WJenness
Active member
Date(s) Skied: 2/9/2008
Resort or Ski Area: Loon Mountain
Conditions: Packed Powder, skied mostly groomers all day, great shape
Trip Report: Skied bell to bell at Loon today. Snow was great all day everywhere. Some scraped off spots at the end of the day, but for the most part, it was awesome.
My girlfriend and I went up there because she wanted to take some pictures for an art project.
The crowds were pretty nuts (lift lines got crazy at times) but we did a decent job avoiding them. We started at 8AM and hopped on the Gondola... skied down to the North Peak quad, lapped that for a little while (Flume and Walking Boss were awesome), and then went over to South Peak. Did two runs on cruiser and two on Boom run, then came back over to the main mountain and skied for a while before hitting an early lunch (about 10:30) at Camp III. Took a nice break, and then went back out skiing while everyone else was eating lunch.
At one point durnig a run down a gentle green cruiser, I decided to play in the woods (not something I have done in the past). I saw a couple boarders skiing a line in the woods and followed them for a bit... It got to the point where we had to hike back out as the line ended abruptly in a plunge down to a stream. It was fun but I'll choose my line more carefully next time.
A nice thing that the lifties were doing today was there was a chalk board at every lift, and they had approx wait times for all the major lifts (Gondola, Kanc quad, North Peak Quad, South Peak Quad) so you could plan where to go and not have to waste time in lines. Utilizing these boards, timely breaks, and some general Loon traffic flow knowledge, our longest lift wait was about 10 minutes. Not too bad when the gondola had a posted wait time of an hour and a half(!!!) at one point. We avoided the gondola after our first lift ride at 8AM (7 brothers lift whenever we ended up back at the gondola base), and that seems to be the biggest secret to survive the crowds at loon.
It was snowing for the last hour or so we were sking, and continued even as we were leaving Lincoln. Unfortunately we couldn't stick around to ski tomorrow.
If you're looking for a place to go tomorrow, Loon is a good bet. Conditions were great today and as long as you know how to avoid the crowds, it can be done.
-w
Resort or Ski Area: Loon Mountain
Conditions: Packed Powder, skied mostly groomers all day, great shape
Trip Report: Skied bell to bell at Loon today. Snow was great all day everywhere. Some scraped off spots at the end of the day, but for the most part, it was awesome.
My girlfriend and I went up there because she wanted to take some pictures for an art project.
The crowds were pretty nuts (lift lines got crazy at times) but we did a decent job avoiding them. We started at 8AM and hopped on the Gondola... skied down to the North Peak quad, lapped that for a little while (Flume and Walking Boss were awesome), and then went over to South Peak. Did two runs on cruiser and two on Boom run, then came back over to the main mountain and skied for a while before hitting an early lunch (about 10:30) at Camp III. Took a nice break, and then went back out skiing while everyone else was eating lunch.
At one point durnig a run down a gentle green cruiser, I decided to play in the woods (not something I have done in the past). I saw a couple boarders skiing a line in the woods and followed them for a bit... It got to the point where we had to hike back out as the line ended abruptly in a plunge down to a stream. It was fun but I'll choose my line more carefully next time.
A nice thing that the lifties were doing today was there was a chalk board at every lift, and they had approx wait times for all the major lifts (Gondola, Kanc quad, North Peak Quad, South Peak Quad) so you could plan where to go and not have to waste time in lines. Utilizing these boards, timely breaks, and some general Loon traffic flow knowledge, our longest lift wait was about 10 minutes. Not too bad when the gondola had a posted wait time of an hour and a half(!!!) at one point. We avoided the gondola after our first lift ride at 8AM (7 brothers lift whenever we ended up back at the gondola base), and that seems to be the biggest secret to survive the crowds at loon.
It was snowing for the last hour or so we were sking, and continued even as we were leaving Lincoln. Unfortunately we couldn't stick around to ski tomorrow.
If you're looking for a place to go tomorrow, Loon is a good bet. Conditions were great today and as long as you know how to avoid the crowds, it can be done.
-w
