Ski While Still You Can!

PHOTO: Danielle having Spring Skiing fun in the wind and rain at Cannon Mountain. The sun did come out later. Nearly all their trails are covered with snow and their projected closing date is April 16th. And don’t forget to buy your season pass for next year because the best deals are offered now until the end of April.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Most of the ski resorts have already closed or this will be their last weekend. A good number still had plenty of snow covering their trails but they ran out of skiers and snowboarders before they ran out of snow.
April 16th will be closing day for Cannon, Loon, Waterville Valley and Wildcat and that date will mark the last day to ski ride lifts in New Hampshire.
A few areas in Vermont and Maine are still open and Jay Peak and Killington Resort are planning to make it well into May!
Our Boston family and friends are watching their kids play lacrosse games on the weekends instead of hitting the slopes. Bicycles have come out of the shed, golf clubs down from the attic and yard and garden tools all appear to be more popular than Spring Skiing.
But not for everyone, thankfully. I love Spring Skiing!
Danielle and I spent April Fool’s Day being skiing fools on Cannon Mountain’s slopes.

Saturday was a windy and wet morning with rime ice flying off the trees on the summit. Nearly every trail was open and covered with two inches of new wet snow that was more like glue than snow. At times gravity was not nearly enough to break the suction of the grippy snow and we had to skate and double pole to get back to the lifts. It was a fun challenge to try to ski fast.
We made an attempt to ski every trail and we made a good dent. We made 17 trips up and down the mountain. We enjoyed some wonderful views as we watched the wild swirling clouds dance around Cannon Mountain, often giving us a peek at Mount Lafayette.
The snow conditions improved as the day went on and by 2 o’clock the wind died and the sun came out. Of course we called it quits a few minutes before 2 o’clock. We watched the sun come out as we were enjoying an apres ski beverage in the pub.
Sunday we skipped over for some afternoon skiing at Bretton Woods. Charlie dropped me off at the lodge and then he drove over to their Nordic Center to go cross-country skiing. It was a windy chilly morning so we waited for the bright sunshine to warm up the day and to soften the snow. It was worth the wait. The groomed snow was nice for carving nice turns.
While chatting with others while riding the gondola I learned that Cannon and Wildcat had decided not to open for the day due to extra high winds. Bretton Woods most often doesn’t experience high winds. Skiers who had planned to go to those closed resorts were happy that Bretton Woods was able to spin their lifts.

Charlie reported the cross-country trails were well groomed and made for some fast skiing and he was a little sad that they’ll stop grooming the trails in a week.
Tuesday, I skipped out and went to Killington Resort in Vermont with my friend Kris. We carpooled together and when I went to pick her up in Newbury it was raining. I had told her to bring her raincoat so it wouldn’t rain. She didn’t bring it.
Lucky for us the rain stopped as we drove north and then west to the ski resort. We could see Killington’s snow covered slopes from far away.
The snow was spring snow: not sticky but wet enough that it was a bit of a chore to push your skis around in it but still fun skiing. It Would have been more fun if the sun had shone.
There were not a lot of people out but it was a wet-ish spring mid-week day and just what we had expected. But the Brits were out in force with their ski instructors. Young groups of British people come to New England for their ski holiday. We had met some at Cannon but there were a lot more of them here. They’re nice kids out having a good time but the groups really can fill up a trail and it isn’t easy to ski around them.
You usually won’t find these groups on the black diamond trails. But everyone has to ski the famous women’s World Cup race trail–Superstar. Killington’s Super trail is covered by their man-made glacier. Last year the slope was open until June. I think it is covered with thirty feet of snow now. Well, we skied it once with a couple of the groups. It was the busiest trail on the mountain.
We watched the clouds dance around opening and closing up the views. In the afternoon it showered a minute or two a couple of times. Just enough to make the chairlift seat wet and anything that sat on it. We should have stuck to the gondola or the bubble chair.
When our legs said it was time to go home we listened.
Hope to see ya at Killington in May and maybe even in June.
Have fun.