Best New Hampshire Ski Areas and Resorts

by The Skiing Experts

New Hampshire Ski Areas Offer New England Flavor

With almost 20 alpine, New Hampshire ski areas in a relatively small region, skiing is engrained into the fabric of life in New Hampshire.

Downhill star Bode Miller grew up and learned to race in the state. Although not an official resort, Tuckerman Ravine, a steep face on Mt. Washington, is an Eastern spring skiing tradition.

Gunstock Ski Area in New Hampshire

Most New Hampshire ski areas go back decades.

For example, Gunstock ski area was a product of the Great Depression. The Belknap Mountain Project, named for the county where it is located, was created by the government to provide jobs to the area.

The single chairlift and rope tows installed at the time have evolved in the modern, four-season Gunstock Mountain Resort of today.

Gunstock now has eight lifts carrying skiers and snowboarders up a vertical rise of 1,400 feet. The 55 trails and a few glades cover 227 skiable acres. For night skiing, Gunstock operates five lifts accessing 21 lighted trails.

With an average of only 120 inches of natural snowfall a year, Gunstock ski area needs snowmaking on 90 percent of its terrain.

Skiable Acres: 227
Vertical Drop: 1,400 feet
Trails: 55
Longest Run: 1.5 miles
Toughest Trail: Hotshot
Average Annual Snowfall: 120 inches

Cannon Mountain Ski Area in New Hampshire

The center of skiing history for New Hampshire ski areas may literally be found at Cannon Mountain ski area, because the New England Ski Museum is located there.

Also dating back to the 1930s, Cannon Mountain ski area was selected by a 2009 survey of SKI magazine readers as the best value in the East. The fact that Cannon Mountain is state-owned helps keep down the prices. A lift ticket at Cannon for the 2009-10 season costs $66, compared to $82 at Killington, Vermont, or $84 at Stowe, Vermont.

The resort also received high marks for scenery and accessibility. Cannon Mountain ski area is located in Franconia Notch State Park, less than three hours from Boston by car.

The signature feature of Cannon Mountain is its tram. When Cannon Mountain opened in 1938, it had the first aerial tramway in North America. With three times the capacity of the original tramway, the present tram was built in 1982.

Cannon also provides lift-served â€œbackcountryâ€ access to the old Mittersill ski area that closed in 1984. Adjacent to Cannon Mountain ski area, the Mittersill area is slowly being incorporated into its larger neighbor.

Skiable Acres: Cannon 178; Mittersill 86
Vertical Drop: 2,180 feet (most among ski areas in New Hampshire)
Summit: 4,080 feet (highest among ski areas in New Hampshire)