speden
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- Joined
- Nov 18, 2008
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- 913
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Conditions: variable snow, overcast, 30's, no wind
Figured I'd close out February with a trip to Loon today. I got an early start, so was in line for the gondola when it opened at 8.
Crowds were pretty moderate today, with many of the lifts ski on for the singles line. Even the gondola wasn't much of a wait in the singles line. The regular lines looked like a ten minute or so wait at the more popular lifts.
Pretty much everything was groomed overnight except maybe some of the black trails. In the morning the trails were sort of frozen granular, but temps were warm today, and the snow softened up quickly. Down low the snow became thick sugar like stuff, not quite slushy, but close. The South Peak trails were a little hard packed in places, while the Loon Peak and North Peak trails were a little softer and had more loose granular on top. Here and there was a little powdery snow, but not much.
The singles line at the gondola suddenly got long around 2pm, so I called it a day. I got spoiled by the light powder in Colorado last week, so today was a good workout for me.
Some pics:
Here's the gondola shortly before opening. I think I rode it about six times today. It's a cosy ride, with four people squeezed in and rubbing knees. Must be nice on cold windy days, but today I was opening the windows.
The Sunset trail as seen from Loon Peak
I think this is looking down Lower Walking Boss in the North Peak area.
This is either Boom Run or Cruiser in the South Peak area.
They are cutting more trails in the South Peak area for next year. Here you can see some cut trees stacked up (probably cut this past summer). They can use more trails over there since there's not a lot to pick from right now.
Here's the steep section of Ripsaw, their new double black diamond trail. It was pretty loaded with people at times, so a lot of people were trying it out.
This is the fixed grip interconnect between South Peak and the main mountain. Having to take this cuts down on the number of people at South Peak, but it's also kind of a hassle. To bad they can't figure out a way to let people ski from one side to the other.
View from Loon Peak
This might be Upper Picked Rock. They have a lot of parallel trails on the main face, and it kind of became a game for me to pick the ones with the fewest people on them. Some of them would be fairly busy while others would be deserted for no apparent reason. At the end of the day I'd say my favorite runs were Upper and Lower Speakeasy (narrow and twisty with few people), and Blue Ox (which could be renamed Blind Spot, because no one seemed to see it and I was the only one on it).
Here's the approach to Blue Ox, over on the right
Figured I'd close out February with a trip to Loon today. I got an early start, so was in line for the gondola when it opened at 8.
Crowds were pretty moderate today, with many of the lifts ski on for the singles line. Even the gondola wasn't much of a wait in the singles line. The regular lines looked like a ten minute or so wait at the more popular lifts.
Pretty much everything was groomed overnight except maybe some of the black trails. In the morning the trails were sort of frozen granular, but temps were warm today, and the snow softened up quickly. Down low the snow became thick sugar like stuff, not quite slushy, but close. The South Peak trails were a little hard packed in places, while the Loon Peak and North Peak trails were a little softer and had more loose granular on top. Here and there was a little powdery snow, but not much.
The singles line at the gondola suddenly got long around 2pm, so I called it a day. I got spoiled by the light powder in Colorado last week, so today was a good workout for me.
Some pics:
Here's the gondola shortly before opening. I think I rode it about six times today. It's a cosy ride, with four people squeezed in and rubbing knees. Must be nice on cold windy days, but today I was opening the windows.
The Sunset trail as seen from Loon Peak
I think this is looking down Lower Walking Boss in the North Peak area.
This is either Boom Run or Cruiser in the South Peak area.
They are cutting more trails in the South Peak area for next year. Here you can see some cut trees stacked up (probably cut this past summer). They can use more trails over there since there's not a lot to pick from right now.
Here's the steep section of Ripsaw, their new double black diamond trail. It was pretty loaded with people at times, so a lot of people were trying it out.
This is the fixed grip interconnect between South Peak and the main mountain. Having to take this cuts down on the number of people at South Peak, but it's also kind of a hassle. To bad they can't figure out a way to let people ski from one side to the other.
View from Loon Peak
This might be Upper Picked Rock. They have a lot of parallel trails on the main face, and it kind of became a game for me to pick the ones with the fewest people on them. Some of them would be fairly busy while others would be deserted for no apparent reason. At the end of the day I'd say my favorite runs were Upper and Lower Speakeasy (narrow and twisty with few people), and Blue Ox (which could be renamed Blind Spot, because no one seemed to see it and I was the only one on it).
Here's the approach to Blue Ox, over on the right
