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Tale of 2 different days. Cannon 4/6/2019: 35-45 degrees. 1-3" of snow overnight. Ceiling at about mid-mountain. Showed up first thing in the AM very skeptical about conditions for the day. I was fully ready for a one-and-done. Met @ABV and @fcksummer at the Zoomer bar (turns out @Smellytele was parked right behind us also). We grabbed opening bell on the Zoomer chair while the groomers were still working there way down the Front Five. Following our usual routine we took a warm up lap on Gary's. The first turn was tentative with no sense of how firm or soft it would be. It was soft! Very fast carveable granular corduroy! Nice, that works! It felt good underfoot and put the pedal down. At the last roller on Gary's the groomers had apparently taken a hard right over to Rocket because they left a good bit of lower Gary's ungroomed. Hitting the fresh layer of new snow was like riding into a fly trap. I went from 40 to 5 MPH in a split second and almost swallowed my knees. That was the lesson learned and we adapted from there. Knowing that was what we had to work with we adjusted our technique accordingly and took off to explore the rest of the mountain. Basically it was the same everywhere, really good if you were on your toes (well actually on your heels). Upper mountain glades were filled in and we found untracked pretty much all day (lower mtn glades are toast). We took a short break to participate in Cannon's Passholder appreciation day. WOW they really pulled out all the stops!! Once your fished your cold hamburger patty out of the bucket you could put it on your cold bun. Then you had the option of manhandling the block of american cheese to rip yourself off a slice that every other passholder had already pawed over. If you brought your own ketchup you could even add that! Unencumbered by full bellies we decided to go for a hike. Visibility up top was pretty rough. Staying in the trees helped a lot. We eventually opted for a Saddle run and more trees. Honestly, it's not as bad as it looks! It turned out to be far better day than I expected it we made it a long one. Sunday River 4/7/2019: 45-55 degrees. Sunny. Corn and slush. On the drive over to Sunday River the clouds were thick and dark. I was getting bummed out that we STILL weren't going to get a decent spring day. But by 10am the sun started breaking through and it got hot fast! The snow softened right up. The coverage is still amazing. Trails are edge to edge with virtually no bare spots and woods are still mostly all in play. We mostly opted for some classic spring bumps, with Shockwave being the mogul standout that it's known for. SR and even Cannon should be holding snow for a long time to come even after they shut down for 2019.

Got on the mountain at about 9:05. The mountain was reporting 12" of snow from the get go, but it felt more like 8-10." It unfortunately started sleeting almost as soon as the mountain opened and the powder was quickly covered with a thin, but nevertheless annoying crust. What was underneath the crust was actually quite light at first though. After about an hour of sleet, it changed back to snow at 10ish and snowed pretty consistently until about noontime when the sun came out. The afternoon had some snow melt in the sun, but stayed super comfortable. The crust all but disappeared once the sun came out or a few skiers went down a trail, so it had very minimal impact on my day. The snow in Jordan was the best. Skied Caramba, Wizards Gulch, Poppy Fields, Flying Monkey, Ruby Palace, and skier's right of Tin Woodsman. As the sun came out in the afternoon, I went back east to hit up Barker, Spruce, and eventually White Cap. Pretty much everything was skiable, though Shockwave never officially opened and Agony occasionally had some nasty ice mounds about the size of a go kart. Runs of the day were an early morning Caramba, Celestial, the top half of Spruce Cliffs (the bottom was the usual mess), and Aftershock (i.e. anything up high). Overall I hit almost no rocks or even stumps. Any scraping sound was some nasty glare ice on top of a rock, but even that was few and far between except in the obvious places. Barring a huge meltdown, they'll have excellent coverage for weeks to come. North Woods: Top of Spruce Cliffs Bottom of Spruce Cliffs A random smattering of Barker glades:

Is this the return of the frequent skier card? Looks like it.

