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Loon Mountain Ski Resort
Rating Details »
15 reviews for Loon Mountain Ski Resort
sure, it gets a little crowded on weekends, but loon mountain is a great place to ski! take a day off from work if you don't like skiing with other humans.
the trails are well maintained, and they do a very good job of making snow.
the lift ticket has gotten quite expensive, but prices on food & drinks and other incidentals are relatively cheap. their rentals are in good shape too.
all of the employees are pleasant and helpful. the lodges have bars and good food. it can be a little tough to score a table on weekends but that's to be expected.
check out the tubing too! best tubing! i went with a group of 10 and we had an absolute blast - you get going really fast and they limit the number of tubers so that there's no wait between runs.
i also love the little choo choo train that drives you between bases. how cute.
and that gondola - what a great ride up top the top!
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Great Terrain, and has three full peaks to ski. The terrain park is top of the line, best in NH. The biggest downside to Loon is the crowds it draws. The gondola wait can seem like it takes forever, prob over 20 mins at times. The rails in the terrain parks get ruts in the landings on the weekends. The mtn has no marked glades, and a ton of double fall lines. This is a very public mtn that has challenging spots on it, if you are a beginer, really stick to the trail map. Again the Terrain park is top notch. Many Plymouth State students ride Loon, so it has a little more of the party mentality than the other local resorts. The tickets are, IMAO, very pricy. I think this because they cost more than all of the other mtns around it, and the lines are very long, If you manage to get there on an uncroweded day though, it is worth the money.
PROS
-Familiar- I've skiied here many many times and know the trails and resort. I know the semi-secret clean bathroom (I won't tell!), places in the lodge to store and easily access your backpack, where and when the crowds are and how to avoid...it just makes for a better ski trip.
- Variety and conditions of trails & terrain- there's something for all levels and abilites, snow is pretty consistent and usually not bad.
- Nice beginner areas- I'm learning to snowboard too and this area will keep me busy while I practice and work on staying on my feet.
- Distance- 2 hours from Boston makes an easy day trip. There are also outlet stores in Tilton on the way back :)
CONS
-Lift lines 15-20+ minutes long. Tip- check out North or South Peak to avoid the gondola and Kancamagus quad lines.
-With the crowds, snow cover on the trails get thin toward the end of the day...usually happens at most places, but even faster here. Stick to less travelled and the edge of trails for the better snow.
-Parking- if you do not get the 1st parking lot, you're delegated to the lower lot or worse, across the river.
- Cost- Over $70 for a weekend ticket...craziness, I tell ya.
- Traffic on I-93 in NH on the way home
This is a non-skiing review.
Loon Mountain was an occasional stop for my family during peak foliage. It is a tourist epicenter, so there are often crowds. The mountain isn't very high, so the gondola trip to the top is relatively quick. Once up there you can take in the view and drink hot chocolate. You can also explore the top of the mountain, if it isn't too cold for you. Then you can either take the gondola or walk back down. Or fall down the mountain, like one of my sisters famously did.
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Loon Mountain, host to the 2008 Highland Games and Scotish Festival. What an awesome time! This happens late September every year. Loon Mountain has been the gracious host for the past several years. Loon has a good bar, decent cafe. Day pass for the lifts during the event were $10.00 and $20.00 admission to the festival.
Don't forget the great skiing in the winter!
For more information on the festival check out http://www.nhscot.org
Loon mountain Ski Resort
Big mountain Skiing two hours from Boston, and a little over an hour from Manchester New Hampshire Airport. I grew up skiing at Loon, many things have changed over the years (for the better). The terrain offers something for everyone, the Snowboard parks are as good or better than you will find anywhere on the east coast, and even though the place is bigger the staff is still very friendly. I don't want attitude when I spend money on recreation and at Loon I never have an issue. Skiing is great, grooming terrific, food and entertainment top notch. If you want good bang for your buck, try Loon again or for the first time.
