A blast of early-season snow has New England ski areas scrambling to open early, with Cannon Mountain the latest to speed up the start of the season.
Cannon will start top-to-bottom skiing off the Peabody Express Quad and Cannonball Quad this Saturday, Nov. 22, rather than the following Friday as originally planned, thanks in part to more than a foot of snow that has fallen.
The news comes as Mount Washington is likely to have its snowiest November ever and numerous mountains in Vermont have broken snowfall records for this time of year.
Pats Peak in Henniker has scheduled a Dec. 6 opening day with its new quad lift hauling skiers up the mountain, but crews are making snow as fast as possible to potentially open sooner. Above and beyond trail conditions, it can be difficult for ski areas to shift opening dates because they need to get staff and supplies lined up in time.
Crotched Mountain in Francestown and Mount Sunapee Resort have not announced opening dates yet.
Black Mountain in Jackson and Bretton Woods opened their lifts last Saturday to kick off New Hampshire’s season (Black Mountain wants you to know they were earlier by 90 minutes) but the real news has been in Vermont, where snow-laden resorts like Stowe and Jay Peak have been swamped by skiers even before the lifts started running.
Alpine touring skiers reach the top by skinning up the mountain under their own power in contrast to downhill skiers who ride the lifts for more downhill runs. Jay Peak was mobbed by uphill skiers last weekend to the point that it threatened to shut the mountain because of problems, including the fact that ski patrol is not yet operating to help skiers who were injured.