Conference bgsdev::skiing

Skied cannon on Tuesday.  the drive up was pretty intense, since i was
by myself, i pushed the limit of my killer winter beater, the supernova,
and made it to cannon in 2.5 hrs from groton mass in the driving snow.
rain all the way to franklin NH (exit 20 on 93, N of concord).  changed
over to sleet, then snow by holderness.  i was pscyhd and had the
hammer down to get there befroe the lifts opened.  passed all the guys
in 4-wheel drives who thought they were king ont he highway... funny
wathcing people has i blow by'em.  

got to cannon around 8:55, changed quickly, waited for someone to 
match up with me so i could get the 2-for-1 deal and ski for $14.00.
up the lift and got some fresh tracks down some of the trails heading
to the gondola.  12" of snow..  ahhh.... the top was windblown, but there
was plenty of good powder to be had by skiing the edges.  i took another
run down the trail near the tram and once again was able to cut a fresh
line all the way down.  excellent.  i hooked up with these guys and we
traversed over to hit hardscrabble.  we foudn that it was closed :-(, but
that did not stop us. poach city :-).  that trail was excellent.  skier's
right had 2' of snow and we were about the 4th ones to get to it.  wow
was that worth it !!!!  next run was the glade very close to the tram.
that was nice, but by the time we got to it, many others had hit it already.
but, the powder seakers that we were, we managed to find some fresh snow
between the trees.  nice glade, but too short!  
next run was mittersil.  this was the first time for me-- every other
time i wanted to do it i was alone and reluctant to ski off-piste w/o
someone else to be there if i hit a tree.  so i was very pumped for
this and the thought of plowing through more fresh powdah!  the 
top part we were about the 8th one down it... really nice, soft, fluffy 
powder.  excellent
stuff.  again, skier's right was wewre the snow was hiding.  towards
the bottom, the cutoff trail was used heavily, but we kept going to the next
cutoff trail.  that one we were the first ones down!!!  realy really nice.
ended up hitting mittersil 4 times that day.... great stuff.  at the end
of the day, i poached the lift line to get one more set of fresh tracks
through the snow.  all in all, a great ski day and certainly worth
the 14 bucks!!!!!!!!!!!

 

    Just skied in from Cannon and boy are my legs tired! ;^) Three days of
    bright blue skies/temp's well above frostbite/awesome snow conditions/and 
    no lift lines, with my two teenaged sons blasting down the mountain
    all day has roasted and toasted every muscle in my body. And at $18 per 
    ticket no less!
    
    On that last point: I don't understand what's going on up there but all
    during "vacation week" if you skied on day X you could turn in your ticket
    on day X+1 and pay only half price for the full day. Same thing then
    applied to day X+2. Gotta love it, but it sure seems like financial
    suicide - especially considering the dearth of skiers there this
    week. While the weekend was apparently a mob scene with the Pro Tour
    in town, it was closer to a ghost town this week...
    
    Monday was as unlike a factory-issue Cannon day as you ever see: temp's
    in the teens with not a breath of breeze, a cloudless bright blue sky
    and every bump lit up perfectly, and enough loose snow to make anyone
    happy. One of the nicest days we've ever had at Cannon (nowhere was
    heard a discouraged word). Tuesday was a bit warmer still with a mild
    southern breeze and a mountain covered in corduroy, and no lines to
    rest in. Wednesday brought change with overcast, temp's nearing 50(!) 
    and snow verging on springtime mashies. 
    
    Bombing up and down the mountain all day on those mashies put the 
    finishing touch on my well-cooked quads ;^) I'm *almost* thankful to 
    have to work! But the cold temp's that were to return today (Thursday)
    will probably set that soft stuff into sculptured concrete - something 
    that I'll be happy to miss.
    
    I still don't know how they can manage to keep the old joint open...
    
    /dave

    
    I skied Loon last Sunday. It was a crowd-packed nightmare, little
    challenging terrain, poor mountain layout (hard to ski black off their
    tiny 4-person gondola and end up back at 1/2 hr gondola line to keep
    warm in cold wind days), and poor mountain food services. It was my
    second and probably last visit. I skied for free (in the 30-minute
    ticket line someone gave me their extra Michelob Light ticket) so I
    can't say it wasn't worth it, but if I had paid $45, I would have been
    upset. It felt like we stood in line most of the day, with little
    skiing in between. At least we got to watch most of the Providence NCCA
    game while standing in the gondola building line most of the afternoon.

    On the drive up, as you neared the Kanc, the large highway stop Burger
    King along I-93 had a sign declaring "Discounted Cannon tickets," does
    anyone know what this deal is? I'm thinking of hitting Cannon this
    weekend...
    
    -Erik

RE: .136

This is a wide digression in a Cannon note, but .136 kind of trashed 
Loon, so here goes.

If you want to ski nothing but black trails at Loon then you should 
plan to ski either  the North Peak lift or the East Basin lift.  If 
cold is a problem then use the Camp 3 lodge for a quick warmup.  

