Honestly, I believe they were bred to job share since they were born, what they didn’t know was WHERE they would be honing in on all the skills they have learned in the past 10 years of their existence.  We are insanely lucky to have added such awesome folks to the Loon Mountain Job Share Team—and they’re really good at their “real” jobs in the sales office too!  Talk about a win-win situation!

In the week leading up to vacation week, the Sales Team could be seen in several departments. You may not have even realized that the folks getting you fitted for rental equipment, selling tickets, or even driving the bus, would be serving you lunch – even ringing you up at the cash register for your amazing meal; that’s us – Team Sales.

Last week our days started early – we hosted over 300 students from the UK and Ireland DAILY (as well as our favorite Cardigan Mountain School on this side of the pond).  Andrew was often the one behind the big blue bus driving the international students from their hotel to Loon Mountain for an amazing taste of US skiing and riding.  It was often Adam and Jon greeting the eager students, who then made their way to the rental shop where Jon, Emily, and I would be calling out their names for their pre-set rental equipment for the week.  After the students made their way through the rental shop, they would be greeted again by Adam, who was busy coordinating their lessons with Casey and the amazing Loon Mountain Snowsports Team.  Then they would head out for their two hour morning lesson, and at that time, the Sales Team would retreat back to the office to respond to e-mails, print tickets, and return calls – basically do whatever we could do in the amount of office time we had.  Ironically, one of the biggest Hallmark holidays and one of the record days for engagements fell during this week – Valentines Day.  Adding to the countless e-mails were several excited newly engaged couples who were interested in hosting their mountaintop destination wedding at Loon Mountain.  AWESOME!!!

Following the brief stint spent in the office (and we do apologize for any lag in e-mail response time), we headed directly to the Governors Lodge to man our various stations to help with the lunch rush.  Adam and I posted up at the soup station, Jon was the grill expediter extraordinaire, and Andrew was the guy taking in the money.  It was like a well-oiled machine.  I even got to re-live last season’s pudding cup assembly, pretzel distribution, and fresh-made wrap construction.  Although I did have an opportunity to dabble in assembling salads, the push for macaroni and cheese in a bread bowl was overbearing- so much that even the most accomplished soup person (Adam) couldn’t keep up with the demands.  Needless to say, it was a great change and really nice to be working with our guests on so many different levels of experience at Loon Mountain.  And please don’t worry; we did wash our hands several times after fitting you for boots and BEFORE serving the food…

As we move forward into the coming vacation week, we all have our various tasks and, while our office time is still minimal yet manageable, we are really excited to work with each and every one of our guests on a face-to-face level instead of behind windowless walls.

This week, you will find Jon, Andrew, and Emily selling tickets at either a snowsports desk or a ticket window.  Adam will probably be the one behind the wheel of the big blue bus shuttling you from your hotel to the most amazing skiing and snowboarding conditions in the East, and I’ll be perched at the rental shop selling you excellent (and freshly tuned) rental equipment, tickets, and lessons.  After the morning ticket and rental rush, Adam will still be behind the wheel of the big blue bus, Andrew will be at a register in the Governors Lodge, Emily could be, well, anywhere, and Jon and I will be in the best-kept secret in Loon Mountain dining- Wanagan’s Slopeside Deli.  Jon will be taking your orders and making some of the most intense hot chocolate cups this side of the Mississippi and I’ll be slinging one of the most incredible steak and cheese sandwiches you have ever had.  Please, swing on in and say hi.  If you mention you read this blog, you might even get an extra handful of the most amazing homemade potato chips with your sandwich.   Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

Until next post,

Abby Guinan
Sales Manager

This past Thursday was one for the record books.  Thanks to Mother Nature and Austen Hannis, the Cardigan Mountain School Ski Day was choreographed to perfection.  Sunny skies, 40 degree temperatures, and 200 of the most well-behaved boys on the planet descended on Loon Mountain in nine buses- and within 30 minutes of arrival, they were all issued lift tickets, rentals, and sent on their merry way to make memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.

At 9:01 p.m. last night, the Cardigan Mountain School Headmaster sent out an e-mail to all students- the date of the ski holiday that is a tradition of both Cardigan Mountain School and Loon Mountain was announced.  However, in an attempt to throw the students off, the Headmaster started his e-mail video stating that due to lack of snow, the annual ski day would be cancelled.
Shortly after that statement, he revealed that Loon Mountain still had plenty of snow to host the ski holiday. The dorms erupted in cheer and the kids went to bed psyched knowing classes were cancelled and they would spend the day on the hill- tubing, skiing, snowboarding, lounging around their own slopeside lodge, and swimming in the pool AND eating TONS of pizza – 800 slices of pie, to be exact.  You got it, those 200 hungry teenagers politely ate 100 pies AND cleaned up after themselves!!!

