A NELSAP Special Event sponsored by the new Snow Valley owner allowed NELSAP’ers a rare chance to earn turns at the Private lost ski area Snow Valley. The owners plan to develop a Private Ski Club with Private Real Estate and lodging for club members. Snow Valley is private property and earning turns at the Ski Area is not normally allowed making this powder day an extra special treat. Six inches of blower powder, sweet!
Who knew all the vacationers would sack the goods?? The powder that had been reported on Thursday was no where to be found. I managed to score 300-400 linear feet of untracked all day. Things certainly could have been worse, if that is a complaint! Essentially, all the main routes were packed down and most of the non-main routes were too. I have become rather snobbish about my snow lately, powder to the people! But not much powder to be found today
Taft Slalom was groomed flat as a pancake. Upper/Middle Hard were both fantastic! Vista Way, generally the worst or the best on the mountain on any given day along with Paulie’s Folly, was the best today with awesome packed powder and occasional soft bumps with quality lines. Profile had good bumps in between the scraped off sections which made it not worth repeating. I was not feeling Zoomer. Paulie’s got the winch treatment last night and was flat as a pancake. Decent bumps was found on skier’s right of Paulie’s Extension down through Avalanche with exception of the section by the Banshee Cut Back (something needs to be done about that area, it is uglier than the Links).
Berkshire East was selected as the first location of the AlpineZone.com Meet Up. Seven forum members meet Sunday morning at Berkshire East in Massachusetts to share some turns, tales, and fun. A good time was had by all! As always, it is always fun and interesting to put some names to forum member handles in addition to getting to know some folks better. Plus, it sure beats skiing alone and is a lot more fun too boot! Especially considering the lack of trails open at Berkshire East this weekend due to a recent rain storm. What normally would have been an awfully boring day on the slopes was turned into a really fun day with some great folks. A group photo can be found at AlpineZone.com. Greg Blasko, founder of AlpineZone.com, is the photographer of all pictures on this page.
Saturday dawned with amazing blue skies after 4-6″ of fresh light powder fell in the Franconia Notch region. Originally, the plan was to tackle Burke and enjoy some refreshments in the Lyndonville area before and after. However, a report of fresh light powder at Cannon Mountain had me thinking otherwise and I was unable to by pass Cannon while heading North on Interstate 93. Parking at the Tram Building, I opted for the powder boards and anxiously headed inside to boot up in time for the first tracks Tram at 8:15AM. While boarding the Tram, I was surprised by the number of folks on AT gear as I was, mostly sporting the Freeride.
Upon reaching the Summit, decisions had to be made. I could either nail a top to bottom hard scrabble run while the getting was good or make a B-line for the Saddle. I opted for the Saddle with the deciding factor being the delayed opening of the Cannonball Quad which would further delay a return to the summit. Whereas a Saddle run would take plenty of time allowing for the delay to catch up to my tracks.
The hike up the Saddle was simply amazing with fantastic colors and photo opportunities everywhere. The trees were especially spectacular as they were coated with white candy. Disappointment was had on my first run down Taft as I noticed that the powder was less than Cannon had stated and had fallen over a thin coating of NCP making for interesting turns in conditions best described as “Dust on Crust.” I didn’t let conditions on Taft hold my disappointment as conditions below the Taft were amazing in places and worthy of four hikes up and three hikes back which ties my perpetual Saddle in a Day high of Four.
Whereas normally the day immediately following a huge dump is the best day for turns, in this case two days after the dump turned out to be the better of the pair. Saturday was an epic day at Cannon and saw record numbers of people to the mountain. I picked up skiing buddy Porter at Bentley and made a B line for the Tram base at Cannon Mountain in the Franconia Notch of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Prospects from the base area were excellent with some sun shining through despite the ugly cloud aloft on Grumpy Old Man Cannon’s Shoulder.