Loon is a great little mountain with some fun trails that gets way too crowded on weekends. So knock off two stars for that. But visit on a weekday, and stick to the lifts at Base III? One of the better mountains in the Northeast. Three stars for that. Summer at Loon is worth a star if you're traveling with kids, they'll get a kick out of the caves on the summit and have fun on the gondola.
It's a completely different mountain on weekdays, honest.
Clocking in at about two and half hours from Boston, the trip to and from Loon was waaaay better for a day trip than Sunday River. Its a smaller mountain, so for a day trip its a lot easier to cover and has a sizable number of greens and blues. Perfect for me! There is a gondola that takes you to the top of Loon Peak with a number of options to go down slightly different each time, but still remain on greens and blues. However, this was really the only long run for intermediates. There was a few long all blue runs from South Peak, but with all the ice showing after the powder had been blown off by the wind, I wasn't ready to chance it. I still had a lot of fun on Loon Peak though, despite it being the most crowded. The lines for the gondola were horrible after lunch when the wind picked up and it had to go slower, but in general the lines were pretty bad for the quads as well. My advice would be to take either an extremely early lunch or a late lunch and take advantage of the mountains down time.
I did find it odd that there was no flat trail to connect the Governor Adams Lodge Base and the Octagon Base and the Pemigewasset Base Camp seems to be in the middle of nowhere! In order to get to the base of Loon Peak you either have to take a shuttle, or take a quad to the top of South and then another quad over to Loon and then ride down. I did not have to do this, but my friends who were skiing over there in the morning and then joining us for riding n the afternoon did and were a little annoyed by the inconvenience. Myself and my roommate jumped on a bus to get back to Governor Adams in time for lunch, but later when the crowds were also heading back, we just walked. Its from one end of the parking lot to the other, not bad at all. There is an adorable little train but I can't imagine it is worth the wait.
All together though, Loon was a good time and a fun mountain. Very helpful and attentive staff, as good as I have experienced anywhere else. And most importantly nice and close to Boston! I will definitely be back, after all I did not get a chance to check out the apres ski scene at Loon!
Some Tips:
1. Since Loon is the closest big mountain to Boston be prepared for tour busses of kids coming in for the day, getting there before 9 is probably best if you don't like getting trampled by screaming pre-teens while getting ready in the lodge.
2. There is a ticket counter inside Governor Adams Lodge that apparently never has a line as opposed to ones outside that are horrendous. If you do wait outside go to the window farthest left, the windows are staggered and the one to the left will have the shortest line.
3. One dollar cheaper than Sunday River and half the size! Bring your college or military ID to receive $10 off. Information is not posted on the website, but trust me you get a discount.
4. Seriously, unless you have a small child walk from Octagon Lodge to Governor Adams Lodge. Don't take the train, don't wait in line for the next train, only take the bus if it is there. Its less than a ten minute walk.
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My parents have had a timeshare at the Village of Loon for nearly as long as they have been married. Every year, right after Christmas, we head up to Lincoln. I agree with the gripes about crowds. Loon caters quite a bit to snowboarders, and the affects the crowd dynamics in a big way. That said, I can always manage to find trails without too many people, mostly because I've been skiing this mountain for almost 30 years at this point.
I haven't had problems with lift lines in a long while. I avoid the Gondola and take the faster quad to one of the mid-mountain lifts, since the prefer the terrain up there most days.
The new terrain finally opened this year, and even though it's only three trails, it's worth skiing just so you can get the afternoon sun on your side of the mountain. Usually I have to stop skiing at like 2:30 because the sun has gone down past the summit and I JUST CAN'T SEE ANYMORE! Makes it hard to avoid the lines of people stopped in the middle of trails, and the parents teaching their 3-year-olds to ski on black diamonds.
I cannot give Loon 4 stars despite my familiarity and their recent improvments. Unfortunately, they are (and have always been) significantly over-priced! Bretton Woods, Wildcat, and Attitash are all similar size, all around an hour away, and all CHEAPER!
