Mountain Ops Update 2/9/12
By Katelyn Krumperman
From the words of Ralph Lewis, Director of Skiing Operations
Snowmaking will continue into mid February and then we’ll reevaluate and see what the weather is doing. At this point, all snowmaking terrain is open and our main focus right now is to resurface all open terrain and concentrate on grooming.
One of the biggest challenges we have had this winter is dealing with the rain that has been a reoccurance. Fortunately, the rain storms have been followed by cold temperatures so we have been able to recover very quickly.
On the hill, we will be building more moguls, concentrate on getting all of our parks open, and opening a mini-pipe on the West Side. The new trails on South Mountain are very popular and we couldn’t be more pleased with how they came out.
We are looking forward to Fluorescent Nights during February vacation and hoping for more snow in these last couple of months of the season.
Better Late Than Never 1.13.12
By Katelyn Krumperman
You know the saying, ‘Good things come to those who wait?’ Well good things finally came our way. On Thursday, January 12 we picked up 4-6 inches of snow. Yes, SNOW, you know, that white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky and makes everyone smile? And today, even though it was a rocky start, we have picked up two inches of snow so far and it’s still coming down as I type.
Yesterday was a great day on the hill. Check out this video that we shot. It was fresh tracks, and fresh snow all day long!
Thanks to our amazing high efficient Low-E HKD tower snow guns, our fabulous snowmaking and grooming team have been working around the clock as temperatures allow to resurface and open more terrain. More terrain is expected to open tomorrow and we expect to have 97% of our total trail acreage open for the long weekend. I think that’s pretty amazing considering the winter we have had so far. With 50 trails, 322 acres, and over 24 miles of skiing and riding for all abilities where else would you want to be to celebrate Independence Weekend at Loon Mountain.
This is a big weekend for us and we want our guests to have a good time and stay safe. Be sure to check out all the events going on this Independence Weekend. And in conjunction with Independence Weekend, NSAA Safety Week starts tomorrow and lasts until Sunday, January 22. From Free Ski & Snowboard Tips, to helmet demos, and Cash Cabin, Loon Mountain’s Safety Week is sure to blow your socks off. Stop by the Safety Week Headquarters Tent by The Shred Shed to see what we have planned during Safety Week.
Enjoy the long weekend of skiing, watching football, and staying safe. We’ll see you on the hill.
A Word from the Slopes 12.28.11
From the words of Ralph Lewis, Director of Skiing Operations
After the 1.1 inches of rain that we received last night, we are anxiously awaiting for temperatures to drop this afternoon in order resume snowmaking. We will resurface all open terrain for the next two nights as well as opening additional terrain tomorrow. We will work on opening the remainder of the trails after resurfacing on existing terrain is finished. As long as snowmaking temperatures remain, we will be making snow around the clock.
We are very fortunate to have great conditions and a significant amount of our terrain open at this point. This is all possible because of our snowmaking and grooming team and the investment Loon has made to our snowmaking infrastructure.
Until next week …
What’s New at Loon this Winter
By Katelyn Krumperman
I am sure you are all dying to know what is in store for you this winter at Loon Mountain, right? Well, I’m here to tell you what’s new at Loon Mountain this winter.
After investing $20 million in the past five years to add more terrain, uphill capacity and state-of-the-art snowmaking & grooming technology, Loon Mountain continues its committment to providing a great guest experience in 2011-2012.
This season, a capitol investment of $1.4 million went toward 170 new, highly efficient tower guns, and the opening of four new trails – Upper and Lower Twitcher and Jobber – on South Peak, which adds another 16.5 acres of terrain and Dropline. Both trails on South Peak are derived from the logging heritage.
The Burton Progression Park finds a home on Dropline (1 acre), another new trail located at the lower part of Grand Junction. The Burton Progression Park is a great place for new park riders and skiers to become comfortable with park riding and etiquette and Dropline will be the perfect home for it.
Joining the fleet of groomers, another new grooming machine, the Prinoth Bison-X, will join the team in December.
Weather permitting, we will be ready to start making snow on November 1st and we plan to open in early to mid-November. Stay tuned for more exciting news from Loon Mountain and Think Snow! It’s that time of year again.
UPDATE: New Trails!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
By Katelyn Krumperman
August 4, 2011
Hi there! How are you? Many of you are probably wondering what the status is on our new trails; Twitcher, Jobber, and Dropline. Well, I am here to tell you about our progress.
On May 1st, we started working on Twitcher and Jobber on South Peak. As of right now, all blasting has been completed on steeper pitches. The snowmaking pipe is in place and has been welded and green grass is evident on 90% of the trails! The tower posts for the tower guns are in place as well.
“We are extremely pleased with how both [expert] trails came out,” said Ralph Lewis, Director of Mountain Operations. “It is great fall line skiing.”
