Readers from last season may recall that I tend to have exceptionally good days at Cannon when my number of runs are equal to or less than the number of hours taken to complete them. Saturday was no different with three epic runs encompassing my limited window of four hours. Unlike some previous epic days, my route selection left something to be desired today.

With substantial untracked powder still awaiting plundering, today’s destination decision relied exclusively upon unopened terrain pods. Cannon and Smuggs were the only two options. Time constraints came down on the side of Cannon. So with the help of one high speed quad and two low speed quads, I got at it.

Since my top to bottom ascent earlier this week, the wind had taken its toll on the snow. Some spots were wind buffed while other spots had been picked clean to the grass. But the usual areas were filled in and promised bottomless turns.

Upper mountain tracks were a sublime combination of dense powder, creamy wind buff, and powder. I took Taft Slalom to Upper Hard twice which had to be the best ski run in New Hampshire on Saturday. Only a tiny amount of junk to avoid at the usual spot on Taft Slalom. Otherwise, this run was full on hard charging bottomless goodness. Nothing less than laugh out loud sensational powder skiing. I was dumbfounded to only see a half dozen other turn earners near the summit all morning.

I got a little over zealous and proceeded to make some questionable calls. The untracked powder short circuited my brain. One to two feet of snow had fallen on a wide variety of aspects both high and low. The wind had buffed the powder nicely and the favored side of most trails had caught enough snow to be bottomless. Reports else where on the internet suggested that the lower mountain trails on a certain aspect were very skiable. Why not search for more untracked snow and try to ski top to bottom powder?

Why not? Because it was a dumb idea. Because Taft to Upper Hard had enough untracked snow to hammer all morning without being gready. But you never know until you go, right? Adventures such as this are usually either amazingly epic or character building sketch.

The outcome of that adventure put my three day old skis into the shop for some pretty extensive base repair. It is somewhat unsettling to be known by the repair shop owner as “the Bookstore guy”. While I appreciate being known as a repeat customer, the reason I am known is that I stick out. I always love to hear his exclamation when I show him my bases: a combination of shock, awe, humor, and appreciation.