe this is the reason that they are going slow this year (they have done pretty well in the past). TB I would hope that you would reconsider, I know you have a Sunapee pass, but ever since Okemo took it over, I can't stand the place. I feel like it lost its character, that they groomed the place flat, that ticket prices are twice what they used to be, and that on the weekend you have to park MILES away to get there. Its just not the sunapee I feel in love with as a child.

I for one hope this doesn't happen to cannon. I never want to see the place overly gentrified, and groomed to a tee, the appeal of the area is its flair for being old school, ungroomed, cold, and SNOWY. I don't want condos and snowmaking, and early openings with 1000s of people. I just want the same old cannon thats been going since the 30's.

-Porter

 

[awf170]

Part of me wants to complain about the delayed opening, but skinning up today I had more fun than had the place been open.

I believe they are dragging their feet just for people like you Trailboss, they are trying to convince the public (and members of congress), falsely so, that the state is incapible of running a ski resort. They are trying to off load it, and by slacking the state will easily vote to off load it, and then it wont be their problem. Personally, I believe this is the reason that they are going slow this year (they have done pretty well in the past). TB I would hope that you would reconsider, I know you have a Sunapee pass, but ever since Okemo took it over, I can't stand the place. I feel like it lost its character, that they groomed the place flat, that ticket prices are twice what they used to be, and that on the weekend you have to park MILES away to get there. Its just not the sunapee I feel in love with as a child.

I for one hope this doesn't happen to cannon. I never want to see the place overly gentrified, and groomed to a tee, the appeal of the area is its flair for being old school, ungroomed, cold, and SNOWY. I don't want condos and snowmaking, and early openings with 1000s of people. I just want the same old cannon thats been going since the 30's.

-Porter

I agree, even though I complain about cannon, it is way better than it being owned by some place like okemo, and have every run groomed to death and too much lift capicity like sunapee. I never been to sunapee when it was state owned, but I imagine I would have liked it. Now I hate everything about it(well except for sunrise glade, that rocks)

 

[thetrailboss]

Part of me wants to complain about the delayed opening, but skinning up today I had more fun than had the place been open.

I believe they are dragging their feet just for people like you Trailboss, they are trying to convince the public (and members of congress), falsely so, that the state is incapible of running a ski resort. They are trying to off load it, and by slacking the state will easily vote to off load it, and then it wont be their problem. Personally, I believe this is the reason that they are going slow this year (they have done pretty well in the past). TB I would hope that you would reconsider, I know you have a Sunapee pass, but ever since Okemo took it over, I can't stand the place. I feel like it lost its character, that they groomed the place flat, that ticket prices are twice what they used to be, and that on the weekend you have to park MILES away to get there. Its just not the sunapee I feel in love with as a child.

I for one hope this doesn't happen to cannon. I never want to see the place overly gentrified, and groomed to a tee, the appeal of the area is its flair for being old school, ungroomed, cold, and SNOWY. I don't want condos and snowmaking, and early openings with 1000s of people. I just want the same old cannon thats been going since the 30's.

-Porter

Yeah, my one lone voice in this forum is going to move mountains (no pun intended) :lol: How I wish... :wink:

My reservation to the leasing of Cannon is actually your very same concern, Salida, the gentrification of the place. I hate that about other places. I was wondering if the delayed opening was a ploy of some sort...

Can anyone provide us with some inside info about who makes the call(s) there? Is it the NH Parks Dept (i.e. external)? Internal management? We had someone in here from Franconia...hope he/she comes back with some info...

 

[thetrailboss]

Oh Salida...I forgot to mention...after we here at AZ take over Sugarbush, we're going to take over Cannon and you and Riv' are going to be the new co-managers of the place :lol:

:wink:

 

[riverc0il]

cannon vid 11/26/05

regarding the leasing arguement, i think this could only be true if someone from above cannon management was being tight with the pennies. i doubt any one on cannon's current management team (except perhaps the top dog) would be interested in a leased operation. personally, i would rather work for the state with cushy benefits than a big money hungry corporation. plus, you know a lot of the folks at cannon would get replaced by better bean counters regardless if those bean counters know anything about skiing.

it would be an interesting conspiracy theory that someone up top held cannon back from opening to stir up people and get people to call for a leased operation. quite a compelling psychological trick. that's why i would really like to hear from cannon about the real reasons for not opening. did they just make a bad call and not blow snow until friday when they could have? snowmaking is a tough call sometimes and cannon is very conservative with trail openings, but they had more than enough snow, time, and temperatures to cover ravine top to bottom and then some for the weekend so i am not buying their current reasons for not opening. again, i would REALLY love to hear the real reason(s) as i think we all would.

