With the 3rd tallest vertical drop in New Hampshire (10th in New England), Loon Mountain (loonmtn.com) is a hellava good time. I have a sweet spot for Waterville Valley, but Loon is a close second when it comes to New England mountains that I snowboarded this season.

I was at Loon in mid February which was a perfect time of the year. The air was still super cold and the snow was perfect. The higher on the mountain (3,050 at the summit) I went the better the conditions. With 322 acres of trails I never found myself getting bored of the same routes over and over again. This is something that Loon has a leg up over Waterville. I did find that at Waterville I was doing the same runs repeatedly. It was probably due to the trails that I preferred at Waterville were fewer than what I was finding at Loon.

loon mountain
Loon Mountain, Lincoln, NH

Snow Conditions

The two days I was there was fresh off a winter storm so there was plenty of powder to be found. Similar to what I found at Waterville, Loon will also leave certain trails un-groomed for the pow hunters. I was able to track down awesome cruisers like Upper and Lower Walking Boss trail which seldomly had traffic and I was able to reach some super high speeds. I did prefer the North Peak of the mountain for its black diamond offerings. Upper and Lower Flume was killer as well as Bucksaw and Big Dipper.

The packed powder was so soft under the board and I had a blast making deep carves in it. In other areas of the mountain, like over at Loon Peak, the snow was groomed and that provided some nice early morning cruising on both days.

On the second day I ventured over to South Peak. This was a cool experience and next time I go to Loon I plan to park over at this side of the mountain. It seems a lot more quiet and less commercial over there. The trails at the South Peak are mostly the more difficult ones so that also keeps the new skiers off this side and over on the main mountain. My only complaint with the South Peak is that the majority of the trails dump you off on low grade catwalks and you lose all your speed and basically limp back to the lift (especially Boom Run…). Upper and Lower Twitcher are awesome.

loon mountain
View From Loon Mountain

My overall favorite run at Loon was over at the North Peak. Sunset to Haulback to Can’t Dog to Angel Street to Basin Street. Hell yeah! I did that run more times than I can count. Check it out.

The Lift Situation At Loon

I had a great experience with the lifts at this mountain. Due to it being a midweek snowboarding trip, the lines overall were not bad. Some pooling up at about 10am and then basically nothing after lunch. By far my favorite lift to ride was the North Peak Express Quad shown below. It took some traversing to get over there from Kancamagus Express Quad where I parked but no biggie.

I did not ride the gondola but it looked cool.

loon mountain
North Peak Express Quad, Loon Mountain

Accommodations

We were lucky to score a sweet AirBnB in Campton, NH which is about 15 minutes south of Lincoln. I always prefer to stay as close to the mountain as possible but this was completely fine and was an entire house tucked away at the end of a cul de sac with a view of the mountain range – no complaints! It was really awesome to ride hard all day and then basically “come home” to a house and not need to deal with strangers in a hotel.

loon mountain
AirBnB Campton, NH
Views from AirBnB

Overall Takeaways From Loon Mountain

  • Loon is a legit ski mountain. There is a great mix of everything and I can see why people love it there
  • The parking situation is straightforward and since there is a limit of the number of people who can be at the mountain due to COVID, it was a non factor both days for me
  • The retail shop was standard. I did note they had more of a higher end selection of things that say “LOON Mountain” on them.
  • There are plenty of lunch options, pretty standard for all mountains (yes, there’s a waffle house at Loon)
  • There was a good mix of riders and skiers. I didn’t feel like I did at Attitash
  • The views from Loon are tremendous. I didn’t get any bluebird conditions so I am sure the views are even better when there is no cloud cover
  • The lift passes are RFID and automatically scanned at the lift
  • There is a large heritage between Loon Mountain and trains. You see this when you arrive and will be reminded from the main parking lot by this mini people mover train that goes back and forth all day
Snowboarding

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About the Author

Eric Wing

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Eric Wing is an avid hiker and outdoor adventurer. He writes about his experiences covering a wide range of topics, but most specifically, his goal of hiking the highest point in each US state. Follow along, get involved, and be inspired!

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