Caught this email, seemed like a solid deal. TICKETS STARTING AT: Lift tickets for every day of the 2018-19 winter season are on sale through August 3 at unprecedented rates. Pick your dates, buy your tickets now, and save big. Sale ends Friday, August 3 at midnight.

Having a discussion with my son (who knows everything?) and was trying to figure out how I could have a slope of 28 on White Heat at Sunday River and a slope of 27 somewhere at Wildcat today. Any ideas?

https://buy.sundayriver.com/ecomm/shop/calendar/6529668/en-US/?productcategoryid=1058&days=1&utm_campaign=nh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sunriv&spMailingID=32911235&spUserID=NjQ0ODk2MDkxMzM3S0&spJobID=1220382982&spReportId=MTIyMDM4Mjk4MgS2

Sunday River has tickets on sale for NH residents for Tues and Wed of NH vacation week. $49.00 Considering making a trip but am hesitant because of the possibly large crowds. Anyone been there on NH vacation week in the past that can give me an idea of crowd size?

Hey y'all! I'll be up at the River this upcoming Sat-Tues. Its my first visit there and I'm wondering if you all have any recommendations for getting around the place, which peaks might be more challenging/fun/less crowded than the others, or something as simple as terrible lifts that should be avoided if they bring you to so-so terrain. I doubt trees will be open, but looks like it might snow on Sunday/Monday so maybe theres a chance if there was blow over from snow making to set a base. I'm capable of skiing just about anything, no real worries in regards to ability level for your suggestions on and off trail. Also interested in which bars are fun (aside from Foggy Goggle) on and off the mountain. Thank you lots in advance- and if you'll be out there and want to meet up for some turns, post up and I'll make the time!

Heading to SR on Thursday for 4 days of skiing with friends. We’ve made this an annual trip for about five years but have never been on a weekend. We usually head to the Foggy Goggle after a day of skiing and the place is empty. After a few drinks, head back to our condo, swim in an outdoor pool and head out to dinner. Two questions. One, what are the crowds on like on the mountain on Sat and Sun, and 2, where should we go to experience some lively apres?

A place for everyone to talk about our favorite Maine resort! I'll be up there Friday through Sunday after Thanksgiving. Anyone have any idea how the conditions are so far this season?

Went to Sunday River for the first time this season. Didn't get a super early start because of the forecasted rain and rolled in around 11:00. If anyone was there earlier in the day, they sure were gone by 11! I parked in the second row at Barker and there were tons of spots open farther down. On the drive up and even when I first got in the lot it was on and off pouring, but by the time I got on the hill the rain had more or less subsided! Even got to see a nice little rainbow from cascades: Right Stuff, Punch, T2, Cascades, and Ectasy were all open off Barker/Locke. Cascades was ungroomed whales, but skied about the same as everything else once it got full of water. Snow was a dense slush that carved like butter until about 2:00 when the temperature dropped another 5 or so degrees and everything started to freeze up. It felt like an early spring morning at 2:30 in the afternoon. Wind shut the mountain down about 30 minutes early just after 3. Snowmaking returns tonight and they should be able to come close to doubling their terrain for next weekend. Lazy River, Monday Mourning, and South Ridge have decent amounts of snow made already.

Sunday River released a new season pass this morning. They're calling it the Kickstarter pass. It is good from opening day until December 24th. At $159 it is not a bad deal IMO (Though not a good enough deal to put in the Skiing on the Cheap Calendar/Thread). Could be especially useful for those in NH and ME who are passholders at mountains who do not open up until the first weekend in December. SR appears to really be pushing the specialized season pass product lately. Last year they had an April pass, this year the Holiday pass, and now this. They also are trying really hard to show everyone their commitment to early season again after last year's incredibly (for them) late opening. http://www.sundayriver.com/winter/tickets-and-passes/season-passes/kickstarter-pass

Why wait until 4th of July when you've got this caliber fireworks! http://www.wcvb.com/article/boom-ski-resort-shares-video-setting-off-explosives/10214542