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Monday evening I retired to the bedroom at approximately 10:00 P.M. Which is when the day dreams began. Visions of untracked powder dancing through my head for two hours during which sleep was entirely elusive. It was a secular snowy equivalent of Christmas Eve and I was an anxious child unable to sleep a wink.

It reminded me of my childhood on evenings just prior to family ski trips. Those were big occasions only under taken a few times each year. Friday nights were torture. It did not matter where we were going the next day. I could hardly sleep a wink in anticipation of the family ski trip. Not much has changed in twenty years. I am still that anxious kid that can’t hardly wait to hurry up and get to sleep so I can wake up the next morning and get to the mountain.

Cannon reported in with seven inches this morning. Much to the management’s credit, Cannon is often honest to a fault with snow total reporting and often errs on the side of caution and underestimates (especially when the snow is blowing). It may be, in fact, that Cannon did receive only seven inches of wind blown fluff. But it skied more like 8-12″. Suffice to say, it was more than enough to make skiing absolutely sensational.

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I love this mountain. Cannon rarely fails to deliver. And when it over performs, it is damn good and like no where else. Even when I was a pass holder at Jay, I still considered Cannon my home mountain. When it is good at Cannon, it ain’t worth driving any where else in the east.

Laziness has crept into my skiing routine lately due to excessive fatigue and not enough sleep. I took Thursday and Friday off from skiing. With non-crystalline precipitation en route for Sunday, I managed to drag my sorry lazy ass out of bed and drive north to Cannon for what I expected to be lack luster skiing at best.

What I found was an extremely pleasant surprise. I found my way to the Zoomer Chair in the morning per my usual pattern when there is no fresh snow. I found Avalanche whaled on skier’s left and awkwardly bumped on skier’s right. Not bad but not what I was looking for. So next run, I took Zoomer Lift Line which was sublime! Blow in from Zoomer snow guns along with some natural combined for very soft natural-ish snow with occasional bumps and slightly thin cover without fear of base damage. Turns were silky smooth. I lapped Zoomer Lift a while before heading for the summit for further exploration.

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While Rhode Island and southern Boston Metro was getting slammed with almost two feet of fresh, I decided to head to my home mountain for some non-powder skiing. After having considered a four hour round trip drive to the flatlands for powder, I declined the option based on the latest weather runs early Sunday morning.

These forecasts substantially decreased snow totals outside the I-495 belt leaving Wachsuett without much fresh. And with decreasing snow fall later in the morning, what little fell at WaWa would most likely be groomed flat by opening bell. That left one 300 vertical foot trail at Blue Hills that would be tracked out in two runs. Or, I could just drive to Cannon and enjoy a relaxing day of skiing close to home. I chose to stay local and am more than satisfied with my decision.

Despite no new natural snow in over a week, Cannon skied very well thanks to their snow making and grooming teams. These efforts were substantially beefed up when the new GM took over three years ago and continue to offer up a product far superior to the Cannon of old. Available terrain include The Links, Ravine, Cannon, Extension, and Spookie from the Peabody Quad, Gary’s, Mickey’s, and Rocket from the Zoomer Triple, and some beginner terrain in the Tuckerbrook Family area. Ravine was whaled up but no other snow making operations were apparent.

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After a November to forget, it seems like a December to Remember has finally commenced. Thanks to significant Lake Effect snow bands reaching all the way into Vermont and across New England, Mad River Glen was able to open this weekend unexpectedly. With Jay Peak having lift issues and my ski bud Nhski going to Mad River Glen, it was a total no brainer!

Due to the unexpected opening, Mad River Glen had advertised a 10am opening but actually had us on the lift by 9:30am. Seeing the mountain covered in powder and without moguls was stunning, a sight rarely seen at Mad River Glen except during the very early season. Tracks from turn earners blanketed the mountain from the past two days and this morning. But there was more than enough to go around. And the silky smooth lake effect powder was a sublime treat.

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The decision between Jay Peak and Cannon kept me up a little bit last night. Jay was going to get a few extra inches but Cannon is closer and has better terrain options when the snow is good. I settled on Cannon expecting to have to hunt for a small sampling of left overs from the storm. Instead, I got consistent untracked every run including a few boot deep shots. Not bad for three days after the storm!

