White Mountain Superpass: 2013-2014 Waterville, Cannon, Bretton Woods and Cranmore

[Puck it]

Most long time Cannon lover's do not understand what happened with the snowmaking this year. It started out with a good idea of Lower Cannon and Gary's instead of the normal Mid Cannon and Spookie of HSQ. It went downhill from there. The gun tech is very antiquated but there is something else going on. I heard rumors of compressor problems which would expalin wet guns. But it was not a normal snowmaking year at Cannon.

 

[LasersInTheTaiga]

I don't know what happened at Cannon in December and late November. It seems like they got a really slow start to snow making. I spoke with a bunch of people while riding up the lifts there and at Bretton Woods, and that seemed to be the general consensus. But I don't think that's normal. I do feel like when they don't have the upper mountain open and only a few of the front five with snow, it's not a great place to be. My general thoughts can be summed up as "when it good it's great but when it's bad it's terrible." Definitely someone with a more long-term view should chime in here.

 

[LasersInTheTaiga]

Hello there fellow Jamaica Plain person.

Represent!

 

[riverc0il]

I agree with Puck It that the snowmaking was abnormally poor this season. Kept me away from the mountain for the most part because expansion was too slow. The GM that started a half dozen years or so ago really stepped up their snow making since taking over. Then this season, it all fell apart. No idea what happened. Cannon is always slow to expand. Their MO is to completely bury a trail before moving on. But this was way too slow even for Cannon. Certainly raises questions about next season. I think it may just have been an abnormality, though. We'll find out next year...

 

[zoomer]

It sounds like Cannon could benefit from some transparency. They should tell skiers what happened and what they are going to do to address it, unless they have no solutions. My one major head-over-heels tumble this year was in some wet yellowish man-made snow by some Cannon snowguns. I think it was just below Bypass on Paulie's Extension, my skis stopped and I didn't, and then I had a solid layer of ice stuck to my skis.

I think I'm going with the Sugarbush Mt Ellen Plus passes which includes complimentary kids passes. Includes the rest of this year too. I think it's a tremendous deal if you have kids under 12.

 

[riverc0il]

My one major head-over-heels tumble this year was in some wet yellowish man-made snow by some Cannon snowguns. I think it was just below Bypass on Paulie's Extension, my skis stopped and I didn't, and then I had a solid layer of ice stuck to my skis.

In Cannon's defense, that has nothing to do with snow making this year. If you ski Bypass, you're not going to have a very good time. I've skied Bypass on days when Cannon got a foot and a half of fresh and you'd never know it. Of course, no one tells you that when you first at starting to ski Cannon. But you learn it pretty quickly.

 

[zoomer]

Point taken, but it had to do with snowmaking and the fact that I skied right into it. It was 2/21 and they were blasting snow right under the lift on middle cannon and I skied into the snowmaking fog, visibility was near zero, and I ended up missing lower cannon as I pushed through it and landed on Paulie's Extension where there were even more guns making a very wet cement snow. Of course I should've noticed the snowmaking while on the lift, so it's partially my fault, but I've never seen such wet snow from the guns.

 

[ScottySkis]

In Cannon's defense, that has nothing to do with snow making this year. If you ski Bypass, you're not going to have a very good time. I've skied Bypass on days when Cannon got a foot and a half of fresh and you'd never know it. Of course, no one tells you that when you first at starting to ski Cannon. But you learn it pretty quickly.

What is bypass?

 

[zoomer]

Trail name...Middle Cannon Bypass.

 

[ScottySkis]

Trail name...Middle Cannon Bypass.

Thanks, I have to get back their I love the views but one day I was there was and non snow ,rai$ day.

 

[timm]

Pulled the trigger on the Classic Pass at Wildcat today. After four days this week, two planned next and whatever I can get in April, it will already have nearly paid for itself before next season even starts.