Loon 12/30 - <BR> <BR>I awoke Sunday morning feeling a nasty cold coming on... but I rolled out of bed, sucked it up and went skiing. Big mistake, not so much for the oncoming rhino virus, but because of the conditions. They were really abysmal. After some hot tea and cold medicine I headed out to check out the slopes at Loon. My first run occured at an illness delayed 10:30... bodies everywhere, beginners splayed out all over the mountain. Everything was skied off by 10:30. I took about a half a dozen runs down Walking Boss, Sunset, Picked Rock, Flying Fox, and Upper Flume before calling it quits. Far too many people, far too little snow. You might as well forget Loon on the weekend. I'm begining to regret my "Threedom Pass" purchase as I can't make it out skiing too much during the week due to the old job. Weekends at Loon have so far been far too crowded. The Gondy line is far too long and you can't find too much sanctuary anywhere but the Kanc quad, and the Kanc nets you some short runs on very uninteresting terrain. With all the cold temps, they've been relatively slow to add terrain, especially considering that Cannon opened much later and just 20 minutes up 93 is sitting pretty with nearly 100% open. I talked to a ski patroller on the lift who said that they've had to be very judicious with their snowmaking because water levels in the Pemi are very low due to the dry fall. They have most of their blues and greens open, but really nothing to speak of on the more more difficult, but not so challenging blacks. I'm heading up again this weekend, but I may pass on Loon and head to Cannon or - god forbid I say this - Bretton Woods, which a friend skied last weekend and raved about the conditions. I'm thinking about making the pilgramage to the mecca of eastern snow - Jay Peak - the following weekend. This is the first year I've skied Loon, I've done most of my skiing in the Mt. Washington Valley, Attitash and Wildcat... I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has skied at Attitash so far this year. I'm anxiously awaiting my new digital camera, so I'll have some pics for future reports... let's hope this upcoming storm brings us a long awaited dumping.
