Cannonballer 659 Posted December 1, 2020 Report Share Posted December 1, 2020 (edited) It was unexpected but Loon announced on Sunday 11/29 that they would open for the season on Monday 11/30. The opening was for passholders only and it's staying that way through 12/13. That's the first time I've ever heard of 2 straight weeks of passholder only. I assume this season will be full of firsts. It does make some sense for Loon though considering they have been hit with the triple blow of Covid, unfavorable weather, and a crippling ransomware attack. It seems like they are just hoping to work out the kinks. The ransomware thing was especially bad. Through most of October and November they couldn't even sell passes. Not online, not over the phone, not even in person. All systems were locked-down. As of ~11/25 they finally could sell passes but when I went to pick mine up on 11/27 they still couldn't print them and were having other issues. Even as of 11/29 they still couldn't print passes! I was skeptical I would even be able to get my pass and by able to ski 11/30. They ended up setting up an online waitlist and texting you when the pass was ready. I got mine around 9:30 and decided to take a few laps. There isn't a flake of snow on the ground in Lincoln. And it had been pouring all day Friday and Saturday. But somehow they managed to roll out some really fine skiing off the Gondola and North Peak. They had 3 lifts running and ~10 open trails that made for 3-4 "routes". The snow was soft and there were no crowds at all. Operations under Covid seemed to be pretty smooth, although the lack of crowds really didn't test it that hard. They had some nice outdoor heated restrooms set up around the base. And the new Covid signage and barriers didn't feel extreme or oppressive. It really just felt like a normal 'soft opening' type of day. Gondola... All natural conditions on North Peak... W Walking Boss... Edited December 1, 2020 by Cannonballer 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thesnowway 93 Posted December 1, 2020 Report Share Posted December 1, 2020 Nice report, thank you for sharing! That is a respectable amount of terrain, all things considered. Nice for the passholders that Loon went for it despite a suspect forecast. They must be losing a lot of snow right now between the rain and warm temps. Good call on their part going passholders only for two weeks. That gives passholders a perk, but also allows them to recover from their data issue and also test out their COVID-19 related operations plans and fix any weak links. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cannonballer 659 Posted December 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2020 (edited) I think another reason they opened to passholders only is that their pass assurance program promises 150 days of skiing this season. Nov 30 was already a late start to meet that mark. They really couldn't wait any longer. Edited December 1, 2020 by Cannonballer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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