Loon Mountain 3-20-12

[Ride Delaware ?]

I've been in desperate need of a new pair of boots for awhile, and with the comfort of the boots being paramount, I prefer to buy my boots in person instea of online. That being said, we only have one shop selling boots at Sunday River, and nothing With high end performance, so I decided that on my day off I would drive to Loon where there are several shops. I didn't want to waste a day on the mountain, so I woke up on my normal work schedule and was on the road at 7:15. I made good time and arrived in the lot at 8:39. I drove over the temporary bridge that was in place since Irene wiped out the real bridge, and I was pleased. It's not nearly as wide, but it is wide enough and is asphalt, so it works just fine. It was 46 degrees when I arrived, and knowing the temp was to be in the mid seventies, i only brought under armour and a t-shirt. These warm days have typically meant inversions, so I manned up and decided to just wear the T until it warmed up, or until I got to the top. I booted up in the lot and headed over to the gondola. I was about 15th in line at 8:55. They started loading at 8:58, and I was 5th cabin (4 person Gondi).

 

The coverage looked pretty good from the Gondola, and it looked like they had still groomed a fair amount of stuff. I took an ungroomed trail, and while it had one spot where it was only 5 ft wide, it also need some time to soften up. I went to the upper east side lift and lapped it for 5 runs before heading to the east side lift for 5 runs. As expected, it was 10 degrees warmer up top. After that I did another 5 runs off the Gondi and then 5 runs in between all three lifts. They were losing a ton of snow, bare spots were growing, and wet spots and ponds were appearing, but it was still a bunch of fun. After 20 runs I decided to leave and head for the shop. It was 77 degrees when I got to the bottom.

 

I left and went to the shop, but they are closed until 2 pm for inventory check. I came to subway to grab a bite to eat and decided to kill some time and write this up. I tried to take some pictures with people in them, but it was pretty dead. I was tenth car in the lot, and there were maybe 50 when I left.

 

Here's the pics:

[OutCold]

Man, a whole winter in Maine and this is the best TR we've gotten. Your TR performance has been a bit of a stoke stomper.

[RootDKJ]

Nice TR. Kinda looks like PA did two weeks ago.

[RidgeRacer]

That bump trail looks sweet.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Ridge Racer

[Ride Delaware ?]

Times two. His road trip reports with afroman were way better.

Afroman has been up twice... Hopefully once more... I'll try for a TR...