{"id":938,"date":"2026-09-04T18:30:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/?p=938"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:03:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:03:59","slug":"loon-and-tremblant-announce-two-of-the-easts-biggest-ski-expansions-in-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/04\/loon-and-tremblant-announce-two-of-the-easts-biggest-ski-expansions-in-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Loon and Tremblant Announce Two of the East\u2019s Biggest Ski Expansions in Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Loon claims its expansion terrain (shaded in orange above) will make it New Hampshire\u2019s largest ski area.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Background<\/h2>\n

In the past week, two of Eastern North America\u2019s busiest ski areas have announced massive expansions, though they have vastly different targets for the skiing demographics.<\/p>\n

Both Loon<\/a> in New Hampshire and Tremblant<\/a> in Quebec have announced terrain expansions, though Tremblant\u2019s is more of a re-announcement, as it\u2019s basically the same project that was announced just a few days before the COVID pandemic threw a wrench in their plans. We\u2019ll look through each of these plans individually, who they\u2019ll benefit, and when you can expect to ski or ride this new terrain. <\/p>\n

Loon Black Ridge Expansion<\/h3>\n

Boyne\u2019s Loon Mountain has long been the go-to mountain for Boston area day trippers, but has fallen short of other New England mountains in terms of advanced and expert terrain, especially gladed terrain. That\u2019s exactly what the Black Ridge expansion aims at fixing. This 272-acre expansion consists entirely of tree terrain, depending entirely on natural snowfall and offering a \u201craw, natural, and untamed\u201d experience, per Loon\u2019s website. While a 272-acre expansion may not seem the largest for those used to the massive footprints of western ski areas, it measures in at a 67% increase in Loon\u2019s skiable footprint, one of the largest ski area expansions in recent memory by that measurement. This terrain is located to the looker’s left of the North Peak terrain, and will be accessed by a 1.25 mile traverse, allowing skiers and riders plenty of options to choose their line. This expansion will be ready for the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n

Tremblant Timber Expansion<\/h3>\n

Up north of the border, Alterra\u2019s Mont Tremblant will finally see an expansion that was first announced over six years ago, but was derailed by the COVID pandemic. Timber Summit is an eight trail expansion to the south of the main Mont Tremblant summit, and will eventually be served by a new high-speed quad, as well as a new beginner carpet and learning area at the Versant Soleil base. The trails off the Timber Summit will be largely beginner and intermediate focused, and will be fully covered with artificial snowmaking. This expansion will be broken up over the next two years, with the new learning area and carpet being ready for the 2026-27 winter, and the Timber high speed quad and full expansion being ready for the 2027-28 winter. <\/p>\n

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Tremblant\u2019s Timber expansion is finally on track after an eight-year delay.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Our Take<\/h2>\n

Loon Black Ridge Expansion<\/h4>\n

While these expansions are in a similar part of the continent, they couldn\u2019t serve a more different purpose. Loon Mountain is taking aim at the advanced and expert skier demographic that has passed them by for years heading up to Cannon or into Vermont. This could lead to Loon getting more people taking shorter drives; however, it\u2019s very hard to say how often this terrain will be open. New Hampshire generally gets much less snow than Vermont, and with this whole expansion depending on natural snowfall, the resiliency of this area is the main concern.<\/p>\n

One additional concern is the lack of direct lift capacity to such a substantial amount of new terrain. Loon is already a very busy mountain with significant waits during peak times, and as of right now, the North Peak Express will be the only way to directly reach the traverse for these new glades. In other words, just one lift is likely to end up holding down access to nearly 45% of Loon\u2019s entire skiable footprint. If Black Ridge does end up opening reliably, will the North Peak Express just turn into a huge chokepoint? <\/p>\n

This all being said, the need to traverse to such a substantial amount of the new terrain should help gatekeep it from too many crowds and naturally preserve the snow. Based on the topography, it also looks like some of Black Ridge may require a small amount of hiking to reach.<\/p>\n

It is also worth noting that the new expansion will be indirectly paired with some capacity upgrades. While it won\u2019t directly serve the new glade terrain, Loon is also planning to replace their four-passenger gondola with a 10-passenger variant, which should be a substantial improvement for the resort that we\u2019ve detailed here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tremblant Timber Expansion<\/h4>\n

Tremblant, on the other hand, is focusing on expanding what they already do well: great family friendly terrain and a strong lift fleet. Timber doesn\u2019t have anything you can\u2019t already find at Tremblant, other than more sunny, south facing slopes, but it could lead to more people starting their day at the Versant Soleil base rather than the main Tremblant Village. One concern we do have about this expansion is all the trails from the expanded terrain seem to end on the L\u2019Algonquin trail, which could lead to some very congested runs, especially since that\u2019s already the main route down for beginners on that side of the mountain.<\/p>\n

Overall, these are both positive additions to these busy Northeastern ski areas. They also collectively strengthen the Ikon pass for the region, as they\u2019re both on that multi-mountain pass despite them being owned by different companies. Whether Loon will become the next glade skiing haven, or Tremblant will keep its place as one of the best ski areas for all abilities, only time will tell, but we\u2019ll be sure to check these out once they\u2019re fully open for the 2027-28 ski season.<\/p>\n

Considering a trip to the Northeast? Check out our Loon<\/a> and Tremblant<\/a> reviews, as well as our East Coast ski resort rankings here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Loon claims its expansion terrain (shaded in orange above) will make it New Hampshire\u2019s largest ski area.   Background In the past week, two of Eastern North America\u2019s busiest ski areas have announced massive expansions, though they have vastly different targets for the skiing demographics. Both Loon in New Hampshire and Tremblant in Quebec…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mountain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":942,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefuzzybutts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}