WWF-VT
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: 02/13/2012
Resort or Ski Area: Loon
Conditions: Groomed loose granular, frozen granular , cloudy in the morning , sunny and mid 20’s in the afternoon
Trip Report: I had not skied at Loon in 10+years and took advantage of a free ticket. I recall that Loon is mobbed on weekends so I was happy to be able to ski on open slopes with no lift lines all day on a very quiet Monday. Loon takes pride in making a helluva lot of snow an then grooming that snow into a totally ego boosting corduroy. Monday was no exception as the primary surface was loose granular with minimal ice under foot. We probably skied 40 of the 51 open trails. intentionally skipping Upper Flume that had a visible “shiny” surface from the lift. Without any crowds the mountain is very easy to navigate and most all of the trails’ snow cover held up well all day. We even skied through the well built terrain park with a half pipe that was basically empty all day.
The good news was that everything skied well but as others have commented about Loon – it all skies pretty much the same. There are a few narrower trails with some character but most everything is a groomed boulevard that in my opinion results in people skiing faster than their ability - but they can impress their friends at the end of the day with stories of ripping down “black diamond” trails. From what I can tell there are no natural snow trails on the mountain and the only moguls I saw was a line that was cut on Lower Flume. After lunch we went to the South Peak area which has just been opened in the last year or so. There’s nothing there to get too excited about. Cruiser has a little bit of a pitch at the top but would be classified as a green trail at most other mountains. Boom Run is a long cruiser that once again is more boring than challenging. The biggest challenge for the “double black” diamond trail Ripsaw is that they cut it way too wide so snow blows off and the steepest face was a sheet of ice. Twitcher and Jobber were two “meh” trails that skied the same – nice but no character at all. I realize that Loon does not get the natural snow of other mountains and is not known for its challenge but they could have cut the trails narrower, maybe left a few rocks and trees and skip some grooming so there are a few runs that are distinguished from the rest of the mountain. Overall it was a good day. I was pleased to visit a mountain that I had not skied in years and if given another day off work and a free ticket I would likely visit again.
Resort or Ski Area: Loon
Conditions: Groomed loose granular, frozen granular , cloudy in the morning , sunny and mid 20’s in the afternoon
Trip Report: I had not skied at Loon in 10+years and took advantage of a free ticket. I recall that Loon is mobbed on weekends so I was happy to be able to ski on open slopes with no lift lines all day on a very quiet Monday. Loon takes pride in making a helluva lot of snow an then grooming that snow into a totally ego boosting corduroy. Monday was no exception as the primary surface was loose granular with minimal ice under foot. We probably skied 40 of the 51 open trails. intentionally skipping Upper Flume that had a visible “shiny” surface from the lift. Without any crowds the mountain is very easy to navigate and most all of the trails’ snow cover held up well all day. We even skied through the well built terrain park with a half pipe that was basically empty all day.
The good news was that everything skied well but as others have commented about Loon – it all skies pretty much the same. There are a few narrower trails with some character but most everything is a groomed boulevard that in my opinion results in people skiing faster than their ability - but they can impress their friends at the end of the day with stories of ripping down “black diamond” trails. From what I can tell there are no natural snow trails on the mountain and the only moguls I saw was a line that was cut on Lower Flume. After lunch we went to the South Peak area which has just been opened in the last year or so. There’s nothing there to get too excited about. Cruiser has a little bit of a pitch at the top but would be classified as a green trail at most other mountains. Boom Run is a long cruiser that once again is more boring than challenging. The biggest challenge for the “double black” diamond trail Ripsaw is that they cut it way too wide so snow blows off and the steepest face was a sheet of ice. Twitcher and Jobber were two “meh” trails that skied the same – nice but no character at all. I realize that Loon does not get the natural snow of other mountains and is not known for its challenge but they could have cut the trails narrower, maybe left a few rocks and trees and skip some grooming so there are a few runs that are distinguished from the rest of the mountain. Overall it was a good day. I was pleased to visit a mountain that I had not skied in years and if given another day off work and a free ticket I would likely visit again.