From the summit, we headed straight for the best snow on the hill descending Upper and Middle Hard by way of Taft Slalom. All trails had phenomenal snow that was occasionally packed with mounds of softer snow. Taft was best on skier’s right which would deteriorate into unsafe thin cover later in the day due to beginner and intermediate skiers snowplowing and side slipping near the rock ledges. We then boarded the Peabody Quad and took Bypass to find scraped conditions and rather firm bumps. Paulie’s Extension had decent snow dumping into skier’s right on Avalanche which still contained occasional untracked patches and amazingly fun snow to plow through.
Thursday saw more than two feet of fresh snow coat Cannon Mountain in the Franconia Notch of New Hampshire within 24 hours time. Suffice to say, there is no other place in the world I would rather be than Cannon Mountain on a powder day. The storm was originally suppose to strike eastern Massachusetts, but the storm track kept moving further north until the White Mountains became the clear jackpot recipient of the first major snow storm for ski country of the season. I cleared a vacation day with the boss and anxiously drove up to Cannon for the first of two days of snowy bliss.
Driving into the Tram Parking Lot, I noticed lots of cars turning around towards the Peabody Slopes and I quickly followed suite as the Tram was on a wind hold. At the Peabody Slopes, I was surprised to see a parking attendant directing traffic into the lower lot despite arriving well before the lifts began turning. Myself and every other car behind me pressed on up into the upper lot to confirm in disbelief that it was already full! Weekdays at Cannon are usually not very busy, but this Friday saw weekend sized crowds as most Cannon die hards were also taking the day off from work.
With the Tram and Cannonball Quad both on wind hold, the Front Face was the place to be. After a brief delay, the Peabody Quad uploaded people to mid-mountain for a race to Zoomer, Paulie’s, and Avalanche which got tracked out ridiculously quick. Within a half hour, no completely untracked line could be made top to bottom and by 11AM most of the Front Face was tracked out completely. Avalanche was a notable exception that lasted well into Saturday morning with awesome lightly picked over freshies.
Fresh Untracked But Too Heavy for Good Turns
We pulled into the Peabody Slopes upper parking lot at 8:18AM to see it was almost full! I thought the Super Bowl Sunday Two-fer crowds were gonna be ugly, but it turned out that everyone showed up early so they could leave early. Crowds were definitely not a problem and had this been a normal snow year with better than 90% of terrain open, what little crowds there were, would have been slightly better distributed.
Sunday was a Blue Bird day with no clouds in the sky and awesome views of the Franconia Ridge with a little haze on the horizon preventing far views towards VT. The temperature at the summit at 9AM was 40F! The afternoon only got warmer, what a beautiful day.
Sunday was the best groomer action I have experienced at Cannon this season in the AM. We took laps on Middle Cannon, Gary’s, and Rocket and they all had really great snow. Bumps on skier’s right of Gary’s and Rocket are still kinda blah but much better than my last report. Over on Avalanche, there had been a water leak near the Banshee Cut Off that left much of skier’s far right on avalanche frozen ice. Bumps skier’s right were more like random mounds that were best skied by turning on the backside, which was kinda fun. Nice line on Zoomer right under the chair with delightful soft snow.
One week after a legendary blizzard slammed into Southern New England, I ventured forth towards Magic Mountain to sample Southern Vermont’s finest and most challenging terrain. Originally, I planned on driving to Magic the morning of the now infamous Blizzard of 2005; however, Salem Massachusetts received three feet of powder which left me snowed in. Nothing can be worse for a powder lover than being stranded at home by the magical substance said powder lover desires most.
Unfortunately, the snow from the previous week’s storm fell on uncovered trails lacking any base what so ever. Even more unfortunately was that after one week’s time, most of the powder had blown off the mountain and what little consolidation that occurred still left trails incredibly thin covered. However, Magic Mountain opened 100% of it’s legendary terrain for those skilled or desperate enough or both to attempt to brave their rocky trails.
I managed to safely scrape down every Black Diamond trail at Magic Mountain with exception of Red Line and Master Magician. You needed a death wish to ski Master Magician and you needed your head checked to ski Red Line. Not so much for lack of cover, you could bang out either easily enough, but rather because stuff was lurking underneath and a fall would be serious business.
