Loon Mountain -1/19/08 & 1/20/08 (Sat/Sun MLK Weekend)

[WJenness]

Date(s) Skied: 1/19/08 & 1/20/08

Resort or Ski Area: Loon Mountain

Conditions: Mainly PP, some Frozen Granular and some ice if you looked hard enough (less hard at the end of the day)

Trip Report: I was looking forward to this trip as the only other time I had been to Loon was last year the first week I had ever been skiing in my life, so now that I have had some time to get my legs under me, I could actually ski the place.

We got up early Saturday morning and caught the 5th or 6th car to the top on the gondola. Skied Exodus to Upper Flying Fox to Crosscut to Basin Street and then did a few laps off of the North Peak quad. Lower Flume and Lower Walking boss were both amazing. The tops of them were nice too, but the bottom half of north peak was really superb all weekend. The exception was the base of Upper flume (right where Haulback cuts across), there was dirt showing through the snow at 8:10 in the morning. I think the way that Haulback cuts across effects the groomers ability to push snow around in that area.

After lapping North Peak we headed down Sunset. Skiers left about half way down Sunset was an inexplicable (windblown?) ice field that could be seen from the gondola. Thankfully I had seen it on the way up and knew to stay to the right. We headed over to the Tote Road Quad to head to South Peak. The south peak trails (Cruiser and Boom Run were open, Undercut was closed) were awesome. The conditions were gorgeous PP the whole way down and I enjoyed the trails. Particularly Cruiser. I think it is my favorite Loon trail at the moment. I really enjoy the terrain and there's a spot about a third of the way down with an amazing view. Check it out if you're at Loon. It's worth it. We lapped South peak for a while and when the line at the base was starting to grow we headed back over to loon peak via the Tote Road Quad (some awesome views from that chair ride). No lines for the Tote Quad in either direction all weekend from what I saw. We decided to head back to the base via Upper Flying Fox, Grand Junction (surprisingly good shape for the amount of traffic it sees), Rolling Bear (no bumps), and Brookway (pretty trail).

The lift lines were getting pretty busy so we decided to take an early lunch (just before 11:00). We ate down in the Octagon lodge and relaxed while keeping an eye on the Seven Brothers chair. When the line for the Seven Brothers chair got short (everyone else eating lunch) we hopped on it. When we skied over, we only had one group in front of us in our line (5 or 6 lines across), so we timed it just right.

Got out of the base and headed over to the Camp III area. Both lifts there (East Basin Double and North Peak Quad) had good sized lines, but they moved along decently. I had to call out a group of about 6 snowboarders that tried to jump the line on the East Basin double though (there is no line manager so it has to be self-policied). After telling them they should relax and wait like everyone else, they backpedaled back into the line without a word...

We lapped that area for a while, and while I don't remember most of what we skied, I do remember being impressed with how the conditions were holding up. I do remember that Angel Street was a little scraped off at the very top, but overall very good. We decided to go check out the west basin as we hadn't been over there all day and took Sunset (still very icy skiers left) -> Bearclaw ext (a bit of a shooting gallery) -> Upper Speakeasy (really nice) -> Upper Rumrunner -> either Coolidge St. or Lower Rumrunner, not sure which. When we got to the base it was about 2:30/2:45 and the line on the Kanc. quad was fairly ridiculous, and we were tired so we decided to call it a day. We took the train back to the Gondola base (a nice touch) and went home to relax.

Sunday we started with the same plan of get up early and ski crowd free for a while. We had a similar approach to the day but modified it by taking breaks after every couple runs as it was really cold (the wind was a killer, I could feel it blowing through my boots on the first run of the day... that was a new experience for me.) The conditions Sunday were better than Saturday and the lines weren't bad at all. After our early lunch strategy we practically skied onto the seven brothers chair and headed for the east basin. Going up the east basin chair and looking below us we decided to give Triple Trouble a shot... there was a thin cover sign but it looked pretty good. I actually survived it pretty well and it was a nice challenge... But they were right about the thin cover. There were fist sized rocks rolling around about half way down the trail and larger rocks poking out of the snow. Sadly, I missed one too few rocks and have a decent gouge in the P-Tex of one of my skis now... oh well. It was a fun trail. At the end of that run, my girlfriend's legs were dead and she decided that she was done.

As it was only 12:15 I decided to make one more run by myself and to do it top to bottom without stopping at all (something we didn't do a whole lot of this weekend as the girlfriend likes to make a couple short stops on each run). I took the gondola up (5 minute wait in the singles line) and skied Harder Way to Picked Rock (upper and lower). I realized how tired I was about half way down lower picked but pushed on through to the bottom. The trail was in great shape top to bottom and I was good and tired by the time I got to the base.

Overall, a great weekend and the Loon crowd avoidance strategy seems to be: Get there early, take one or two gondola rides, but stay away from there after 9:00AM on the weekends and stay away from the base as much as possible. If you end up there, get out via the Seven Brothers chair. As for skiing and avoiding the crowds, with all the people running around I was surprised that the trails weren't more crowded. Staying off of bear claw, bear claw ext., brookway and Lower walking boss seemed to be the secret. Those were the only trails where I felt like I needed to have my head on a swivel.

After skiing we went and took a nap before heading to the Girlfriend's grandparents' house (right in Lincoln) for a turkey dinner and the Pats' game. That was a good way to end the weekend.

And here I am... back at my desk... yawn...

-w

[CosmicDownhill]

Great Report!!! Can't wait to get there Friday!!!!

[davidhowland14]

I was at loon on sunday as well and spent all of the afternoon ripping down picked rock and speakeasy. Maybe I saw you. I thought the conditions were really good, albeit a little hard. Didn't see any of the rocks or thin cover on triple trouble, though. weird.

nice report. I've got pics that i'll post later.

Another excellent two days at Loon. 10-15, medium winds on Sunday, 5-10, high winds on Monday. No crowds (Ski on all day on Monday, except for the gondola) Packed Pow, loose granular, hardpack. Great cover, and a great recovery from the thaw. Every single part of me is tired. I skied the hardest two days of skiing I ever have. My friend and I raced each other down a couple blue cruisers for about 4 hours on sunday. Wicked fast, carveable snow. I'm sad to say I won once and she beat me for the other 4 hours. Nice air off the rollers, good snow everywhere. Hot tub was nice at the end of the day. ;D ;D Best weekend of skiing I've had in a long time and a lot less crowded than I was expecting. Pics to follow as soon as they upload. Damn am I tired. And now I'm looking at a weekends worth of homework at 10:38 PM.

Tote Road Quad to South Peak


Cannon Ridgeline


Tote Road Quad


Nice View from the Lincoln Express HSQ (South Peak)


Base Area for the Kanc Quad


Rockslide (Mt. Flume?)


I've still got a panorama that I need to stitch together. I should be able to get that up during the day tomorrow.