Loon Mountain Resort on Wednesday, December 15, 2021

		Loon Mountain Resort Wednesday, December 15, 2021
		Submitted on December 15, 2021 by rocket21 (1401)
	Session	Morning
	Ticket Type	Discount from Ski Area
	Lift Lines	0 minutes
	Trail Conditions	45% open; Loose Granular, Loose Granular
	Glades	Virtually no natural snow
	Moguls	None
	Terrain Park(s)	Small one near the gondola base and one on Lower Flying Fox. Ongoing work on Springboard.
	Run of the Day	Lower Northstar
	Food and Beverage	They require masks to enter lodges, so I did not partake.
	Comments	Very good amount of terrain open and pretty good conditions considering the weather. Quite a few trails on North Peak and the main mountain had snowmaking last night. $53 early season ticket price was reasonable to me. North Peak had a delayed start, but was mostly open (Lower Flume opened today). Sunset and Walking Boss were a little uneven in places from the snowmaking, but otherwise decent. Lower Flume should be better tomorrow after another groom. Upper Flume was just pushed out, so I suspect that should open any day now. East Basin (Triple Trouble/Angel Street/Basin Street) is closed/has not seen any snowmaking. Crosscut/Rolling Bear/Bear Pause are open into the basin, the latter seeing snowmaking last night. Drop Line and Link looked to have coverage, but were roped off. Brookway was decent. Lower Bearclaw, Seven Brothers, and Lower Picked Rock were open on the lower main mountain. Seven Brothers was the sleeper, as the top didn't look groomed due to snowmaking, perhaps dissuading people (the rest was good). From the top of the gondola, Upper Bear Claw (plus Island), Upper Picked Rock, and Flying Fox were all open. I think Island Bypass was the best of the three. I don't think Upper Speakeasy has seen any snowmaking yet. South Peak is not open and has not seen any snowmaking. Snubber was open off the double with good conditions. West Basin was mostly open, with the exception of Lower Rumrunner and Lower Speakeasy. Decent conditions with occasional boilerplate mixed in. Lots of people flocked to the 8 pack, perhaps taking a little stress off the gondola. The lift is comfortable (mildly heated seats) and fast. It is a little weird to ski into the building to get on (after being in the bright natural light). I prefer it to the gondola (nice to keep the skis on and have the option of being enclosed), but favor quads over larger chairs. Overall, the open trails had fairly decent base with only a few minor thin areas. Decent number of skiers, but lifts were generally ski-on (minute or two wait at the gondola a few times). Fairly sunny this morning with temperatures climbing into the 30s. In terms of COVID restrictions, they are mandating masks to go into any buildings. They have outdoor, self-serve ticket pick-ups (QR code). They don't have any portapotties anymore. There are external-entrance restrooms at the gondola base (no sign) and summit (mask sign) that I don't think are going to be mask-policed (which would make sense; if they try to mask-police all restrooms, they'll end up with more people going in the woods). They are not mandating masks to queue or ride in the gondola.
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