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This mountain makes me die a slow painful death each time I visit it. That said, I haven't been there for a few years, but with good reason.
1. The crowds. Good. God. The. Crowds. It's one of the closest big-ish mountains to Boston, and it's the go to for many families. I think they just like the gondola (which is quite fun in the summertime, actually).
2. The crowds. Again. They're that bad. It's like the Kells' dance floor on a Saturday night at 11:30 PM.
3. The prices. Waaayyyyy expensive. I'd rather pay that much for Sunday River, which at least as the terrain is large enough you can find a trail without anyone else on it.
Loon would be fun - challenging, a little icey - but for the massive amounts of people. Spend your mula elsewhere.
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After an insanely icy day of snowboarding 3 years ago I had pretty much written off Loon Mountain...but I went again this weekend and had one of the best days of snowboarding in a long time. The mountain pretty much stayed sunny all day, and the snow was super soft and powdery...really nice!
the only bad thing about loon is that everyone and their rad grandma likes to hit the slopes there...long lift lines are a drag, and my husband refers to it as the " ski mall". there iiiiis one section of the mountain that stays pretty slow all day...but i can't tell you where because i'd like it to remain that way : )
Loon is a great place to go for a day trip from Boston. About a 2 hour car ride for some reasonable skiing. They don't get as much snow as some of the bigger places further north, so be sure to check their site before you go. They do make snow, and are good at focusing on some key top-to-bottom runs when the natural stuff is lacking. It can be crowded on the weekends, but if you can swing a midweek "sick" day, it's well worth it. 3 stars for all of this.
The fourth star goes to Loon Mountain First Aid. Should you find yourself twisted and writhing in pain in the middle of a trail on the side of a mountain, you should be thankful you are at Loon. My unfortunate "incident" last winter had Loon Mountain rescuer Judy at my side within 10 minutes of my fall, a quick thinking Loon ski instructor stopped and warded other skiers away from my mangled body, and an unnamed rescuer (he probably told me his name, but I was trying too hard not to scream #*@?!!! at the top of my lungs to remember) strapped me to a sled and deftly delivered me safely to the first aid center.
Once inside, I was seen by the doctor on staff--an ORTHOPEDIST! Damn Loon, how good are you to be able to staff an orthopedist on the weekends at your tiny first aid center? What a relief to my now embarrassed self who somehow couldn't make a simple turn the second time I went down a relatively easy run. How mortifying it was to tell Judy that I had probably been down that run 50 times before, and it was my second time that day. Not much help for their efforts to assess dangerous areas on the mountain. They were able to take X-rays on site, give me a brace and crutches, and send me hobbling off. I was so happy that I didn't have to then go sit in an emergency room, and was able to head home and see my PCP the next day.
One of the coolest things Loon did was to give me (and my friends!) vouchers for another lift ticket (thankfully good through next season, 'cause my dislocated kneecap kind of took me out for the entirety of the 2006-2007 season). I just felt bad because I couldn't convince my friends to continue skiing while I sat in the bar for the rest of the day (I really could have used some drinks!). And, a few days later, Judy sent me a "get well" postcard (which is really the only way I can remember her name, since the pain and the cold rendered my comprehension skills largely useless). Thanks Loon first aid for taking such good care of me!
Loon has great terrain for it's size, but as other reviewers have said, it's too crowded, lots of the skiers and boarders are out of control, and it's very expensive compared with other places. Ski it cheap and empty during the mid-week, or don't ski it at all. Weekends - especially Saturdays- are a nightmare.
Ahhhh, snowboarding season is fast approaching and anyone who loves the feel of a little shredding will begin to get restless. Last year was my first full season in the area and we started trying out the local talent. I would have to say when talking about CONVENIENCE, Loon is the best so far.