NEW: You are probably wondering where and what Dropline is, right? Well the Burton Progression Park that used to be located on Little Sister has been moved to our new trail, Dropline. Moving the Burton Progression Park to Dropline will open more terrain for beginner lessons on Little Sister.
“We started working on Dropline in the middle of July,” said Jay Scambio, Boyne Resorts Terrain Park Development Manager. “We are almost done building the trail. We are just waiting for green grass and snowmaking to go in but everything else looks great.”
Stay tuned for more updates on our trail progress!
4/2/11 Mountain Operations Update
By Ralph Lewis
Director of Skiing Operations
Loon Mountain
With the weather changing, we have been very fortunate to have cold nights and nice days that have provided great skiing surfaces over the past two weeks at Loon Mountain.
We have had very little loss of snow coverage due to the unseasonable cold temperatures. South Peak will be closing for the season after this weekend. The closing of South Peak will effect ticket prices.
Our closing date, will be Sunday April, 17th. We are very thankful for a great season and we are looking forward to a busy summer.
Mountain Operations Update 3/6/11
We had two great vacation weeks here at Loon Mountain. We had good conditions throughout both vacation weeks. In the beginning of the first week the weather was unpredictable but got nicer as teh week went on. All of our guest enjoyed their enjoyed. During New Hampshire vacation week we had fantastic skiing weather. It’s hard to believe we are already in week one of March and the weather seems to be changing. Due to all the natural snow fall we are not too concerned about coverage lasting well into the spring. At this point we won’t be making anymore snow however grooming will continue night after night in order to provide consistent snow covereage. Enjoy the conditions!
Ralph Lewis, Director of Skiing Operations
Ski and Snowboard Quick Tips: Mastering the Bumps
Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent survey, asking Loon skiers and snowboarders your biggest barriers to improving your on-hill moves. Based on your feedback, we’re launching a new series with quick ski and snowboard tips to address your biggest challenges to improvement, and we’re starting with the most-requested topic – mastering bump skiing.
The bumps are really starting to build, and Loon Mountain has some of the best mogul skiing among New Hampshire ski resorts. Skiing moguls can add a new dimension (bumpy one, that is) to your day on the slopes. Try these quick tips that will introduce you the techniques needed to master the bumps.
First, find a mogul field or other terrain features to play on. Here at Loon, you can usually find mogul fields on Flume, Rumrunner and Rolling Bear. For first timers, I suggest either the bottom portion of the bumps on Flume or Rumrunner. Both trails have escape routes back to the groomed terrain.
The main focus here is to introduce you to the variable surface while you remain balanced over your feet. Ski over an isolated mogul and practice absorbing the terrain by allowing your ankles, knees, hips, and spine to flex as you ride over the top of the bump. As you continue to the back side of the bump, extend your legs to keep your skis on the ground. Imagine a slinky going down stairs. The slinky will get longer as it goes down to the next step, shorter when it lands.
Traverse the mogul field and, as you go over each bump, absorb (flex) as you go over the top, and lengthen (extend) on the back side of each bump. Turn around and traverse in the other direction.
The next time through, stall out on top of the last mogul (you should be completely flexed), pivot your skis in the new direction, and extend your legs once again on the back side. Congratulations! You have made your first turn in the moguls. Gradually shorten your traverse until you are turning on every bump.
This is just the beginning! There are as many ways to ski the moguls as there are mogul fields. Bump it up with any number of Loon Mountain’s qualified snowsports instructors in either a private ski lesson or in one of our bumps workshops.
See you on the slopes!
Lauren O’Reilly
Technical Director
Loon Mountain Snowsports
Mountain Ops. Update
Hello!
Due to the continued cool weather, we have not had to make snow. We will be watching the weather and keeping a close eye on snow conditions and coverage in order to make a decision on snowmaking this week and the week after next. All lifts and other machinery involved in mountain operations seem to be running well. Enjoy the snow!
- Ralph Lewis, Director of Skiing Operations
Mountain Operations Update
The 428 new tower snow guns have made a tremendous difference in the amount of terrain we were able to open earlier in the season. The new guns use one third the amount of air than our traditional guns and have proven to be a great purchase due to their efficiency. We are so impressed by the new guns that we are planning on purchasing at least 100 more guns for next season.
Our big capitol project this year was purchasing The Beast snow cat which has proven to be a worthwhile purchase as well due to its efficiency. With The Beast we are able to groom almost twice as much terrain compared to our older vehicles with using the same amount of gas.
We haven’t put away the guns yet! Depending on Mother Nature, we will resume snowmaking in the next couple of weeks.
This season we have been very pleased our conditions and with the amount of skiers and riders that have come to visit us here at Loon Mountain. We are looking forward to a great February vacation!
- Ralph Lewis, Director of Skiing Operations