I know I blogged about this epic day last year, but I have to tell you, the kids at Cardigan are always such a joy to host at Loon.  They are so well-behaved, so thankful, and so happy to participate in a long-standing tradition started by Cardigan many years ago.  These students attend Cardigan from as far as California, Florida, China, Spain, you name it.  And they get smarter and smarter every year- we had a few students e-mail the info@loonmtn.com address to find out when the ski day was… thankfully, the staff at Loon all recognize the importance of keeping this big ski holiday a surprise and those emails found random replies to throw them off.

You really have to see it to believe how incredible it is to see the nine Cardigan Mountain School buses caravan over the bridge to Loon Mountain- it’s a sight that still, after my seven years of working with this amazing school, gives me a shiver up the spine with sheer excitement.  And, less than eight hours later, those nine buses depart- all kids accounted for and happy.  We’ll see you next year, Cardigan boys- and no, we won’t reveal the date, no matter how creative you get!   Keep up the great work, Cardigan Faculty and Staff- you should be proud of the amazing young men you have at your school!

Until next time,

Abby Guinan
Sales Manager

First for your warm up, find an isolated bump and practice absorbing the terrain by allowing your ankles, knees, hips, and spine to flex evenly as you ride over top. As you continue to the backside of the bump, extend your legs in order 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. The absorption of the bump will control your speed and allow you to maintain your balance.

Now you are ready to enter the mogul field.  If this is your first time, traverse the moguls absorbing (flexing) and lengthening (extending) your ankles, knees, hips, and spine evenly over each bump. Turn around and traverse the other way. 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 backside. Congratulations! You have made your first turn in the moguls. Gradually shorten your traverse until you are turning on every bump.

If you are that seasoned veteran, use the same technique only stay in the zipper line! That’s the straight line down in between the bumps. The challenge is to maintain your balance and speed control, as this is a much faster way though the moguls.  This is just one technique and there are as many different ways to ski the moguls as there are mogul fields. Bump it up with any number of our qualified instructors in either a private lesson or in one of Loon’s Bump Workshops.

 See you on the slopes!

Lauren O’Reilly
Training Manager
Loon Mountain Snowsports

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.

Every truly devoted skier will at some point encounter the slippery surface we all call ice.  However, with the proper skills, even the occasional skier can safely navigate the less than preferred polished surface.  A light touch and a balanced stance will work just fine.  It doesn’t hurt to have your equipment tuned with polished edges either.  Maintain even short to medium radius turns, making sure you curve back up hill after every turn.  Skidding is a tactic well-practiced.  Just like driving a car on an icy road, approach every turn slow and allow the skis to move forward as they slightly skid around the curve.  Take every turn in this fashion and you will find yourself maintaining control and gaining the confidence you need to enjoy this ever-changing mountain environment.

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.

Happy Holidays.  We now have three parks up and running with a variety of jibs and jumps.  We are also pumping snow in both the medium park and the main park.  One if not both of those will be coming at you soon.

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 …

New DROPLINE Park opens Friday morning with with more jibs and one wicked kicka.  The 7 Brothers park is still sharp and 4 features deep.  Plus be on the look out for another park in the base area coming soon. 

12.16.11

It getting cold out!  Snowmaking will be firing up shortly and one of the trails we are going to is our NEW Dropline Park!  As long as it stays cold we should have that park online some time next week, stay tuned for a firmer date.  Till then enjoy the 2 Top Secret parks! 

12.12.11

More features as of 9 am Tuesday morning.  They shouldn’t be hard to find.  See you out there.

12.8.11

Snowmaking goes back on tonight!  Which will hopefully result in more park features for the weekend.  For now enjoy the jump and jibs in the Sunset Park!  Stay tuned.

12.3.11

Good snowmaking temps and the guns were blazing again last night.  Won’t be long before we get some more parks up on the hill.  For now the park on sunset is still up and looking good.  Stay posted.

By Katelyn Krumperman

Greetings!  How are you?  I am much better now that we received seven inches of snow last night at Loon Mountain just in time for the holiday week!  Even though we have had a tough start to the winter, we are in good shape as we head into the holiday week at Loon.  With 28 trails, 178 acres, and over 12 miles of skiing riding, Loon has the most open terrain in New Hampshire! 

Our snowmaking and grooming team has done an amazing job resurfacing and opening new terrain to get that Superior Snow Guaranteed that you love. 

Looking for something to do this week?  Look no further.  Here is a quick run down of what’s going on this week at Loon Mountain.

Saturday, December 24th: Non-denomanational Christmas Eve  Candlelight Service in the Governor’s Lodge at 7 p.m.

Friday, December 30th: Family Magic Show in the Octagon Lodge at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 31st: Mo the Balloon Buffoon will be at the Governor’s Lodge from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. making balloon sculptures for the kids and entertaining the younger crowd. 

- New Year’s Eve: Ring in the New Year at the Bunyan Room New Year’s Eve Party.  Live music by 6 Foot Sunday.  This is a 21+ event and there is a $25 cover charge.  Reservations are highly recommended.

Snowmaking continues tonight and on top of the seven inches we received last night, the conditions should be pretty stellar out there.  Enjoy the last week in December and Happy Holidays from all of us at Loon Mountain.