North Star is a great ski run! It's a personal favorite at Loveland. A very small uphill
hike (only the very short section to the north of the top of Lift 9), and the snow is often very good. As with all areas of
the Ridge, wind-loading is a key factor, and the snow depth and quality can vary greatly within a distance of a few feet. Don't
be frighten off by the sastrugi commonly found at the entrance to Northstar. The entrance is higher, and more exposed, and once you
get a few bumpy sastrugi turns in, you'll generally find that hard and irregular is replaced by pure powder.
Northstar is between the
Challenger
and
Super Nova
ski runs. As with many runs on the Ridge, the boundaries between these runs are often somewhat vague.
The boundary line between Northstar and Super Nova could be considered a subtle ridge running downhill from around the
2nd North Gate on the trail on the top of
the Ridge. Sometimes, there's a boundary fence in that area. The Challenger boundary with Northstar is more subtle.
The cornice-like feature, and everything directly above and below it,
to the east of Rookie Road is clearly Challenger. Somewhere east of there, is North Star.