Only two hours north in NH, a straight shot up 93 (exit 32 & go east), Loon is easy to get to and offers a lot of entertainment. Its small and since its so close, it can get crowded, especially on the lower slopes, on the weekends - nothing like dodging little grommets as a pre-apres activity. But its run by the same resort company that owns Northstar in Tahoe, so they do a good job trying to keep lines moving and the slopes in good shape.
If you can suffer the inane teen banter in the line, the gondola is the best & quickest way to get up the mountain. Then you should stay up. Coming back down to the bottom for lunch or a break is an exercise in annoyance & will take you forever to get up above where the lift-lickers are again. Summit Lodge offers good chili, by the way, so no need to make a break for the base for refueling.
You can also go up the Kancamagus Express from the Admas Lodge - there are about 7 good blues off of this run & two easy black runs. There's not a lot of variety in the blues though they are all fun. ( Lower speakeasy is a nice winding, twisty exception). You can traverse over to the East Basin Lift to access Summit Lodge & the runs from it or the North Peak Express to access the peak.
Once you're up on the mountain they take care of the bluesies. Lots of intermediate runs, many of them long and grouped together for variety. A bunch to the right of Summit Lodge. There's some freestyle areas to that side as well. That's also the way to get over to the South Peak while on the mountain. A couple new runs are open over there, but it's probably not worth the time yet from two blues & a black. Plus the drop off the lifts are a steep drop off surprise. It probably lets you avoid having to chicken wing it down the mountain on a busy weekend, but it won't keep you occupied for long.
North Peak, to the left of Summit Lodge, has some nice runs that are a little more challenging and a nice long blue that begins with a run called Sunset. They have a handfull of glades, but unless it has snowed recently or you particularly want to pick tree bark out of your teeth, they may not be a good choice. If it HAS snowed - hit them early and they are fun. Afternoon ice becomes an face scraping annoyance if you aren't careful on the runs off the North Peak Lift. Sharpen your edges for the day after a warm one.
Loon is good at making snow, but the treesy runs don't seem to get a lot of the man made stuff, so those are the runs to avoid if there hasn't been a duster in a while. When you come back down for the day, the run directly below the gondola, Picaroon, doesn't seem to get a lot of traffic and is wide enough for trying some fun turns. You can flip into the Terrain Park early on or near the bottom or just watch the huckers from the side of the trail. Flailing is fun for some. :)
Watch out for the crud that never fails to be there at the bottom. It tends to harden up late in the day. Get there early & get a parking spot close to one of the lodges and you can practically board to your car. (They have valet if you want to pay for it, that is steps away from the gondolas. Nothing like stomping in style!)
There's not a lot of night life in Lincoln, but Loon is not far from North Conway which is a cool little area full of bed and breakfasts, coffee shops, shopping, etc. and, of course, a few bars. There's a bunch of little mountains over that way, all within a half hour - cheaper lift prices, but smaller. If you want to do an overnighter, there's plenty of nice condos around Loon that are not going to cramp your cash. Its a good time to go up Friday night, relax with friends in the condo after work, hit the mountain early on Saturday, and beat the traffic home. However, rolling on the mountain Sunday afternoon gives you more room to experiement and crater in peace with fewer catcalls from the lifts.
Four for convenience and grooming.
Three for size and crowds.
(Two for apres but since its usually a day trip, that's not really what I'm looking for.)
I am really not a big fan of Loon. The mountain is - overall - quite nice with some decent trails and typically some good snow. That's where the star comes from (and the fact that I cannot give 0 stars). Everything else is terrible:
- The crowds are rude, incompetent, and many of them out-of-control. Way to many people on the mountain on a typical weekend day, and many of them coming up from Greater Boston for the day, so they are already stressed out before they hit the slopes.
- Some of employees have a strange attitude towards rules on the trails: I overheard an employee telling his daughters that - when out of control - to rather crash in a group of people than getting off the trail: No comment!
- The facilities can barely handle the crowds, bathrooms are dirty and the nursery is a heartless kennel for children.
