In the last few years, every day trip I take out of Boston right after a little bit of precip. always starts with encounting one or more SUV rollover incidents. Thursday was no different. 10mph slower gets you there 15-20 minutes later - no big loss, slow down folks! Anyways...
Picked Thursday as it looked to be the most moderate temps of the week, it was a good choice. Parking lot was about 1/3 full. A very enjoyable day - boy, do I love midweek skiing. (I stopped doing weekends years ago at Loon when they had to institute ticket cutoffs because they were over capacity...) Dang! No one told me T-W-R are 2 for 1 adult tickets, and I couldn't find anyone who didn't already have a ticket!
In summary, the conditions far exceeded my expectation, given it was raining a week ago.
Weather was perfect. Temps in the teens, small snow clouds teased all day with unmeasurable bursts of light snow. Sun poked its head thru now and then. It's the first time however I saw the temps actually go down from the high at 10AM.
Lower mountain was fabulous. All manmade, packed powder. Yup, PP. Boy, the snowmaking/grooming team really deserves all the credit. Beginners and lower intermediates will be happy there. Less windy also.
Upper mountain - both north peak and summit, both had their share of scratchy surfaces (walking boss, the "upper" trails, but no ice. Woods/off-piste were closed, just as well.
Upper can best be described as FRGR for a base, loose powder 3-4" on top. No real moguls to be found, the grooming team had its work cutout just keeping the MM snow on the slopes. Having said all that, upper mtn. was entirely edgeable. Lower intermediates and beginners might feel uncomfortable.
Snowmaking is going 7x24 and it really shows. Halfpipe is fully operational. The rain must have frozen it up, it won't melt till June!
Stayed primarily on Blues - I didn't really get to ski the full mountain till 1pm - truth be told, I spent the entire morning running NASTAR race gates! If you've never tried NASTAR, if you can ski down a short intermediate trail without falling, you should try it. It's really a lot of fun and the course at Loon is very well managed, simple to use. Just show up at the top, sign a form and hand over a few bucks. You'll probably walk away with a medal. I've been doing it since 1978!
Best trail of the day was Blue Ox - no one was on it, all powder, perfect.
I haven't been to Loon in a few years, so I was really pleased to see the Camp III lodge. It's really beautiful (and warm on a cold day!)
Had a great day. I'm afraid heavy use weekends could scratch off all the pow, but the low temps may keep people away this w/e.
I may go back with my kids on Monday, especially if they get several more inches, they really need it.
I've always enjoyed Loon's trail system. I stopped going when it just got too crowded for my liking - spending more day trips at Cannon. It's a victim of it's own success. Then again, I'll go back most any weekday. Why have I waited so long?
Well, it's off to light some incense and candles and pray to the snow gods. Lord help us, the cape doesn't need any more snow - we need to get it back up in the mts.
Picked Thursday as it looked to be the most moderate temps of the week, it was a good choice. Parking lot was about 1/3 full. A very enjoyable day - boy, do I love midweek skiing. (I stopped doing weekends years ago at Loon when they had to institute ticket cutoffs because they were over capacity...) Dang! No one told me T-W-R are 2 for 1 adult tickets, and I couldn't find anyone who didn't already have a ticket!
In summary, the conditions far exceeded my expectation, given it was raining a week ago.
Weather was perfect. Temps in the teens, small snow clouds teased all day with unmeasurable bursts of light snow. Sun poked its head thru now and then. It's the first time however I saw the temps actually go down from the high at 10AM.
Lower mountain was fabulous. All manmade, packed powder. Yup, PP. Boy, the snowmaking/grooming team really deserves all the credit. Beginners and lower intermediates will be happy there. Less windy also.
Upper mountain - both north peak and summit, both had their share of scratchy surfaces (walking boss, the "upper" trails, but no ice. Woods/off-piste were closed, just as well.
Upper can best be described as FRGR for a base, loose powder 3-4" on top. No real moguls to be found, the grooming team had its work cutout just keeping the MM snow on the slopes. Having said all that, upper mtn. was entirely edgeable. Lower intermediates and beginners might feel uncomfortable.
Snowmaking is going 7x24 and it really shows. Halfpipe is fully operational. The rain must have frozen it up, it won't melt till June!
Stayed primarily on Blues - I didn't really get to ski the full mountain till 1pm - truth be told, I spent the entire morning running NASTAR race gates! If you've never tried NASTAR, if you can ski down a short intermediate trail without falling, you should try it. It's really a lot of fun and the course at Loon is very well managed, simple to use. Just show up at the top, sign a form and hand over a few bucks. You'll probably walk away with a medal. I've been doing it since 1978!
Best trail of the day was Blue Ox - no one was on it, all powder, perfect.
I haven't been to Loon in a few years, so I was really pleased to see the Camp III lodge. It's really beautiful (and warm on a cold day!)
Had a great day. I'm afraid heavy use weekends could scratch off all the pow, but the low temps may keep people away this w/e.
I may go back with my kids on Monday, especially if they get several more inches, they really need it.
I've always enjoyed Loon's trail system. I stopped going when it just got too crowded for my liking - spending more day trips at Cannon. It's a victim of it's own success. Then again, I'll go back most any weekday. Why have I waited so long?
Well, it's off to light some incense and candles and pray to the snow gods. Lord help us, the cape doesn't need any more snow - we need to get it back up in the mts.
