Read skier and snowboarder-submitted reviews on Cannon Mountain that rank the ski resort and mountain town on a scale of one to five stars for attributes such as terrain, nightlife and family friendliness. See how Cannon Mountain stacks up in the reviews, on and off the slopes, from skiing and family activities to the après scene. Read up on pros, cons and other comments in reviews left by fellow skiers and riders. Don't forget to submit your own Cannon Mountain review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your skiing and resort experience.
Reviews for Cannon Mountain
Total (3.1)
A ski resort's overall star rating displayed here is not calculated based on a simple average but takes several factors, including the age of a review, into account.
I love skiing Cannon! It was an amazing place to develop my skiing technique and really grow from being a beginner/intermediate to an advanced skier. There are lots of natural-ish trails, such as Vista Way, with gorgeous views. And challenging blacks.
Sometimes I feel they’re too conservative with opening trails and glades (mid-mountain Bypass was still closed on closing weekend even though there was fresh pow and great conditions). Would also be nice to have more meandering greens from the top, or advanced terrain in other areas. In terms of icing though, I’m sure that conservative trail opening has helped, since I’ve never found Cannon as icy as Waterville Valley. I almost think that icy cannon reputation is old and no longer warranted.
Overall, incredible mountain that I will be sure to visit for years and years!
Jim Hunt
We love Cannon. A skiers mountain without the big crowds and fuss of other resorts. Great when there’s fresh snow. Can be a bit cold and icy when there’s not enough natural snow. Overall, one of our favorites.
Bob H
I ski Cannon quite a bit. I love the steep terrain. It's a ton of fun. The grooming this season has been good. However the last few weeks they have been really skimping in that area. Some trails aren't groomed for days and others have a tiny strip 25% groomed, with 75% ungroomed. People always talk a big game about how they love un groomed pow, that's a load of BS. 99% of the traffic is on the groomed areas and it gets skied up in an hour because they do not groom enough terrain.
Dude Nice
I am 39 years old, I live in NH and learned to ski last year.
I'm on my second season now, and I have spent a lot of time at Bretton Woods, and gotten a feel for many other local ski resorts. Cannon has been on my radar, but up until yesterday, I avoided out of fear. Like all the reviews here have stated, this is a no frills place, but what does that mean really? At the end of the day, this place is all about the SKIING.
The best way I can describe it, skiing at a resort feels like a leisure activity, skiing at Cannon is like going to the gym.
That being said, could you come here as a beginner? ABOSLUTELY!
The learner's area is unmatched, here's the catch: those that know their limits will be rewarded, those that try to advance too soon will be punished. Everybody learns at their own pace, but I can't imagine I would have been able to manage coming down from the main lifts without becoming comfortable skiing parallel down blues everywhere else. I have always scoffed at the comment, "the greens are blues!", but here it's actually true.
The runs are incredible, the snowmaking impressive, and the views are spectacular - on the weekend, you have the place to yourself.
There's history here, there's grit and a get down to business attitude. You can feel it, this is the place where legends were built.
For practice, I can think of no better NH mountain than Cannon. Bretton Woods has the comfort, the luxury, and that has it's place, but I'll save that for trips with others. Cannon will now be my practice mountain for the foreseeable future.
Greg Kellogg
East Coast and New Hampshire. Where is all this mythical powder that other reviewers are lamenting the "over-grooming" of? Cannon can get icy and it needs grooming to keep the mortality rate down. It offers tiny crowds at mid-week and reasonable ones on the weekend; beginner terrain where I can leave my not-a-skier wife; windy, narrow, steep trails with spectacular views; and an old-school state park vibe like where I learned to ski 50 years ago. I love Cannon.
Kurt Morgenstern
I skied Cannon for many years up to 2019/2020, including before the Mittersil chair, snow making and grooming. Not to mention, the elimination of the best free ski run in NH, currently called Baron's (total ice slick). The place is totally overgroomed and any powder runs are closed and accessible only to the local good boys club, so ducking ropes becomes the norm to get pow turns. I currently ski Arapahoe Basin 3 days a week which is ungroomed and totally wild extreme skiing. Yes, they drop ropes and encourage you to help make pow tracks to mark routes on the steeps. Cannon was among several NE ski areas that promoted natural snow conditions but has become another Loon except with a racer crowd attitude. Remember, Bodie learned on the old Cannon, wild and ungroomed! I have lots of fun memories of Cannon but am thrilled to be done with the place. Enjoy and get good at skiing the 1ft edges to find any soft turns. Otherwise, bring ice skates and pretend to be Bodie.
Craig
The "Living Legend" is an appropriate name. A true skiers mountain. No glitz and glam, just a pure skiing experience on one of the East's most dramatic ski mountains.
Learn ToTurn
Cannon is classic. It has an old New England feel, a skier's mountain. No hype. NO CONDOS!!!! People go to Cannon to SKI. It doesn't have as much terrain as the really big New England resorts but it has something for everyone. I don't know if I could spend five days in a row there but whenever I go out for a one-day trip it's always Cannon. And when they have enough snow to get most of the trails up -- Middle Hardscrabble, the glades at Mitterskill, Vista, the glades off Zoomer, etc. an advanced skier can have an absolute blast.
It's run by the State of NH. Despite being somewhat of a libertarian, I have to say I find it extremely refreshing having a ski area run like a state park where they are just trying to break even and provide recreation for the population instead trying to make take every last $ from you and make money selling and reselling condos.
Kseez73
The crowds are almost always thinned out by Waterville and Loon. Also the mountain doesn’t have condos or hotels very near which also helps with crowds. After a storm there are few mountains in the Northeast that can compare to Cannon; it’s as tough as you want it to be. True skiers mountain with very little frills.
Anna Senczuk
Went there yesterday- very icy and you may still have a good day there if you didn't hit Zoomer chair in the afternoon. Three skiers and myself fell across 60-80 yard long rough ice.I fell as I stopped and tumbled all the way down. Very dangerous, I'm all bruised and in pain but very happy I didn't hit the trees. When I complained to the ski patrol that they should mark a huge ice patch like that (in shade, not visible from a distance), I was told this was black diamond, so this is expected...
Ha, that doesn't fit with most resorts I've been to definition of black diamond run.
Well, after all those falls I haven't seen anyone on that trail, the chair was running empty for the rest of the day.
I'm very disappointed, they have great runs but with lack of danger markings a very unsafe place, unless you are looking to stay on greens.
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