Hot Skiing At Cannon

PHOTO: It was August in April at Cannon, it was 80 degrees! Bria is wearing a T-shirt as she skis off Cannon’s summit via Vista Way. The snow report boasted “Cannon was Loaded with Snow.” Franconia Notch State Park summer operations open soon–The Flume Gorge open daily on May 12th, Lafayette Place Campground open daily May 19th and the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway open daily on May 19th.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

The ski season in New Hampshire is done. The lifts have closed and the resorts are working to switch over to their summer season activities.
Am I done skiing yet? I don’t know. I went to Killington yesterday and it was really fun spring skiing but I couldn’t talk any of my friends into coming along with me. They’re all done.
The last week of skiing in New Hampshire was hot! The weather felt more like August than April. I have never lift-serviced skied at 80 degrees before in New Hampshire. But Bria and I did just that and it was at Cannon.
We started the morning with our helmets, goggles and light jackets. We went right to the top of the mountain and skied down Taft. The lift at Mittersill was closed for the season but there was still tons of snow on its slopes. The only way to get there was to hike up the bare snowless saddle and we thought we’d do it before it got too hot. But we still heated right up and the decision to change into our headbands, sunglasses and to ditch our jackets was made after just a few runs.
Barron’s Run was well worth the hike and we had the trail all to ourselves.
The snow was hanging in there great and the trails on the Notch side of the mountain, the five fingers, were all skiing well.

It was fun to see nearly everyone skiing without jackets and many people were in T-shirts.
More than a few wore shorts too. Some boys skied without any shirts at all. The sun was hot but the snow was always cold.

At the base of the lifts there was water from the melting snow pools. And each lap around the mountain the puddles became deeper. It is all part of the spring skiing fun: to try to avoid deep water.
People in the parking lot were tailgating. A few parking spaces below us people were barbecuing. We brought along our lawn chairs and sat outside our car and enjoyed our own bag lunches.
Our chairs were comfortable and it was nice to relax in the sunshine. We rallied and we walked back to the lifts for a few more last runs.
Don’t forget to wash and pack away your ski clothes so they’ll be ready to grab and go next November.
Have Fun.