Icelanticskier, L, and I met up in the lodge quite by accident, chance encounter style, and made our way to the summit after sampling some butter sweet wind blown powder skier’s left of Big Link. This was to be the theme of the day!

Where was everyone? Was the looming threat of late afternoon NCP preceded by more snow in the morning scaring every one away? Felt rather lonely being on the only populated chair on the Cannonball Quad early in the morning. But it made for refills along the edges all morning and a lack of competition for the untracked. Sweet!

We found varying amounts of wind blown untracked along the edges. Sometimes 2-4″ (Tramway), sometimes 4-6″ (Taft and Upper Cannon), and sometimes 6-8″ (Skylight). I thought I was going to have to search hard for some sloppy second left overs, but we just kept lapping the Cannonball Quad and finding delicious wind blown untracked on every trail. Skylight owned for the morning via skier’s left.

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Difficult decisions were made last night regarding plans for today. But ultimately, I think the best decision was made despite wanting for the most powder. Southern locations scored more snow than northern locations during the Friday storm, which had me leaving a foot of fresh in central New Hampshire to ski in only a half foot of fresh in Northern Vermont. However, the snow that fell was the lightest form of blower possible and fell on minimal base which essentially made the powder worthless except for one or two runs in central New Hampshire areas such as Ragged and Gunstock (Tenney remains closed this weekend). Desiring to retain my Ski Vermont tickets for later in the season, I also by passed Sugarbush and Killington so I could return to them later in the season when their terrain is fully open.

Uncrowded slopes was the other aspect I banked on in deciding to ski Jay today and I hit the jackpot with ski on chairs all morning. Between the lingering effects of last week’s ice storm and central/southern Vermont receiving more snow than northern Vermont, most Stateside skiers did not have Jay Peak on the map. Which translates into untracked snow on every run.

Trees are continuing to fill in with many of my favorite lines available but with caution. I took two spills today courtesy of hidden stumps and snow snakes. So full on tree skiing is still out of the question. But most trees are skiable though some bush whacking may be involved as not all obstacles are buried yet.

I worked the Jet Triple for the entire morning making tracks exclusively in the trees and on the run outs. One particular area came into play very nicely this weekend which I lapped numerous times. On a few occasions, I nailed untracked snow from both Friday and Saturday which was about eight to ten inches total. One sensational boot deep and perhaps deeper drift really made my day. Should be fully tracked out for Sunday skiers but another storm arrives Sunday night for a foot and a half of fresh with more on the way later this week. Look for Jay to be at or nearly 100% open for Christmas depending upon if the Face, Tux, Staircase, and Everglade have enough base depth or not.

Jay Peak not only survived the ice storm and mixed precipitation earlier this week that plagued most of New England’s ski areas, but rather thrived in receiving a really good heaping of wrap around snow on top of a bomber base. While Jay did receive a little mixed precipitation that formed some minor breakable crust, a solid eight inches in favorable areas without crust was retained for a fantastic powder day.

My plan of attack was all wrong due to forgetting that only the Jet Triple ran on Friday leaving much of the mountain serviced by the Bonnie untracked. I got going stateside by ducking into a half dozen off map tree shots that yielded respectable cover but only two inches of untracked. After three rides on the Jet, I hopped on the Bonnie to explore the other side of the drainage.

Much to my surprise, a lone skier made his way down Liftline in nearly boot deep untracked! What the hell was going on? From the chair, I noticed a few tracks down Can Am as well. Sure enough, those trails had been “reserved”. And with good reason. A non-breakable crust had developed on the upper section of Can Am. But bellow that was a breakable crust yielding more than half a foot. I made second tracks down Liftline which was a delightful romp featuring around eight inches of untracked alternating between fluffy powder and a slight crust layer depending on angle and aspect.

