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What a great day at Loon! Although neither the snow, weather or crowds were ideal, yesterday was one of those ski days I know I’ll remember for a long time.
Loon received about 3 to 4 inches of snow from Friday’s storm, and all open trails except Lower Big Dipper (natural) had been groomed overnight. The snow surface consisted of a few inches of packed powder or loose granular over boilerplate, with the ice patches getting bigger and more numerous as the trails got more skied-off. Steeper trails like Lower Flume and Ripsaw had the most ice by the end of the day while lower-angle trails such as Haul Back didn’t show as much. The photos may not show it well, but believe me, the ice was there!
The weather was cloudy throughout the day, but the clouds began just above the summit of North Peak so the only visibility issue was flat light. Winds were never more than a breeze, temperatures began in the 20s but fell into the teens as the day progressed, and there was a small snow flurry in the late morning. While the views weren’t as extensive as last time I was at Loon, the pleasant winter scenery, both on the mountain and on the drive there, made up for that. Loon’s snowmaking this season has been impressive and I liked that there was a large variety of terrain open, including both narrow and wide trails.
When I arrived at the Governor Adams Lodge, the line for the Kanc 8 looked long and I was worried that crowds would prevent me from getting a lot of runs in - after all, day tickets were sold out for the day. I was happy to be mistaken! The singles line at the Kanc was only a few minutes (although the line as a whole had no one managing it, leading to chairs going up partially filled), while the East Basin Double had only a few chairs’ wait. I skied most of the morning on the East Basin and North Peak lifts; the latter had a minute or two wait in the singles line until noon when it emptied out. I never rode the gondola or went down to the Octagon Lodge base area. By the time I went in for lunch at around 12:50, I had already done 13 runs, more than I was expecting to do in the entire day.
In the afternoon, I headed back to the summit via Kanc 8 and East Basin and then took the Tote Road Quad across to South Peak. Both the Lincoln Express and Tote Road lifts had almost no line. On South Peak I skied all five trails, then headed back to the main area where I did a couple more top-to-bottom runs using Kanc 8/East Basin combo before finishing my day with some laps on the Kanc 8, which no longer had a line. In total I managed 25 runs and over 33,000 feet of vertical, and had one of the largest rushes of “Skier’s High” that I can remember after I finished my skiing for the day.
Yesterday wasn’t notable for being a day of amazing conditions, but instead being a day that greatly surpassed my expectations and was also a fun opportunity to work on my carving skills. Hopefully Loon gets more snow over the next few days so the glades can be opened!
Riding up the Kanc 8
Lower Speakeasy
Riding up the East Basin Double
Flying Fox
The gondola seen from Hannah's Bypass
Angel Street
Haul Back
Upper Flume
Upper Walking Boss
Lower Walking Boss
Upper Speakeasy
Upper Rumrunner
Riding the Tote Road Quad to South Peak
Cruiser
Newly-cut trail for Beginner Area at South Peak
Upper Twitcher
View from South Peak
Ripsaw
Riding up the Lincoln Express
Upper Picked Rock
Last Run on Lower Northstar
