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Reported in for turns at Wildcat promptly at 9:00 A.M. With an evening rain storm the night before after several warm days in a row, I wondered just how much snow would actually remain. Approaching Wildcat on Route 16 in Pinkham Notch, things looked rather grim. I hesitantly bought my $52.00 lift ticket believing that I would be lucky to get my monies worth. Fifty-two dollars worth of turns later, I departed Wildcat with a smile on my face.

Every time I ski Wildcat, without fail, the first time up the Wildcat Express is always an amazing trip. “Wow!” that thing flies. Hands down the fastest High Speed Quad in New England and after more than a dozen ski days riding it I can still be surprised by that initial rush of speed.

The weather was consistent throughout the day with a cloud ceiling around 3500 vertical feet. Above that elevation, visibility was limited to about fifty feet (about the length of one chair in front of you on the Quad) or less in thick foggy conditions. I got one good look into Tuckerman Ravine and saw a huge cravass from a recent wet slide. Clouds also parted for a head shot of the summit of Big George, spectacular.

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What a difference two days makes. Having experienced an epic powder day just two days prior, I had expected Cannon to ski very good this weekend. However, the wind took a severe toll on Cannon today, blowing clear off the mountain most of the snow that fell earlier this week and almost all of what cannon claimed to have received in the past 24 hours.

Visited the saddle three times and I found untracked lines in two locations where I had hoped they might be. But by noon time, it was slim pickings and things were getting pretty thin almost everywhere. A lot of people were hiking for turns but the snow could not stand up to the traffic for long. Without more snow, I do not know if I will be back to this year. Today was my shortest day out of 2004. I packed it in around 1:30 due to my tired legs, the brutal wind, and conditions rapidly deteriorating. The 2003-2004 ski season is winding down and we could use just one more storm!

Weather forecasts were predicting a decent size storm dropping lots of snow on New England Tuesday and Wednesday. With this in mind, I asked the boss for Thursday off hoping for a powder day. Cannon delivered with 7-11″ of light powder and an epic day of adventure. Quite possibly my best day on skis ever to date.

While driving up I-93, I was dismayed by the apparent lack of snow. The further north I drove, the less snow appeared on the road side. By the time I arrived in the White Mountains, no more than a few inches covered the ground. Amazingly, all that changed once I drove into the Franconia Notch. Arriving at Cannon, I noticed fresh snow covered everything and knew this was going to be an epic day. I giddily gathered up my gear and practically ran towards the Peabody Base Lodge.

Suffice to say, the Cannon Trail Report had not exaggerated even slightly reporting 7-11″ of new snow. It came in the form of light powder and continued to snow all day long. This is the stuff most skiers spend their entire lives dreaming about but rarely skiing. I would search Cannon and Mittersill all day for fresh untracked powdah, and found myself more often than not making tracks where there were none before me. Boot to knee deep in freshies all day.

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An awesome “Ball of Fire” sunrise evolved into bluebird skies in Massachusetts as I began my drive north to Cannon. The majestic morning gave way to snow coming down at a good clip four miles north of Loon when entering the Franconia Notch. Cannon picked up an average of two to three inches with surprise pockets up to but not exceeding boot deep. A small victory for snow deprived skiers during the normally very snowy month of march. But beggars can not be choosers.

Not expecting much from today’s outing, it actually turned out to be a great day with exceptional company. I skied with Porter and his brother and Chris and his friend. Low expectations set the stage for exceptional conditions.

The usual run Front Face runs began the morning with Rocket holding awesome snow but the bumps were scraped under the fluff. Avalanche was also fast and variable with the new snow. Bumps on skier’s left were beastly but manageable. Zoomer was sah-weet in the morning. I opted to play the trail by making very slow and controlled turns down the center. Would return to Zoome later in the afternoon to sample the bumps on skier’s right later.

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Saturday promised clear skies and temperatures in the 40s and 50s. Perfect Spring Skiing weather despite the fact that Spring Skiing should not begin for another month! Upon arriving at Cannon Mountain, I visited Guest Relations to claim a free ski ticket for maxing out my frequent skier card. The morning sunrise brought forth tremendous color leaving an electricity hanging in the air. Today was going to be a great day to be on skis regardless of how little snow fell during the month of February.

Feeling the need for speed and a proper warm up (for once!), I made my first runs on some groomers. Big fast GS turns were had down Middle Cannon to Paulie’s Extension followed by quick and nimble slalom turns down Avalanche. Groomer festivities were continued down the center of Zoomer which featured bumps on both sides of the groomed center.

