Spring Skiing At Cannon Mountain

PHOTO: Amy Patenaude (R) and her friend Kris near the summit of Cannon Mountain celebrating a perfect day of Spring skiing. There’s plenty of snow covering Cannon’s trails and the best Spring snow conditions are yet to come. Their projected closing date is April 6th. Check out New Hampshire ski resorts’ snow conditions reports at SkiNH.com. Ski and Snowboard while you still can!

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

The calendar told us that Spring arrived at 5:01 am on March 20th. But the sap buckets have been hanging on the Maple trees for weeks now. The temperature is cold during the night and warm during the day. Good for making the sap run and for making wonderful snow conditions for skiing and snowboarding.
When Kris, Matt and I planned to go to Cannon together we had no idea what the weather might be like in a week. In fact, it rained the day before our date and we questioned whether we should go or not.
The next morning as we drove north the sun started to peek out between the clouds and by the time we pulled into the parking lot the sky was clear. A Bluebird day awaited us.

Wednesday is New Hampshire day at Cannon, tickets are $54 with a NH ID. If you’re 65 or over and a NH resident, a weekday pass is gratis. Cannon is a member of the Indy Pass too. We didn’t need to go to the ticket window because we were all able to make our reservations on-line and recharge our RFID cards.
We didn’t make the opening at 9 am but we were riding the Peabody Express Quad up the mountain before 10 am. The snow was just barely soft at the base but we could see people ripping up near the summit on Profile. We guessed there must be an inversion–warmer temps up higher.
While riding the lift we could feel that it was getting warmer the higher we traveled. The snow looked great and we decided to do our first lap back to the base. Middle and Lower Cannon trails did not disappoint. The snow was not too firm and making turns was easy.
50 percent of the Cannon’s trails were open. The trails without snowmaking had mostly melted out. The trails that were open had mostly deep snow coverage thanks to the snowmaking efforts earlier this season.

Our next run we went to the Cannonball Quad to ride to the top. The lift line was maybe a minute or two because most all the skiers and snowboarders were on the trails off the summit.
If Goldilocks was a skier she would have chosen these snow conditions because it wasn’t too firm and it wasn’t too soft; it was just right.
We had planned to ski until 1 pm, a little more than three hours or until our legs couldn’t take it anymore. We tried to ski a different trail each run too.
We skied straight down Profile, the snow was really nice. Then we went down Upper Ravine, Skylight and Taft Slalom. As the sun rose higher the temperature, not surprisingly, got warmer and the snow a little more soft.
At the top of Tramway we stopped to take some photos. The backdrop of Mount Lafayette and the peaks of the Franconia Range over Franconia Notch make a breathtaking backdrop.
Tramway to Bypass and down Avalanche is one of my favorite routes. I have heard it joked that his route from the top to the bottom is the best for pretending you’re Bode Miller. It’s long, steep and fast.
The front five was down to the front three. Avalanche, Rocket and Garry skied great. We skied Rocket twice. It was nice to see long time Cannon employee Al working the top shack of the Zoomer chair.
We yoyo-ed the mountain hitting the trails in the middle that we missed. The softening spring snow seemed to be a little more work to make turns each run.

Kris wanted to ski her favorite trail, Upper Ravine, one more time. The twisting turning trail is a fun natural giant slalom course.
It was tempting to join the others eating lunch outside on the Peabody Lodge deck in the warm sunshine but the three of us had commitments back home. By 1:30 we were driving south through the Notch while we munched on granola bars and drank water.
All projected closing dates are subject to change! I am hoping for a big snowstorm so they can stay open even longer. Have Fun.