DOES LOON REALLY SUCK? I FOUND OUT SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

Ah, Loon. This is one mountain that people love to complain about. In person, when I ask about going there, everyone always fires off a round of complaints. They tell me the terrain is mid, it’s crowded, that there are better options in New Hampshire, and it’s not worth my time. You can pretty easily find similar thoughts online, and it’s not like when people say, “Jay Peak sucks, tell your friends.” When it comes to Loon, they’re being serious.

*Just a heads up that I don’t know this mountain well, so most pictures don’t have captions.*

Well, all of that talk just leaves me more intrigued, so today I headed there to find out if it really sucks as much as everyone says it does.

Since this was my first time skiing at Loon, I spent the first part of the day figuring out the lay of the land. The resort is fairly wide, and each of the resorts 3 peaks can be accessed via a gondola, and high speed lifts, which is awesome. They had 9 of 14 lifts spinning today, which included all the major lifts. Those lifts provided access to 55 runs, out of a potential 73. With it being a Monday, Loon’s famous crowds were nowhere to be seen. You could ski right onto all the lifts.

I rode the Kancamagus 8 a few times, and I think this is probably the fanciest lift in the East. It’s an 8-pack bubble lift, with fancy heated seats. The bottom terminal is housed in a beautiful building, which keeps you out of the elements as you wait in line. Yes, the Jordan 8 and Barker 6 at Sunday River are also very nice, but I think the bottom building for the Kancamagus 8 really sets it apart.

The building that houses the bottom terminal of the Kancamagus 8.

The seats on the Kancamagus 8.

Inside the gondola.

On top of the Kancamagus 8, I also rode the 4-person gondola a bunch, among other lifts. It’s the first 4-person gondola I’ve ever been on. Aside from being small, with capacity for just 4 people, it was just a stereotypical gondola. The reason I mention it is because I’m surprised Loon has this small of a gondola with how popular the mountain is. I’d think they’d have an 8-seater, but alas, it’s just a 4-seater.

Ripsaw.

It was a warm day with plenty of sunshine. As such, the snow was very soft and playful everywhere. In the afternoon, some runs that were heavily exposed to the sun started to get a little sticky, especially off South Peak. Though I did ski a few glades, I didn’t spend much time in the trees, as the snow was fairly heavy to ski through. That said, in what I did ski, coverage was still decent enough. Indeed, it was mostly a groomer day, and fortunately, Loon has a lot of those. My favorite run of the day was probably Ripsaw. It was steep and fast.

Does Loon suck?

It’s time to answer the question posed in the headline: Does Loon really suck? It’s definitely not the most difficult mountain out there, let alone in the state of New Hampshire. That award probably goes to Cannon. However, there’s a lot of intermediate terrain, and some fun steeper terrain to boot. And though I didn’t get in the trees a bunch, those seemed pretty fun from what I saw. The glades I skied had well-spaced trees with a nice pitch. There was nothing too steep or flat, which made for a good time. I’m sure there’s probably more difficult glades available on the mountain as well.

In terms of crowds, I didn’t ski this place on a Saturday or Sunday. Given that it’s relatively close to Boston, I don’t doubt that it’s super crowded on the weekends, but it wasn’t today. I practically had the mountain to myself. As a result, I kind of just cruised around, had a good time, and never waited for a lift.

I actually like the layout a lot. You can get a lot of laps in. It’s kind of silly that their signature lift, the Kancamagus 8, only goes halfway up the mountain, and that the gondola only holds 4 people, but each peak is served by a fast lift, so it’s really hard to complain too much. Again, I didn't ski Loon on the weekend, so that 4 seater gondola may very well actually be a problem on the weekend, as could the Kancamagus 8 dumping out 8 people at its top, but for today it was fine.

All that said, I can’t give my stamp approval on the idea that Loon sucks. Mid-week this place is pretty fun. Like it or not, the truth is every ski area has its shortcomings. Do I want to ski Loon on a Saturday? Well, once, just to see how bad it really is, but probably not after that one time. On a Monday or Tuesday, though? Sure, why not. I had a fun time and I’d go back. Like I said, mid-week, this place is pretty fun.

Never Quit Skiing,

Lincoln