Skinned up Mount Watatic in Ashby, Massachusetts after my plans to drive to Magic Mountain were scrapped due to early morning car difficulties. After fixing the the vehicle’s dysfunction, it was too nice of a day to not get some turns in, so I turned to NELSAP for suggestions. Mount Watatic fit the bill for a less than two hour drive to a mountain with a decent but not over whelming vertical drop. I decided it would be a perfect mountain for a late afternoon skin. I quickly packed up the gear and set off for Route 119 leading towards the New Hampshire border.
Despite having closed down in 1984, Mount Watatic’s old ski trails have not grown in much. This has much to do with the high amount of activity on the mountain I found out. Snowmobilers and Winter Hikers alike were out in strong numbers on this Saturday afternoon enjoying blue bird skis and distant views from the summit. A summit access road exists for four wheeled vehicles during the Summer, but my turns would have to be earned by skinning up the old ski trails.
After a week of below zero temperatures, Mad River Glen decided to offer up an amazing deal too good to pass up. The Glen slashed prices in half all weekend for a promotion called “Freeze Your But Off Weekend” which allowed for 8 hours of skiing for only $25! Combined with the fact that MRG has more open terrain than any other area (100% open this weekend) made the decision on where to ski a no brainer.
My first visit to Mad River Glen in 2003 was a fun but ugly affair. The conditions were “dust on crust” which skied very poorly. Additionally, I was still developing my bump and natural snow techniques so I got showed up by the mountain pretty badly. I had planned to do a four day tour in the Mad River Valley, but was hurting so bad after two days of skiing that I packed it up and headed home. Despite less cover and a general lack of snow, my adventures at The Glen this time around were much improved.
Unfortunately, I was tied up at work on Saturday the 15th, so I missed the better day of the week in which skiers trashed what little remained of a few inches of snow. Sloppy seconds were the order of the day on Sunday on the Front Face with slightly better snow conditions at the top of the mountain. Overall, the groomers were generally in sad shape, especially the beginner terrain which was scraped up from over grooming and lack of natural snow from the get to.
Began the morning taking the Eaglecliff Triple to the lake side, but was stopped by a patroller at the top of Rocket warning me that the Zoomer Triple was not running yet. Really appreciated Cannon having a plan in place to alert skiers to the problem. I took the cut back and grabbed a tram to the summit. I was amazed by the utter lack of wind at the top of Cannon. Out of my four rides on the tram, the car only bumped once and it was very minor. Very rare is the day that the tram docks at the summit without even a slight bump! Incredible!
Upper Mountain left much to be desired but it was better than the previous week. Profile, Skylight, and Upper Ravine were edgable hard pack from the get go and Tramway was quite scraped off later in the day. Down on mid-mountain, Bypass was scratched up but skiers right into Paulie’s Extension had some swell bumps and decent snow. I skied down skiers right of Extension and dropped steeply into Avalanche still keeping skiers right to witness a frighteningly thin covered trail. Early in the morning, there was some left over powder to be had far skiers right at the top of Avalanche, but it quickly deteriorated and soon everything not groomed on Avalanche was half grass and half bumps. It was challenging and occasionally fun but far far from ideal conditions.
After earning turns across the Notch on the John Sherburne Ski Trail via skinning up the Tuckerman Ravine Trial, I ventured across Route 16 to Wildcat Ski Area to capitalize on the $20.00 Sunday Afternoon Cruise ticket. Despite knowing the snow would be disappointing compared to the excellent natural snow conditions of the Sherburne, I believed it would be worth the money for several additional two thousand vertical foot runs from the summit. Boy, was I wrong!
The sound of the day that afternoon at Wildcat was “Scraaaaaaaaape!” Despite the 2-3″ of fresh snow that fell the evening before (the Snow Report on Wildcat’s web page claimed an unbelievably over hyped lie of 4-7″), nearly all of Wildcat’s trails were unmercifully scraped down by my first descent around 1 P.M. Even the sides of the trails had little to nothing to offer where normally loose snow and powder piles are to be found. If my legs had not been so tired from skinning for two hours earlier that morning, I may have found it more bearable. But scraped hard pack was hardly what I was looking to end my day on.