Sure as a powder hound knows he’s missing a party, Liftline was completely tracked up on my next trip up the Bonnie. Upper River Quai to Buckaroo yielded nice cut up pow with some untracked along the edges. That was followed by a generally tracked up Vertigo to Buckaroo. Next I dropped into Deliverance via the second of the four chutes to generally good snow conditions with a few stumps and rocks still hiding. Not a bad go, but not ready for prime time. The mellower section bellow the chutes yielded alternating slots of sloppy seconds and some untracked. Sah-weet!

I finished up my last lap on the Bonnie by checking into some of my favored woods stashes and found they were not quite ready yet. And I finished the day on a Jet run that yielded more woods not quite ready yet but almost.

Currently, I would estimate almost a full half of Jay’s trees are cautiously ready for most tree skiers. Speed and full out attack mode are not recommended even for the filled in lines which occasionally sport stumps and dead fall not yet covered. Lots of sticks still covering up all but the most well cleared out lines but so much is doable right now. However, there is still quite a bit not yet ready for prime time. Beggars can’t be choosers two weeks prior to Christmas weekend… this season is just getting started!

After only two weeks of operation, Jay has all of its lifts online with exception of the Bonaventure Quad. This weekend marked the first day of operations for the Freezer and the Tram. And it showed! Operations for the Freezer were suspended mid-day due to mechanical problems and unloading from the tram required a monstrous hurdle of nearly two feet to reach the unload platform from the tram car. Operations for all lifts were delayed by 45 minutes while two groomers worked out the handle tow area in front of the lodge. To say full operations got off to a shaky start would be an understatement.

Once things were under way, it did not take me long to identify the best snow. The Kokamo/Ull’rs run out was horrendous and not worth the effort to ski any trails that dumped down into that run out. The best snow fell under and to skier’s right of the Freezer. Most notably Expo Glade which had received significantly more snow than any where else on the mountain. Occasional boot deep with deeper drifts were found though the entire mountain averaged closer to two to three inches. My run of the day was Upper River Quai to Expo Glade to The Flash.

Else where on the mountain, Stateside was fully tracked out with hard pack bumps in the glades. Off map tree shots were definitely not ready for prime time and difficult to navigate safely. Any run out trail that had not yet received snow making featured waterbars, ice, groomer chunks, and worse but did allow generally safe passage despite the leg burning. Jay officially opened almost 50 trails. However, all but perhaps a dozen of their steepest and rockiest selections could be safely skied which is tremendous for the first week in December.

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Greetings holiday skiers. Welcome to the party. Just a few weeks too late. Today was a mixed bag of conditions ranging from two to four inches of untracked to frozen wet packed down concrete. Holiday crowds overall were minimal in volume but overbearing in terms of effect on the experience. Overall summary is Northern Vermont just dodged a bullet and early birds got some frosting before the warm weather eroded the fresh snow and glazed and crusted the snow. Which heading into New Year’s is only a minor set back given new snow and two nice powder days this week.

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Sensational boot to knee deep untracked powder was found today in Ashland, NH of all places. Two runs were made, each consisting of approximately four to five sensational powder turns. When life gives you snow and you have some time to kill and an fifty foot drop off your back porch, ski off the back side and rack up some powder vertical while the neighbors look on in disbelief!

Our epic December in New England is drawing to a close. Powder hounds were out in force this past week trouncing the goods following several feet of new snow on an already bomber base. My hope was that intimate knowledge of Jay Peak would allow me to find some untracked left over from Thursday when seven inches of snow fell at Jay Peak. Unfortunately, despite getting to Jay Peak nearly in time for first chair and immediately skiing through three of my favorite go to tree shots, I was not able to find any significant untracked snow.

Exacerbating the lack of untracked was the fact that I was skiing on my touring gear. Having lodged four impressive and deep gouges in my alpine skis last week at Burke, I dropped them off at the shop last Sunday expecting to pick them up by Friday. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to pick up the skis Friday night leaving to choose whether to leave first thing in the morning with touring gear or have a delayed start to pick up my alpine skis. I choose to ski in touring gear and felt very uncomfortable sliding around on my G-Rides which are super for touring and uphill travel but terrible in tight trees on bumps and hard pack. My skiing was absolutely abysmal and I felt like I was skiing my first day of the season all over again.

