Loon Mtn - South Peak

[Puck it]

Skied Loon yesterday for the first time this year. The new South Peak trail are just okay. The glade trail "Undercut" was not open, but the other trials were just okay. Boom Run was pretty flat. It looks like they are cutting more trails, but it was not worth the slow transfer lift ride. Anybody else have comments? It looks like they could have some decent galdde trails with fairly decent pitch to them though.

 

[thebigo]

I agree the existing trails are nothing special but it looks like there is some potential for decent tree runs on the sides of the trails. I used it for access, it was much easier than dealing with the other lodges despite the annoying transfer lift. Im supirsed they couldnt figure out a way to orient the new area without the transfer lift.

 

[AMAC2233]

"Undercut" was pretty nice, I thought. It was open for a short time in early March. It starts out as a mellow pitch under the chair, which is quite interesting with the branches, stumps, rocks, etc. It then turns off into the woods, a steep descent through tight trees. The middle is nice, but at the end, they "roped it off" so that you have to take a sharp left to aviod what I think was a small brook. I didn't see this at first, and ended up having to hike up and over. I guess that takes out the "natural" idea of glades.

Undercut:

I agree that Boom Run is flat and boring, but Cruiser is okay. It certainly has a nice view of Lincoln.

 

[Vortex]

I like cuiser better than boom run. Reminded me of alot of how Bear peak and attitash come together at the bottom. Snow was real nice Sat am. Very windy. Terrian was very mellow, but i'm ok with that.

 

[Razor]

Skied it last Tuesday. Agree with other comments. Nothing special now, but looks like it has the potential for some real nice glades. First time we skied Loon in over 10 years. A good pass addition for us SR regulars coming up from Mass., especially midweek.

 

[BLESS]

parking at that lodge alone is well worth the lift ride over, as we all know the other lodge is a zoo.

 

[hiroto]

I went there Saturday. I was surprised how big the area really is. Those runs they have currently are pretty long. It is lots of verticals with lots of potentials to expand beyond what they have as "future trails" on the current map.

Big negative is that you simply cannot ski from one area to the other, although riding two way chair lift was new to me and kind of fun. Is it going to be possible to do in the future? The valley in between those peaks looks pretty deep to make that feasible. I wonder if it is possible to make criss crossing trails closer to the peak, but I guess they would have done it already if it is possible to do instead of spending money on horizontal chair-lift.

 

[SnowRider]

I was there Friday and Saturday. for starters conditions were great on Friday powder and packed powder. Cruiser was fun...very long but fun. Boom run was...eh...kinda flat at areas and not to interesting. It has a flat run-out.

PS - My friend and I wore one piece jumpsuits to Loon on Saturday for the Vertical Challenge.

 

[Telemechanic]

Big negative is that you simply cannot ski from one area to the other, although riding two way chair lift was new to me and kind of fun. Is it going to be possible to do in the future? The valley in between those peaks looks pretty deep to make that feasible. I wonder if it is possible to make criss crossing trails closer to the peak, but I guess they would have done it already if it is possible to do instead of spending money on horizontal chair-lift.

The original plans for development on South Mountain, drawn up more than 20 years ago, looked nothing like what is open today. Those plans did include "criss crossing trails" providing skiing to and from each trail pod. A transfer lift was expensive but constructing those trails could have been more expensive and certainly more time consuming. The ravine between Loon Peak and South Peak is steep-sided and building a properly graded trail would've required a lot of cutting and filling. Boom Run and Speakeasy flank the ravine and each sits at the edge of the steep slope. Both took much blasting and cutting to create a grade that followed a single fall line. Speakeasy was also constructed over a two or three year period. Any transfer trails would have to be built farther down into the ravine where construction would be more difficult. Tote Road Quad was a simpler and less instrusive solution. I don't believe there will ever be ski trails to link the two peaks.