Loon Mountain Blog
Welcome to Loon's Summer Blog. I hope everyone had a great winter- I know I sure did! Over 235 inches of snow this past winter- that added up to many, many powder mornings. But now, I sit in my office catching up on paperwork and waiting for the demise of the black flies.
Loon opens for summer activities Saturday, June 21! We have another exciting line up of events, kicking off the season with our Hot Dog Festival on July 5. The 33rd Annual New Hampshire Highland Games comes up September 19-21, and we'll end the summer with a bang, with Oktoberfest, on October 10 & 11, 2008.
I love to hear from you. Let us know what you are up to this summer, and I will keep you posted with the good word from Loon Mountain.
Update 07.18.08
I decided if I am going to speak about our newest trail, Rip Saw, I should get to know it better. Luckily for me, Ralph Lewis, Loon Mountain Operations Director, volunteered to hike up with me. We started at the base of South Peak and headed up Cruiser, which has quickly become a favorite for many.
About one-third of the way up, we turned left through an old cross-country trail, and found ourselves about halfway up Rip Saw.
Lee Willey, Loon's A#1 Groomer, was busy in his summer machine of choice, the excavator. Over the past weeks, we've been blasting rock from the steeper sections of Rip Saw. Now it's Lee's job to smooth out the dirt and create a few water bars.
Here is my opinion of Rip Saw: It's steep! Lee stopped to take a break, and my first question to him and Ralph was, "Um, does this excavator have an emergency break?" This gives you an idea of my lack of knowledge when it comes to big pieces of equipment. (I'll stick my ATV, thank you.) Watching Lee maneuver that machine and spread dirt was pretty impressive--almost as impressive as watching him groom North Peak's Upper Flume.
Rip Saw will definitely keep you on your toes. Where Cruiser and Boom Rum are more laidback, Rip Saw seems like it will be in-your-face terrain. Perhaps I feel this way because the hike up the trail made me wish I brought an oxygen tank, but I don't think so!
Snowmaking pipe is being strung together for both new trails. At this time I don't have the "official" mileage of snowmaking pipe we'll lay this summer. I'll confirm that for my next post. What I can tell you is that we'll have 20 new Boyne Low-E fan guns, plus 50 new HKD tower guns for next winter. Oh, the fun we will have....
Drop us a line, and let us know what you're up to this summer. Or send us a picture if you've up here enjoying the summer activities.
Have a great day!
Stacy Lopes
Updated 07.02.08
Can you believe it's already the beginning of July? My wish came true and I was "approved" for ATV training. This happened last week, and I can say that I can now "officially" operate a 4-wheeler. Although it was somewhat intimidating, I'm proud of my accomplishment. And I'm still working on that helicopter ride....When you visit Loon this summer you'll notice some beautiful landscaping we've done in front of the Octagon Lodge that includes new brick walkways, flowerbeds and granite stairs.
Get your ear plugs! We are currently drilling and blasting at the top of South Peak to realign the unload area on the Tote Road Quad. After next week, we will start blasting on Rip Saw.
Snowmaking crews have finished the new 12-inch snowmaking feed line on Upper Bear Claw this week. That is a big bonus, as we continue to update our snowmaking infrastructure. They are at the top of South Peak welding pipe into strings that will be installed on our newest trail, Rip Saw.
Speaking of Rip Saw...Our very own Lee Willey and Joe Conn have completed cutting about 4,000 feet of trail on Rip Saw. Look up from downtown Lincoln, and you'll see Rip Saw is going to be steep! Cutting the rest of trail will be tricky- and again, these are the times I'm glad I have a desk job.
Check out the glacial caves. Your kids will be very excited to see some of the newly-themed crawl spaces. Cara Bujeaud and our carpentry crew have done an amazing job bringing to life our "Loon Lost Gold".
Upcoming events include this weekend's Hot Dog Festival on Saturday, July 5. Don't miss it. We'll be serving up America's favorite food from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Crunchy Western Boys will play and we'll have games for the kids. And if you need to work off your excess, come enter the Loon Mountain Race on Sunday morning, July 6. It's an "easy" 5.7 km. hill climb to the top of the mountain- via Walking Boss and North Peak!
Let us know how your summer is going!
See you at the summit!
Stacy Lopes
Update 05.28.08 :: Welcome!
Our crew is busy getting ready for opening day, and working on the South Peak
expansion. Currently, Ken Mack and his snowmakers are welding pipe left and
right (really, end to end) for the two new trails we will open on South Peak
next winter.
Tom Bentley and the lift mechanics are preparing for the arrival of the new
magic carpet that will be replacing the handle tow on Sarsaparilla.
Norm, Mike, Dennis and our very own Bob the Builder have been working furiously
installing beautiful granite steps that lead up to the Gondola. And, Cara is
busily planting all the stunning flowers you see around the base area when you
visit this summer.
Since we are not installing any new lifts this summer, my chances of a helicopter
ride are still slim to none! However, I've heard I'm on the list for ATV training-
so I'm sure I'll have a good story about that.
Lastly- A big congratulations to Loon's Geoff Krill for being named
to the PSIA's Demo Team. Geoff runs the White Mountain Adaptive Snowsports
School here at Loon and is only one of two adaptive athletes on this elite team.
Until my next update, get out and enjoy the great weather!
- Stacy Lopes