Awakening from a night of restless sleep at the Hiker’s Paradise in Gorham, I casually stretched out on my bed and debated when I should rise for the day of skiing. Since I would be skinning up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail for backcountry turns in the morning, I considered a late start to be worth while as the bank sign across the street was reading 16 degrees. Packing up my gear and gathering my clothing choices for the afternoon, I was eagerly looking forward to and imagining my first foray into the realm of backcountry skiing on my new Alpine Touring (AT) rig. After a scrumptious breakfast served downstairs, I packed up my gear and drove South into the Notch.
Arriving at Pinkham Notch Visitors Center around 9 A.M., I noticed I was not alone in considering Sunday afternoon an excellent day to earn turns. Die hards of all sliding persuasions including Alpine, Alpine Touring, Telemark, and Snowboard were all gearing up at their cars for the trek up to the Hermit Lake Shelters and Care Taker Cabin. Snow enthusiasts on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail were evenly split between hikers and snow sliders.
The John Sherburne Ski Trail was ideal for my first foray into the Back Country for many reasons. I desired natural snow and during this lean snow year, Pinkham Notch has faired surprisingly well with recent online trip reports indicating the trail had decent cover, all things considered. Additionally, I was skiing alone and desired a popular trail in which I would hardly be alone despite not having a partner. The busy Tuckerman Ravine Trail provided safety in numbers for the solo skier. Finally, with 2000 vertical feet down a classic ski trail cut by early trail blazing pioneers, I was assured of an excellent decent on a legendary trail.
The Tram was in operation for the first time this ski season on Saturday. Additionally, Saturday saw the opening of several trails due to the snow maker efforts including Bypass, Avalanche, Zoomer, and the Tram Cutback. Despite a harsh early season at Cannon, skiing on Saturday was fantastic all around with the mountain making an unofficial opening of the real ski season with all lifts running and most of the Front Face open.
After punching in a quick warm up on Middle Cannon which was delightfully edgable fast packed snow in the early morning hours, I wasted no time in tearing down skiers right on Paulie’s Extension heading for Avalanche. Avalanche had man made powder covering the right half of the trail with the groomed option to the left. I naturally wasted no time in trashing the edgable yet soft 3-4″ of man made powder on skiers right. I began the morning proper by cycling the Zoomer Chair optioning Avalanche and Zoomer which hosted huge ungroomed whales down the center with delicious man made powder over thin cover on skiers right with excellent man made powder between the woods and the whales on skiers left that skied like buttah.
After making a couple powder turns on Gallows Hill in Salem, MA after a sizable coastal dump, I went in search of fresh at the closest big mountain I could find. After having a great initial experience at Crotched Mountain the previous weekend, I anxiously set off in hopes that the mountain scored some fresh snow. I met up with the Marketing Director Chris Bradford to say hello before hitting the slopes.
I immediately noticed that the wind had blown most of the fresh powder off the mountain by the time I arrived. However, the groomed snow was an excellent packed powder with occasional fresh snow snow pushed off to the side of the trails. From the Summit, Satellite had great fresh snow skier’s left that bumped up quite nicely. Skier’s right also had some fresh snow on Satellite which continued on the right side of Cosmic Blast. Continuing down skier’s left of Meteor there was additional nice loose powder on skier’s left. I tried ducking into an unmarked glade to sample the woods which looked decent from it’s entrance; however, I quickly discovered that looks were deceiving as I immediately began bottoming out and scraping all sorts of nastiness.
I cycled these runs from the summit quad four times then headed inside to refresh due to the high wind which generated a cold skiing experience. I went back out and cycled another four runs before packing it in for the day. Pluto’s Plunge turned out to be decent in places with some loose powder on the edges and Equinox also proved to be a decent powder stash. However, the little powder that was available was little and far between. This would have been an excellent day of skiing for late November or early December. But for my eighth day on skis after dropping turns in foot deep powder in the morning, it left an immense amount to be desired. Crotched Mountain is shining like a diamond amongst New Hampshire areas struggling through the conditions. But without natural snow, skiing just isn’t the same no matter where one skis. Hopefully the new year will bring some sizable snow dumps without the rain-freeze-thaw cycle New England has experienced so far this winter.
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