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Back to Loon.
A day trip mid-week meant the lifts would start spinning at 9:00. My alarm was set for 6:00. After exercising the snooze button twice I was out of bed at 6:18 and in the car with a travel mug filled with coffee at 6:50. As I crested Route 2 I caught the sun rising over Boston in the rear view mirror. Light traffic and clear weather got me to the mountain with time to spare.
First run of the day was Angel Street, followed by a trip up the North Peak Express, and then Walking Boss.
Angel Street skied alright, but Walking Boss was marginal. There’d been a thaw the previous day, and the overnight re-freeze had taken a serious toll.
The Run of the Day was Upper Picked Rock, thanks to a continuous pelting of fresh, man-made snow. The deep, soft bumps were a happy contrast to the crust, death-cookies, and boilerplate ice elsewhere on the mountain.
Lunch was a quick bowl of beef stew at the Summit Cafe.
In the afternoon, testing Lower Flume, I made my first fall of the season: a minor skis-out, butt-on-the-ground gaffe I blame completely on the icy conditions. The trail is steep enough that a quick push was all I needed to get upright and moving again.
