Snow–It Just Won’t Go!

PHOTO: Becca removes her climbing skins from both pieces of her split-board snowboard on Cannon Mountain’s summit. More than a foot of new snow fell in the White Mountains last week. Skiers and snowboarders weren’t shy about getting out to earn their turns by skinning or snowshoeing up the slopes. All the resorts in New Hampshire have closed for the season and Loon Mountain ended up being the last to spin their lifts when Wildcat and Bretton Woods decided to call it quits. The exciting news is that Waterville Valley is going to replace their detach-quad with a new detach-6-person-Bubble lift, construction starts soon and opening is planned for the 2022/23 season. And don’t forget the best deals for season passes at the resorts and Nordic centers are right now!

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Last week our daffodils were all bent over and covered with snow and not looking happy. I thought the rhyme went, “April Showers bring May flowers.” But what does April snow bring? More skiing and snowshoeing!
I met Becca at Cannon Mountain. There were more than a dozen other cars in the parking lot. People were already on the mountain skiing and snowboarding. We skinned up the mountain and all the way to the observation tower on Cannon’s summit. It was windy, cloudy and spitting snow on us. We couldn’t see a thing. We didn’t even bother to climb to the top of the tower.
We ripped the skins off our skis and snowboard. Then Becca had to piece her snowboard together to make it a snowboard again. As we left the summit a group of hikers arrived and told us they broke trail up the Kinsman Ridge Trail. With more than a foot of wet snow that was a big effort.
As we glided past the top of the ski trails others were getting ready to ski and snowboard back down the mountain. Becca and I decided to take the Skylight Trail and we were among the first to make tracks down the slope. Being inside a cloud and whipping snow made it difficult to see where we were going and made for some interesting turns.
When we reached the bottom we headed back up the Ravine Trail and the weather began to improve. The skin track, the uphill tracks we made earlier were greatly improved by others that followed our route. We were impressed by a young man carrying his baby on his back as he quickly passed by us as he skinned up the mountain. His red cheeked smiling baby looked like she was enjoying herself too.

The improved weather was warm, sunny and we could now see where we were going. The snow then got warm and sticky. The sticky snow wasn’t an improvement because it would stick to the bottom of our skis/snowboard. The snow felt like heavy weights added to our feet. Later on the way down it grabbed our skis before breaking free which made for more interesting turns and a few spills.
We went down Taft Slalom and we hiked up and over The Saddle to ski Mittersill’s Baron’s Run. The snow was heavily tracked, many had decided to stick to this side of the mountain. There was still man made snow lurking underneath Baron’s Run and Profile so I am thinking there might be some more adventuring on skis and snowboards on the mountain this weekend.
At higher elevations it is going to be winter-like for a few more weeks to come. Don’t let the green grass in your backyard fool you. You will need snowshoes or skis if you want to follow the trails to the mountaintops in the Whites.

I joined Zachary and Kyle to snowshoe the Carters and the Wildcats. On the way up Carter Dome we met Josh and he joined us for the stomp across the Wildcats. When we reached Wildcat D it was the final April summit for Zachary to check off. Wildcat was his first 4k peak he climbed when he was a teenager with his father. He completed all 48-4,000 foot peaks in every month grid when we made it back to the car at the bottom of the Wildcat Ski Area.
Have Fun.