 

[awf170]

cannon vid 11/26/05

regarding the leasing arguement, i think this could only be true if someone from above cannon management was being tight with the pennies. i doubt any one on cannon's current management team (except perhaps the top dog) would be interested in a leased operation. personally, i would rather work for the state with cushy benefits than a big money hungry corporation. plus, you know a lot of the folks at cannon would get replaced by better bean counters regardless if those bean counters know anything about skiing.

Steve, there was enough snow to open atleast one trail already right? I kinda understand them not wanting to keep making snow and open after seeing monday-thursdays forcast. But if they already had enough snow made I think they should have done what wildcat did and just open saterday and sunday.


Oh ya, almost forgot to say something... that video rocks!
How come you didnt do any front 5 runs, was the coverage not good enough or were you too tired after going to the summit?

 

[salida]

awf,

The front five looked good, but the snow was arguably better in the hardscrabble area (that and the front five was way tracked up)...

Thought it would be more fun to get a summit run in, than lapping the front five.

-Porter

 

[thetrailboss]

Here we go again :roll:

Comments: Thursday, December 1.

Cooler air has arrived, but it is not yet cold enough to make snow. Forecasts call for cold air to move in early Friday, and there is a chance of some accumulating snow overnight tonight and Friday. Snowmaking will restart when we have appropriate conditions. We are still shooting for opening on Saturday, although it could be a bit late. Check this site for the latest info on Opening day.
Don't wait until then to pick up your season pass.

 

[bvibert]

Here we go again :roll:

Comments: Thursday, December 1.

Cooler air has arrived, but it is not yet cold enough to make snow. Forecasts call for cold air to move in early Friday, and there is a chance of some accumulating snow overnight tonight and Friday. Snowmaking will restart when we have appropriate conditions. We are still shooting for opening on Saturday, although it could be a bit late. Check this site for the latest info on Opening day.
Don't wait until then to pick up your season pass.

Gimme a break! At least three areas in CT will be open this weekend...

 

[riverc0il]

they might have had some melting since this past weekend, but not enough to ruin an opening bid for this weekend. check out my report from last weekend to see just how much snow had been made on ravine! likely the natural snow is gone on the lower 2/3's of the mountain, but that man made base was insanely deep and not something that could have gotten washed out these last three days.

doesn't much matter to me. if we get enough snow, i'll hike saturday for powder. if not, can day at stowe on sunday. brian has an amazing great point about the number of CT areas open. plus a few MA areas already opened last weekend. it's time to stop blaiming the weather.

 

[Greg]

They open tomorrow:

http://www.cannonmt.com/conditions.php

 

[JimG.]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You know, I think it's easier to guess exactly when someone's wife is going to give birth than it is to guess when ski resorts will open. Didn't Cannon just yesterday say they would probably not open tomorrow?

 

[riverc0il]

iirc, they said a late opening was likely but they were pushing for saturday with no promises. they definitely never said they were not opening for the weekend but were definitely not going to make friday.

 

[zowi420]

Yes, I was offended by the "two words: State Run" comment, so I decided not to participate in the conversation. And as for "cushy benefits", that's a joke. The employees would probably be better off if Cannon was leased, however, most are against it for the reasons that were mentioned above. Real skiers don't wear full length mink coats, ya know what I mean? Cannon did not want to open, only to have to close again, they wanted to be able to stay open. Yes, they do have to wait for the meter to be read, and yes, there was a compressor problem, and on Monday and Tuesday there was that 60 degree tropical rain that melted all the snow. Another area ski resort spent $180,000 on snowmaking, only to have the rain wash it all away. Who makes the decision of when to open? They don't make snow if it is over thirty degrees, so, ultimately, it is up to Mother Nature! It has nothing to do with getting money from the state, because Cannon is totally self-funded.
The good news is, Cannon opened today at 9:20, and it is going to be very cold all week!