Jim
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2022
I'm back from my trip to use a couple Indy days at Cannon and Middlebury Snow Bowl.
My ride up Monday afternoon took forever. There's no easy way to get from the Albany area to Lincoln, NH, on a dry day and this one was in snow the whole way. In some places the roads were genuinely bad (Bromley to Magic) and in others they were ok (beyond Magic) but some incredibly cautious drivers who apparently were oblivious to the dozens of cars backed up behind. But I made it and spent the night in Lincoln at my friend Mike's condo up the hill across 112 from the entrance to Loon.
Mike's been skiing Cannon all his life. This was my second time skiing there with him and it's great to have an expert guide. We arrived to a really nice day. A couple fresh inches of snow, sunny skies, calm winds, and temps in the mid 20's. Surfaces early were a nice packed powder on the groomers with some fresh snow to be found. It wasn't busy so things stayed pretty good for a while. Eventually some areas were skied down to the glacier but it wasn't a problem to find decent ways down. A couple trails worth noting. Vista Way (definitely my run of the day) had plenty of soft bumps and some easily avoidable thin areas. Hardscrabble also had some really great snow but also many more thin areas, especially on its steepest parts. Still a fun run and I'm glad we did it. Only 2 of the Front 5 are open so far and they were in pretty good shape. Our last chair to the summit was a long one. The lift stopped for a few minutes, then was starting and stopping at least a dozen times before they got it going long enough to get us off. I was surprised they were still loading when we got to the bottom. We could see from our next ride up from the base that it was stopped again, so we were glad we decided not to chance it. This was my 15th day on snow, first at a big mountain, and I almost tripled my season high in vertical.
A heavier, more dense snow fell overnight into this morning. Mike had a little time to go over to Loon for part of the day, while I wanted to ski somewhere more on the way home and use another Indy day. I certainly wasn't going to pay for a VR window rate ticket at Loon in any case. So I made the drive back over to and across northern Vermont for my first-ever visit to the Middlebury Snow Bowl. I was sure I was going to like it and that expectation was confirmed as soon as I pulled in. The place was pretty busy (everyone said it was unusually so for a Wednesday, likely because of the fresh snow). Even so, I parked reasonably close, redeemed my Indy quickly and easily, and found a spot to boot up. Like it was in the morning in New Hampshire, the fresh snow was 4-5" of heavier somewhat dense snow. I got on the snow a little after noon, so things were pretty well tracked up. I started by going right to the summit (Worth Mtn Triple), where things were pretty foggy. Adding to the challenge of the first run was the fact that the trail I chose (Allen, I believe) had GS race training in the morning so it was really rutted up. Still, the snow was nice. My second run was down a long green called Voter that was actually really challenging in spots the way the fresh snow had been tracked up. I also tried a blue from the summit called Proctor that wwas marked as Thin Cover/Experts Only and for good reason. Really fun run, even with the thin spots to avoid and ditches with water across parts of the trail. I got a good feel for the snow conditions after a quick lunch break and got a lot more comfortable. My favorite runs were off the smaller chair (Sheehan Quad). Lang was an excellent packed powder surface on top of a solid man-made base. Hadley was another blue natural snow trail marked as Thin Cover/Experts Only. This one actually had plenty of snow and only a few thin spots to avoid. I did it I think 3 times. I'll call it my run of the day. Kelton is right under the lift and had a steep and slick headwall that took me down for the first fall of the season. The snow below that was great though. I would like to be able to try some of the glades. They were getting some traffic so I probably could have found someone to pair up with who could show me good ways through but I really didn't need to push it. I finished up before 3:30. I'll gladly return to this place when I have a chance.
It was an easy ride home, just wet roads. This wraps up my run of skiing 7 of the 8 days since NYE. I don't expect to be back out until Saturday at Royal.
The sunny pictures attached are from Cannon, and the foggy ones from Middlebury.
My ride up Monday afternoon took forever. There's no easy way to get from the Albany area to Lincoln, NH, on a dry day and this one was in snow the whole way. In some places the roads were genuinely bad (Bromley to Magic) and in others they were ok (beyond Magic) but some incredibly cautious drivers who apparently were oblivious to the dozens of cars backed up behind. But I made it and spent the night in Lincoln at my friend Mike's condo up the hill across 112 from the entrance to Loon.
Mike's been skiing Cannon all his life. This was my second time skiing there with him and it's great to have an expert guide. We arrived to a really nice day. A couple fresh inches of snow, sunny skies, calm winds, and temps in the mid 20's. Surfaces early were a nice packed powder on the groomers with some fresh snow to be found. It wasn't busy so things stayed pretty good for a while. Eventually some areas were skied down to the glacier but it wasn't a problem to find decent ways down. A couple trails worth noting. Vista Way (definitely my run of the day) had plenty of soft bumps and some easily avoidable thin areas. Hardscrabble also had some really great snow but also many more thin areas, especially on its steepest parts. Still a fun run and I'm glad we did it. Only 2 of the Front 5 are open so far and they were in pretty good shape. Our last chair to the summit was a long one. The lift stopped for a few minutes, then was starting and stopping at least a dozen times before they got it going long enough to get us off. I was surprised they were still loading when we got to the bottom. We could see from our next ride up from the base that it was stopped again, so we were glad we decided not to chance it. This was my 15th day on snow, first at a big mountain, and I almost tripled my season high in vertical.
A heavier, more dense snow fell overnight into this morning. Mike had a little time to go over to Loon for part of the day, while I wanted to ski somewhere more on the way home and use another Indy day. I certainly wasn't going to pay for a VR window rate ticket at Loon in any case. So I made the drive back over to and across northern Vermont for my first-ever visit to the Middlebury Snow Bowl. I was sure I was going to like it and that expectation was confirmed as soon as I pulled in. The place was pretty busy (everyone said it was unusually so for a Wednesday, likely because of the fresh snow). Even so, I parked reasonably close, redeemed my Indy quickly and easily, and found a spot to boot up. Like it was in the morning in New Hampshire, the fresh snow was 4-5" of heavier somewhat dense snow. I got on the snow a little after noon, so things were pretty well tracked up. I started by going right to the summit (Worth Mtn Triple), where things were pretty foggy. Adding to the challenge of the first run was the fact that the trail I chose (Allen, I believe) had GS race training in the morning so it was really rutted up. Still, the snow was nice. My second run was down a long green called Voter that was actually really challenging in spots the way the fresh snow had been tracked up. I also tried a blue from the summit called Proctor that wwas marked as Thin Cover/Experts Only and for good reason. Really fun run, even with the thin spots to avoid and ditches with water across parts of the trail. I got a good feel for the snow conditions after a quick lunch break and got a lot more comfortable. My favorite runs were off the smaller chair (Sheehan Quad). Lang was an excellent packed powder surface on top of a solid man-made base. Hadley was another blue natural snow trail marked as Thin Cover/Experts Only. This one actually had plenty of snow and only a few thin spots to avoid. I did it I think 3 times. I'll call it my run of the day. Kelton is right under the lift and had a steep and slick headwall that took me down for the first fall of the season. The snow below that was great though. I would like to be able to try some of the glades. They were getting some traffic so I probably could have found someone to pair up with who could show me good ways through but I really didn't need to push it. I finished up before 3:30. I'll gladly return to this place when I have a chance.
It was an easy ride home, just wet roads. This wraps up my run of skiing 7 of the 8 days since NYE. I don't expect to be back out until Saturday at Royal.
The sunny pictures attached are from Cannon, and the foggy ones from Middlebury.
