New Hampshire Ski Resorts

Ski New Hampshire: Never Take The Skiing For 'Granite' - The Granite State of New Hampshire offers heavenly scenery and down-to-earth skiing and riding. Visitors have a wide selection of resorts nestled amidst the high peaks of the White Mountains and beyond – from small family areas to major destinations, all... Full Overview

Ski New Hampshire: Never Take The Skiing For 'Granite' -

The Granite State of New Hampshire offers heavenly scenery and down-to-earth skiing and riding. Visitors have a wide selection of resorts nestled amidst the high peaks of the White Mountains and beyond – from small family areas to major destinations, all sharing a comfortable sense of laid-back welcome.

The craggy features of the Old Man of the Mountains no longer gaze across Franconia Notch – he tumbled in a rockslide some years ago – but the Old Man remains emblematic of the rock-solid foundations of skiing in this historic region. Indeed, his famous profile still graces state highway markers, and his ghost still haunts "the Notch."

The Dartmouth Outing Club was an early force in the development of North American skiing. Its activities centered first on nearby Mt. Moosilauke and later on Dartmouth Skiway. The tradition continues with the annual Dartmouth Winter Carnival.

Skiing quickly took root in the early 1900s and spread across the peaks of the state, including to Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington, New England's tallest mountain and site of the highest surface wind ever recorded – a gust of 231 mph in 1934.

Toni Matt, an Austrian downhiller, skied from Mt. Washington's 6,288-foot-high summit to the base in the third Inferno Race in 1939, schussing the Headwall of Tuckerman Ravine, and posting a time of 6 minutes, 29.2 seconds.

The New England Ski Museum at the base of the Cannon Mountain Tram preserves much of this history, and focuses on particular aspects in annual exhibits that are well worth visiting, particularly on one of those cold, blustery winter days.

At the same time Matt was capturing the imagination of the ski world, the Civilian Conservation Corps was cutting trails across the region, laying a foundation that would explode in the years after World War II.

Tom Corcoran, U.S Ski Team racer and Olympian, founded Waterville Valley, and hosted a series of Women's World Cup races there beginning in the early 1980s, focusing attention on his area and the entire region.

Sherm Adams, a governor of New Hampshire and aide to President Eisenhower, founded Loon Mountain in Lincoln, N.H., an area that continues to grow on and off the mountain.

Two of New England's surviving grand resort hotels – the Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods and Balsams Wilderness – combine late-19th century elegance with all the amenities of the modern world.

Attitash, Black Mountain, Cranmore, Crotched, Granite Gorge, Gunstock, King Pine, Mount Sunapee, Pats Peak, Ragged Mountain, Tenney and Wildcat round out the state's downhill areas.

Many are close enough to Boston and other population centers of Southern New England for day-tripping, but offer the amenities people look for when setting out for multi-day stays at destination resorts. Hop on I-93 or Route 16 and head for the slopes.

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