I am up here at Loon in New Hampshire. The slopes were amazing. Groomed loose granular and packed powder were the snow du jour. Temps started in single digits then topped out in the low 20s to make for a nice day overall. Crowds were thin. No lift lines.
Most of my trips north to play in the snow take place in Vermont, mainly because from the Westerly area the traffic is easier to navigate through Hartford and Springfield than through Providence and then Boston. But today, and tomorrow, are a different kind of ski trip for me. It’s one I look forward to each year—Demo Days.
Loon is hosting the eastern session of “Demo Days” as we call it at Avie’s Ski / Sports. Demo Days are when all the major ski and snowboard makers take prototypes of their gear for the next season—in this case the 2019/2020 season—and make it available for retailers to try.
So there is a crew from Avie’s up here testing out all the skis and snowboards that you will get to see next season in the shop. Matt, Ray, John, Norm, myself and Ted are all here spending the day testing out gear. It’s the best way for Ted to find out what would be best to have for sale in the shop next season. And to put it mildly, a pretty fun time for all of us “ski testers.” So when you hear mention of ski testers in future posts, this will be the crew in reference.
I’m not going to get into what skis or snowboards were great, and what’s new and what’s not. That will come later this fall as we ramp up into the new season of snow. What I will say is that we continue to see some interesting, and smart in my opinion, trends in boots becoming more performance oriented at wider foot widths. And there is a trend in skis that continues towards a greater separation of carving skis and everything else.
Both are interesting and good trends. They are good because they will give skiers greater opportunity to dial in the best set of sticks for the kind of skiing they do. Good because skiers with wider feet will be able to get into ski boots that perform better. All good things. Snowboarders will have to await a download from Matt, our sole snowboarder.
The biggest news, and the best news, is that ski conditions are really good up north here. While there were some icy patches on narrow trails late in the day, by and large snow conditions were good to great to fantastic.
And they are going to get more fantastic. Right now it is snowing up here at Loon. Snowing hard. And the snow is supposed to continue through the night and into tomorrow. When done, there should be close to another foot of fresh white stuff gracing the slopes we slid down today.
Yes, tomorrow will definitely be a powder day. We all will grab a pair of fat powder skis and go for a few “yeehaw” laps down the trails. Granted that won’t give Ted lots of great input for what skis or snowboards to carry next season. But that’s what he gets for taking a bunch of snow junkie lunatics to Loon when it’s going to snow.
Now is the time to get out and hit the slopes. Go this weekend. You may wander into some of the best conditions to be found this year, so far. Get to Avie’s and get on the bus trip to Okemo this Sunday. There are still seats available.
Tomorrow the pictures I take at Loon will be rather different than the one shown here, of Norm, contemplating a final run of the day. It will be a snow day. A powder day. Another Demo Day. Absolutely a great day spent at a great mountain, in great snow, with absolutely great people.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