After my legs were feeling up to task, I tracked down the bumps on Paulie’s Folly since bumps on Zoomer Lift Line and Avalanche looked sketchy, hard packed, uneven, and no fun. Paulie’s has in past years disappointed but this year I have enjoyed epic runs almost every day! This day was no different as I offered verbal praise and cries of joy to the natural snow gods. The snow was soft, pleasant, and edgable. The bumps offered supreme satisfaction. Sure there were some natural terrain features such as rock, dirt, and weeds. And my bases suffered when I let my guard down> But it was a great run that I repeated twice later in the day.

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A blustery start to the morning had Cannon Mountain on a wind hold. Chairs were being loaded onto the haul rope as I booted up and chairlift opened at 8:45 A.M. My sliding partner and I wasted no time in heading for the summit which was actually less breazy than the base!

Some minor powdah on skier’s left of Taft Slalom got the morning started proper. Natural snow adventure skiing was suspect and continuing to decrease in quality as the weeks tick by without additional snow. Rocks previously buried in snow were beginning to show and the snow conditions were generally just terrible. The new snow was blown off in most places leaving an old crusty hard pack. Baron’s featured some of the better natural snow on the mountain but still left much to be desired.

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A late start this morning resulted in first turns being delayed until 10:30 A.M. One of my ski buddies volunteers on the Magic Mountain Ski Patrol. The Patrol needed an assist with camera operations during their rescue clinic, so my buddy arranged for me to receive a comp in exchange for camera duties. Most folks are unaware that these volunteers put in many hours of training every year for what they hope will never happen. Be sure to thank your patrolers for their hard work and dedication.

The morning was cold and the snow fairly unforgiving. Warm up runs were taken on Talisman and Trick. Both were groomed and getting skied off quick down the center. Next run I took Twilight Zone which had sensational snow and bumps except at the end of the trail which was thin and rocky. While Magic’s base is respectable, the mountain needs more snow.

Sorcerer was the Run of the Day, but I only had time to ski it once, unfortunately. Soft and edgable packed powder bumps exposed to the sun. Very nice! I later assisted in sweep by taking Broomstick which was a little thin and not much fun to Lucifer. The latter featured scraped bumps in the center and occasional untouched crunchy powder on skier’s far right. Red Line and Master Magician were both open but very thinly covered and looking rather firm and unpleasant.

Only took seven runs today due to assisting with patrol but they were quality runs all things considered.

A fresh coating of snow freshened things up significantly. Despite the increased coverage, the snow was an unusual high moisture content variety that was lower quality than the previous weekend. As per usual when New England receives some snow, the deep freeze descended over the region from Canada. It was a tram day for sure! Temperatures eventually warmed to ten degrees below zero before factoring in the wind chill. Later in the day, I would suffer through the coldest Cannonball Quad ride I can remember.

Per usual I began my morning on the Front Face. Bumps on right sides of Rocket and Zoomer Lift Line were hard packed and unforgiving but would get much better in the afternoon. Paulie’s was better skier’s right this week as skier’s left looked rather green by the evening. Avalanche had both skier’s right and left bumped with groomed snow down the middle similar to Zoomer. I enjoyed skier’s left better personally but neither was completely satisfying. Returning to these trails later in the day, I found some rocking bumps skier’s right on Zoomer and Zoomer Lift Line. These bumps had softened up and formed well with more skier traffic. Zoomer was great all over the place except where the side slippers were coming down center.

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This Superbowl Sunday was a primo day at Cannon. Since the New England Patriots were in the Superbowl, crowds tended to be minimal compared to standard Superbowl Weekends. Typical conditions and enjoyable skiing for December. Too bad it is February. Sweet turns were still to be had amongst the natural snow trails at Cannon. However, conditions leave a lot to be desired considering the time of the season.

After catching the second chair to turn for the general public, the lift stalled for about five minutes. Patrol was visually inspecting the tower that crests the ridge near the Middle Cannon intersection with Bypass. The tower contains a weather vane which created suspicion of high winds effecting operations. No worries though as we were moving again in short order.

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Originally, I had planned on skiing cannon today. Saturday night became a lush fest in Boston and my head didn’t hit the pillow until around 4:30 A.M. so I altered my plans accordingly. Wildcat offers the Sunday Afternoon Cruise for $20 which fit my budget and my hangover. A very respectable price for three and a half hours of skiing on two thousand vertical feet and New Hampshire’s fastest Quad.

As per usual when evaluating Wildcat as a skiing destination, don’t believe the hype! Wildcat has one of the worst snow condition reports in New England. Most of my Wildcat trip reports come prefaced with that disclaimer.