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With a major snowstorm brewing overnight and concerns about road conditions and drive times, I made the decision to ski Burke today instead of Jay. I was mostly fearful of the dreaded change over to mixed precipitation scheduled for late afternoon when I would most likely be coming home. Having recently driven home in a snow storm from Jay that involved stressful white knuckle driving, I was content to avoid the possibility of a treacherous long drive home and wind holds by opting for Burke Mountain.

When I awoke, three inches of snow had already fallen at my home and it was puking. The drive to Burke would be more eventful and tougher driving than my drive home. Franconia Notch was particularly brutal especially being stuck behind two snow plows, who were doing a damn fine job by taking their time with things. The plows split at the Route 3 exit and I sped up to Burke as fast as conditions would allow with plenty of time for first chair.

Ultimately, Burke turned out to be the best choice, but not because of the weather conditions. The forecasted mixed precipitation never really occurred and a break in the storm coincided with the drive home. Burke was the better choice because Burke and Jay both received the same amount of snow fall at exactly one foot and Burke had very few skiers, low competition, untracked on the trails from open until close, and no wind holds. Whereas at Jay, some lifts were shut down at noon time which would have resulted in crowding at Stateside and untracked would have been a glades only experience only an hour or two after opening.

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A December to remember keeps on cranking out the powder days. Several small storms kept Jay full of powder this past week with yet another six inches falling heading into the weekend. My expectations of a small amount of additional snow were blown away by half a foot on the open trails and much more in the trees. Today was a phenomenal day at Jay.

Normally, I never ski Can Am. But after boarding one of the first chairs on the Bonaventure Quad and seeing a steep powder field begging for tracks, I could not help myself. The lack of wind kept the normally blown off slopes full of powder. I followed that up with a completely untracked run down Vertigo. Since the Tram and Freezer were not running when Jay opened, I headed Tramside on my next run for Northwest Passage to the Expo Glade area and returned for Upper River Quai to more Expo Glade area powder. Trees offered boot to knee deep untracked. When the Flyer and Tram started turning, I went back to Stateside and hit a whole bunch of stuff as the party was up Tramside.

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Wincing in pain, I awoke without an alarm this morning after yesterday’s strenuous powder day at Burke. Everything hurt from my lower back to just behind my knee. Plans were already hatched to combine lift serviced and earned turns at Cannon to maximize powder potential almost a full week after the last storm hit New England. Original plans included the possibility of a full skin of Tuckerbrook but due to my tense and sore muscles I dialed plans back a bit.

Arriving at the Peabody Lodge, Cannon’s excellent staff were working the parking lots to alert potential customers that power was currently out but may be back online later. “No worries” I told a lot attendant. Pointing to my bindings I mentioned that “I have my own power.” Lifts were still running on backup power to get the remaining customers off the chairs before the bull wheels stopped turning. Since the power just went down, I decided to not wait for what could be a few minutes or a few hours.

Not long after I began skinning, I heard the tell tale hum of power being delivered to the lifts. No worries as I was off the grid regardless and heading for whiter pastures. I was baffled by the amount of traffic inflicted upon the mountain in the past few days and felt like a royal Johnny Come Lately as I picked up a well packed down skin track. There was plenty of fresh powder to still be found but I would not enjoy the pleasure of laying down first tracks today.

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Thankfully for powder hounds, Burke Mountain stuck to their scheduled first day of operation. Even though two feet of snow was added to Burke’s slopes this past week and skiers have been coming down with that rare illness known as powderitis, Burke held true to their first day. Massive powder reports from the more well known mountains and Burke’s perception as being off the beaten path and not a major mountain combined to make for an amazing powder day without much competition. Powder hounds killed it in Burke’s glades all day while most skiers were bumping elbows in long lines to fight over a few left over well hidden scraps at ski resorts along the spine of the Green Mountains.

Today was simply sensational. Boot deep untracked was found on every single run right through closing time with the first few runs featuring untracked snow almost top to bottom before the main trails and glades started getting chewed up. By noon time, the main routes and trails had a fairly choppy and bumpy packed snow but the glades and trees skied extremely well all day.

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