Great news from Mittersill

[Frankontour]

From a staff member of Cannon :

The 7 new trails are NOT on the lower part of Mittersill. It will be a while before that area is utilized. The top of Mittersill is on Federal land and Cannon backed out of the necessary Land Swap due to the ballooning requirements that were being pushed. The Feds started with requireing an Environmental Impact statement on just the affected land. Then they decided they needed to include the whole ski area, then the whole State Park, and finally the whole Notch. Cannon could not afford to finance that size EIS and backed out. They can develop the lower section of Mittersill which is now a part of the ski area but it is probably not as high a priority as when they could put a lift to the top.

For the other news of the area + pics, you can visit

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus/messages/2508/2604.html?1059826167

(see the 2 Cannon pics at the bottom of the page to spot the article)

[SkiStooge]

Thank God! I was afraid the merger was getting close for a while. I LIKE the Mittersill trips I make each year without paying to do it (or it being lift served). Thanks for the info Frank. Have fun, be safe. Al :skistooge:

[Frankontour]

It's a pleasure, Stoogie :)

It's a real good thing that volunteers (I imagine) clear the slopes during fall, cause if not, it would be unskiable since decades. Just here, I'm once again back from la Réserve and on the "Stéphane Rochon" trail, there is already some trees of ±10' high everywhere. It's impossible to hike it in most of places. Just 2 years... imagine Mittersill closed since the 80s.

Finally, I think I hiked more today than if I did Mt Washington from Pinkham Notch to the top. (3 ski areas + a brand new altimeter = long day !)

[Lftgly]

I'll second that, skistooge. If we all continue to pray, maybe Mittersill will remain the gem it has become.

If the State ever gets the OK to go ahead and develop the upper part of Mittersill, the SnowEngineering development plan has them bulldozing a 40 foot wide trail down the ridgeline, obliterating the 'BunnyDirect' glade. They'll wreak all kinds of havoc over there, if the Feds let 'em.

[Frankontour]

I think we should start an organism for the maintenance of the interesting lost ski areas. There is already NELSAP who do a great job in New England for study and locate the lost ski areas, but doing an organism, we could join the owners of the lands of lost ski areas and ask them if it's possible to do maintenance of the old trails to ski them during winter. It would just be for the interesting lost ski areas of course (and the interesting trails into them), but this could be pretty cool.

Actually, in the lost ski areas, I know there is serious maintenance done in Mittersill and Mt Plante and Mt Christie, in Quebec. Those ones are quite smaller than Mittersill, but they offer some really great steeeep turns.

There is also some real big lost ski areas which would be cool to ski back. Like Mt Écho (1500' high) just beside Mt Sutton, but it may be closed for too long to be "reopened" (25 years !). Of course nothing could beat a ski area like Mittersill where we can just hike a little bit from Cannon to reach the top of the lost trails.

[RR]

I have several bow saws and my Gramps hudson's Bay axe.....hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink

[Bannick]

I hate to be a pesimist but insurance will probably put an end to that pretty quick. Most people don't knowingly want to let you onto their land especially if it for something like riding. The best way would be to clear them at night kinda like crop circles. Wake up in the morning and voila cleared trails. They make silent chainsaws right?? If not I can get some highly trained attack beavers from the Men With Brooms handlers.

B :snowboarding:

[Frankontour]

I vote for the beavers !!

actually, a good trick used in the ski areas are the goats, but I guess they're better for grass than for growing little trees ;)

I admit the fu**** insurances are a problem. Even though we would simply buy a lost ski area, we should pay some insurances in case there is an accident...... and there is generally a problem when you don't have no revenues, but expenses ! The only way would have to pay a cotisation to be part of the club :) In fact, when we're arrived there, we're better to just build a private ski area for the real junkies like us :)

Damn the life is complicated !!