The snow was scraped off on almost every trail from top to bottom. The holiday weekend crowds had hit the mountain hard but the lack of recent fresh snow really did conditions in. Slim pickings even on the edges of the trails where the snow usually piles up (some trails had okay edges, but mostly I was playing dangerously close to the trees for too little snow).

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Day Two at dawned with much pain due to epic powder turns on Saturday. The soreness started at my back and went all the way through my hamstrings. For a moment, I debated going home and calling it a weekend. But thoughts of Taft Slalom and Upper/Middle Hard danced in my head. It was on.

For the morning, I slowly nursed my legs back into condition by sticking mostly to the groomers. I ducked into the bumps on Gary’s and Rocket which were rather nice for this time of year. Props to Cannon for letting the bumps build up on the side of these trails! Lower Cannon/Toss Up had sweet packed powder that warranted several runs! Rarely do I afford that distinction to a run classified as a green circle. With the front face closed, and my body warming to the task… I ventured up the tram for a final shot at the best snow on the mountain. The snow you gotta duck a rope to get to. For the third time, Taft Slalom provided awesome turns with some small bumps developing. And despite gradually thinning cover, Upper and Middle Hard delivered on the goods yet again.

I packed it in around noon time, deciding my body had taken a beating and needed me to relent. My bases are utterly destroyed as I mostly skied the natural snow trails all weekend; which although had a foot of powder, had no base whatsoever. These two days cap a December for the record books. With a fourth epic day of turns this month, all of which rivals some of my best days in February, I will happy pay the piper to repair my skis for the delight of earning those powdery turns. The turns ski dreams are made of.

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Christmas Eve flooded most New England Ski Areas with over an inch of rain. Flood warnings were set off throughout the region as snow melt and down pours combined into a skier’s worst nightmare. However, Cannon skiers were good this year as Santa delivered the abundant snowfall Christmas night. Rain changed over to snow and dumped a foot of fresh on the mostly bare slopes of Cannon! Friday skiers got a super powder day; those showing up Saturday had precious little time to pick through the remains of the spoils.

Saturday saw Cannon as busy as I have ever seen it. Busier than your average Super Bowl Sunday. All three lots were packed with cars and a shuttle bus transported skiers to and from the far away parking lots. Despite the crowds, most lifts were ski on most of the day. With a little knowledge of the mountain and its quirky patterns, one could completely avoid the crowds and still find patches of fresh snow.

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The sickest December I can remember continues. I pointed my vehicle towards Burke Mountain in Vermont figuring that they would have the second best snow in New England this weekend with exception of the Northern Green Mountains. I was not disappointed with the snow nor my decision.

All trails were open except Big Dipper (due to snow making) and Warren’s Way (due to racing). Cover was incredible for December during Burke’s second weekend of operation. The woods were skied very well and the natural snow trails were great. Awesome snow quality all over the mountain. I just wish I was in mid-season form! My sucking of wind and burning thighs indicated that my endurance was not on par with the snow quality!

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Where to begin? As I approached the Franconia Notch, all the sky was blue. The Franconia Ridge was as illustrious as I have ever seen it. The peaks of Mounts Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, and Lafayette were caked with brilliantly white snow against a back drop of the deepest blue.

Then enter the fog. As per usual, Grumpy Old Man Cannon had an ugly dark cloud sitting upon his shoulder, daring any to challenge it.

Driving north through the notch, I spied the Front Face trails of Cannon Mountain. Many powder turns had already been etched into the Front Five the day before from creative and eager skiers (Zoomer Triple was not turning, but still many turns were made! That is dedication!). However, much more of the powder had been left untouched than had already been tracked. I pulled of the Interstate at the Peabody Base Slopes exit eagerly anticipating the fine skiing to be had.

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First turns of the 2003-2004 Season! I matched my earliest opening day with last year’s November 30th at Cannon Mountain. Sadly, Cannon has delayed their opening day one week this year, so I opted for the cheapest lift ticket I could find with Waterville Valley weighing in at only $25.00. Upon parking my car, I started jumping up and down next to my car in anticipation. It was a child-like giddiness.

A park was built next to the lodge but I did not walk over for a closer inspection. Skiing was available on the High Country Double only in the morning with uploading via the High Speed Quad. The High Country Double was running as slowly as ever and offered only one trail open underneath. This lift officially gets my nod for the slowest chair lift in New England. Twice as slow as the Willoughby Quad at Burke without the slightest bit of an exaggeration. With long lines early in the day, one racer decided it would be quicker simply to hike back up! And it was!

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