lock “Photo: Patrick Allen”Cannon Ski Area is in a part of NH that is still getting pooped on! After a week of traveling to Ohio, [which according to Doogie, is round on the edges and high in the middle (see his jokes aren’t always funny)], and New York, [which according to everyone and their mothers and for that matter, my Mother, say is very far from back country skiing], so that I could look at law schools. (I decided on Hofstra in New York FYI) I was stoked to be on the hill again! When I got back to Boston on Friday the 13th I hadn’t been on top of my emails and didn’t know what the MIT kids were planning.
and pop “Photo: Patrick Allen”It turned out that the fresh snow had once again made Mt. Washington super avy prone but made Cannon ski area prime for slaying the white stuff! Buffalo Killer and his pack, Chicks Rip Too, Doogie and I took one car up and were planning on meeting Ernesto, Igor and Irish at the base. The four us drove up, obeying all posted speed limits and had planned on calling the other car when we were within a half hour of the hill. However, Irish called Doogie well before we had expected (about an hour and a half into the 3 hour drive) to let us know that they were still at MIT and wanted to know if we were still planning on going skiing?!!!!!!!!!!!? Doogie told Irish that, yes, we were still going skiing and they could call us when they got there.
The ride was not promising in that it was raining almost the whole way up and when I felt lost and asked Doogie for directions he responded with a variation of one of his funniest most annoying lines; “Just because it seems like I have the world on my shoulders, doesn’t mean I’m an Atlas!”
tramline and base “Photo: Patrick Allen”Regardless of the shenanigans, when we reached the base, the rain stopped and we were stoked to go tap the new snow! Chicks Rip Too was especially stoked to see some fellow hippies protesting the Tyrants in DC who are doing nothing to combat global warming! (If you want to fight the power, put a lot of bumper stickers on your car!) It turned out that there were about 1500, small (like this one) and large organized events across the country on Saturday where activist were taking pics and signatures of supporters to show congress that we want to save the planet. (I felt really bad about wasting the extra gas pulling donuts in the parking lot!)
After posing for the photo opp with the Step It Up Crew (yes I’m wearing a Paul Pierce Jersey, GO Cs!!!!!!!!) we were able to get a quick run in before the other three slackers who had slept in (Irish and Igor, not Ernesto, to be fair) reached the parking lot. Killer’s crew enjoyed some untouched, wide open turns to warm us up for the real deal with the others.
I felt that trekking in bounds on a closed ski area was a special occasion and thought I should dress like I was skiing in bounds; baggy pants, worn around my knees, hand knit ear flap hat, aviator sunglasses and of course, a Paul Pierce jersey.
Ballin “Photo: Patrick Allen”This outfit was good for the first quick run and part of the second skin up. As we passed the spot were we had turned around to meet the rest of the crew, I was getting extremely overheated or Doogie bet me to skin up in just my jersey, either one I forget? So I did for a while and it felt great, my body temp was low, keeping my energy stored up and my team pride was off the chain which was great for trying to keep up with Irish and Igor, 2 very fast skinners. Eventually I put some clothes back on as we got closer to the summit and some great views (I imagine they would have been great views if we hadn’t been socked in, crazy weather!).
getting dressed “Photo: Patrick Allen”We reached the summit ate some lunch met a MIT graduate from 1965 who talked our ears off about the crazy life he leads and then we turned around to ski some lush ski resort trails! Igor and Ernesto had been skiing Cannon since they were Killers age (4) and decided that today was the day to ski Tramline, an epic black diamond that was rarely skiable due to lack of coverage. Doogie, Chicks Rip Too, Irish and Killer were smarter than to follow these 2 onto the boulder laden trail but I of course was not.
The run, while covered with exposed rock and plenty of branches sticking through the snow had tons of fresh snow to rip and plenty of big and small rocks to drop. While Greeley Ponds Slide was a hucking clinic, according to Toma, this run was a combination of great powder skiing and plenty of extra curricular options. We were having too much fun for pictures which you my not appreciate but left more time for us to enjoy the playground we were on.
looking back “Photo: Patrick Allen”At the bottom we all met up at the tram house where we had started that morning. One by one we got back to bottom so we could look back and enjoy the others turns!
The Hurricane “Photo: Patrick Allen”From the base we could see a large cliff band that Ernesto, Igor and I were feigning over! As we marched back for our third run I commented to Enresto, “I don’t think it’s as big as we were saying at the bottom, it looks more like 20 or 30.” “yeah, that’s nothing , you send it first!” “fine, I just need to borrow a helmet.” CRT piped up first “If you want a helmet, you shouldn’t do it.” And the Irish put me in my place! “I’d give you mine but your ego wouldn’t fit inside!!!!!!!!!”
After the ego deflator, Killers crew turned around and the other three headed back to the summit. It was a sick bird day, KAW-KAW!
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