Loon Mountain Resort on Saturday, April 9, 2016

		Loon Mountain Resort Saturday, April 9, 2016
		Submitted on April 9, 2016 by rocket21 (1436)
	Session	Full Day
	Ticket Type	Complimentary from Third Party
	Lift Lines	1 to 2 minutes
	Trail Conditions	60% open; Variable Conditions, Variable Conditions
	Glades	Bare
	Moguls	None
	Terrain Park(s)	Park was open with plenty of features including the mini pipe. Springboard park was closed, but a cat was working on it, presumably for tomorrow.
	Run of the Day	Angel Street
	Food and Beverage	Last day for Camp III lodge, so not much available there (basically burgers, coffee, beer, and bottled water). Burger was $9.25 including tax, but decent sized.
	Comments	Conditions were much better than expected and coverage is perhaps better than closing weekend last year (though they made it one week longer then). The gondola and North Peak Express were the only two lifts running. We started off the gondola at 8 and managed to ski all of those trails before the crowds started filtering in between 10 and 11. On the main mountain, conditions and coverage are much better below Grand Junction. Bear Claw Extension was icy and thin, but the Exodus way had decent coverage. From there, Upper Speakeasy, Upper Bear Claw, Upper Picked Rock, and Flying Fox were all open, and conditions were probably best to worst in that order, with Flying Fox having a glacier in one spot. Upper North Star, Blue Ox, and Lower Picked Rock all skied decently. Loon Mountain Park was firm to start. Seven Brothers was decent. Springboard was listed as open, but it was closed with a cat building jumps. Lower Bear Claw was scratchy. In East Basin, Angel Street was nicely groomed to start, but was getting a little scratchy after lunch. Not much traffic on it, though, as the only way to lap it was via descending Brookway (which was getting pretty thin). A little narrow under the lift. Crosscut was fine. Basin Street was also okay. The Link is just about toast. Cant Dog was closed, but it looks like it was groomed...hard to tell if they were waiting for warmer temperatures or are saving it for tomorrow. On North Peak, Upper Walking Boss had some granular, but also a bulletproof base under, so it was inconsistent. Sunset is just about toast - scratchy up high, and very thin near the Haulback junction. Haulback was scratchy. The cats worked wonders on Lower Flume, which had good coverage and adequate granular to keep the hardpack and ice generally covered. Frankly if you can stomach the gondola and Brookway, you'll get the best skiing on North Peak from Haulback down. The lower mountain was softening up after lunchtime. Gondola was walk on for the first couple of hours, then lines were perhaps 5 minutes. The North Peak Express was ski on all day, with perhaps a skier on every half dozen chairs. Skied from 8AM to 1PM and managed 17 runs for 28K vertical.
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