You have to admit that trail conditions were great at Loon on Sunday.
I didn't find it to be too cold at Loon.  I don't think you will 
find conditions at Cannon to be any warmer than Loon.

    
    		RE -2
    
    			Loon is a nice mountain, but 1 thing I've
    		learned is don't bother to ski it on weekends.
    
    			I love Canon, but don't go there if it's 
    		cold and windy, it's comparable to Wildcat. I was
    		there a couple of weeks ago (before all the snow)
    		and half the trails were closed and most of the 
    		ones that were open had large patches of solid
    		ice on them. On the plus size there are usually
    		little or no lines on weekends.
    
    							Joe

    >  I skied Loon last Sunday. It was a crowd-packed nightmare...
    
    But how can that be - don't they rave about "Limited Ticket Sales"?
    
    
    
    (No - don't bother to reply to this. I haven't skied Loon since 1970 -
    when their "Limited Ticket Sales" scam resulted in cutting the lift
    lines to *only* 45 minutes).
    
    I'd rather challenge myself to skiing Cannon's icy spots than spend an 
    entire day grumbling about lift lines...
    
    /dave

I dunno about the BK "Discounted Cannon tickets", but there was a $10 off coupon
for Cannon/Sunapee in the 3/8/97 Sunday Globe. It's good anytime until the end
of this season. I did not check out this week's yet... I've found that many
places that sell "discounted tickets" are not all that discounted ($4 or so),
but it beats full price.

As for the Loon weekend rants. Why would anyone drive *all* those extra miles to
go to Cannon? It's really far, I wouldn't do it. And it's cold and scary...
Really, really cold and scary... I wouldn't do it.

(See you on the Cannonball Express.... but don't tell anyone)

-Jeff
 

re: a few back (whining about Loon)

--30 minute line to buy tickets: what time did you get there?
   9:30 or 10:00? Real skiers arrive at 7:30 or earlier, when
   there are no lines...

--1/2 hour line at the gondola: seems normal for Loon. I could
  never figure why people would stand in line for that long when
  they could be riding the East Basin or North Peak chairs, where
  the lines are rarely more than 5 minutes. Sorry, but I don't
  buy the "cold day" excuses. Dress properly, and the cold won't 
  be a factor, unless it's -30. 

--bad food: ya don't ski too often, do ya? Ski area food is bad &
  overpriced, everywhere. I think it's an industry requirement :-).
 (well, rumor has it that Deer Valley has excellent food, but the
  last time I was in Utah, my Gucci ski boots were in the cleaners
  so I couldn't go there...)

--lack of challenging terrain: valid point. They've got some, but not
  much.

--hard-to-ski-trail from the top: there's at least one easy trail 
  from the top of the gondola, if not more.

/Steve (who does most of his skiing in VT, but goes to Cannon,
        Loon, or Wildcat once or twice a season)

    RE.136
            Cannon on Sunday was excellent. The only closed trails were
         Profile, Paully's extension (some of it) and middle Hardscrabble.
         I think they have since opened Profile. Bumps were quite skiable
         on Zoomer, Rocket and Paully's. Avalanche had some small bumps
         forming on the right, the edging on the trail was excellent all
         day. 
         Lift lines were non existent anywhere. The temp was bascially in
         the single digits all day at the summit and rose to the middle 
         teens or so at the base. There were periods of gusty winds, but
         nothing that was sustaining and once you were in the trees there
         was really no notice of the wind. As Steve said earlier dress
         for the conditions.
         There are a few  promotional offers that would reduce the price 
         of a ticket, they would gladly tell you if asked and of course 
         Tues and Thurs are two for $28. If you are a NH resident Wed 
         is $19. 
    
         Paul
    

  Some good points, and thanks for the Boston Globe tip.

  Regarding when I got there, true, you have a point.  It was a last minute
  daytrip and I started later than I wanted to because of a late party the
  night before.  I got there around 9AM, which yes, for me is late.  Perhaps
  that huge onrush can be avoided by arriving earlier.

  Regarding the food, yes, I know how bad ski lodge cafs are.  Perhaps I'm
  spoiled by the Cliff House at Stowe, but Loon's self-touted "fine dining"
  site was a joke in comparison.  And the summit top men's room was also a
  joke, just a sink-inclusion away from being a log-hut outhouse.  It
  accommodated a maximum of two people at once, and there was naturally thus a
  line formed to even get in at a non-lunch off-peak time (another ski area
  first).  For such an obviously popular place amoung casual skiers (noticed
  mostly non-advanced skiers and families and children) they really needed more
  modern facilities and ones that can handle such (apparently perpetual) large
  crowds.  I was surprised.  But again, perhaps I've been skiing Stowe too much
  and have become spoiled, I dunno.  Though I didn't have the same reaction to
  Whiteface the weekend before (loved it).

  I had always heard how crowded Loon is, I just never thought a place could
  get _that_ crowded. To each their own...

  -Erik