Anyone visiting this site must share our love of the mountains in New Hampshire to some degree, but to what cost? I just spent a week of vacation visiting friends and family in the Mid-Atlantic states and lets face it gas prices are going to influence your travel decisions. We've been relatively spoiled with affordable gas in comparison to Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe. Now, it appears we are finally catching up.

This past vacation I was traveling regardless of price, but other future trips may be adjusted accordingly. You're looking at $4/gallon throughout most of New England and good luck with gas if you live in Connecticut!

Our member mountains are well aware of the barrier this could create when it comes time for you to head up I-93, I-89, Route 16 etc. It will be interesting to see what ideas everyone comes up with to make the travel more affordable. I wouldn't be surprised to find more economical station wagons in place of many SUV's that normally fill the ski area lots. Not to mention seeing most vehicles full of bodies, as opposed to families possibly taking two vehicles north in the past.

We are lucky that New Hampshire is the closest mountain region to many New Englanders and most areas are right off of "mileage friendly" interstates. It's time for all of us to take care of our wallets so we can still enjoy the mountains and lakes in our free time!

Karl/Ski NH

Well, I was really hoping to get in one more day at Wildcat, but those great spring skiing days with temps in the 80's last week melted the snow a bit more quickly than we hoped. But what a year it was - full of ski days we'll be talking about for years to come.

My favorite day had to be Wednesday of NH February vacation week, banging down huge powdery moguls with my son on Paulie's at Cannon ... or maybe it was that first true spring day in early April, skiing down the old gondola line at Wildcat ... or maybe it was racing against my kids in the Mtn Dew Vertical Challenge in fresh light powder at King Pine ... I just don't know, there were so many awesome days on the hill this year!

What was your favorite ski day in NH this season?

Tell us about it, and maybe we'll use it on next winter's website or in next year's magazine. At any rate, we'd love to hear about your experiences at our member mountains.

I hope you got a chance to enjoy all the snow this year and let's hope for a repeat next year!

Alice/Ski NH

If you've been to NH's slopes lately you know the snowpack is not an issue, we still have some serious snow. At this point, it's a matter of timing the weather right! We have a few more areas closing after this Sunday(April 13th), but you can still hit Bretton Woods, Loon, Mt. Sunapee and Wildcat for at least another week. Keep an eye on the weather if you can pull off one more sunny day, it's unreal out there. I had a few days this past week that are as much fun as anything except a full-on powder day. Hard to beat soft snow, sun and warm temperatures after a long winter.

Just be sure to time your ski day according to how firm you like the snow. If you don't want to get into anything too mushy, get out there early (you can always grab a coffee and give it an hour or so if it's still too firm). If you want to go play around in the soft stuff, plan on getting there later and staying out until 4 because the afternoons have been beautiful.

Thanks for a fun, snowy winter, hope we see you for one last spring day! -Karl

Welcome to April! We got some more snow yesterday and the NH areas that are still open are at/or near 100% open! Today is about as warm as it's been this spring, with highs near 50 and some light rain. We're looking at some sunny days to follow, but not true spring warmth.

So when will a good stretch of spring weather arrive? I know at least one pond skimming party was postponed last weekend since "skimmers" would have been braving temps in the teens!

It's not often skiers and riders are routing for warm weather, but it seems safe at this point with so much snow piled up across the state. It's becoming safer and safer to say this season will come to a close because of a lack of skiers and riders, not snow. The good news is many of the areas keep extending their season, stay tuned!

-Karl

Since we just got up to another 3 feet of snow last week, I may be jumping the gun talking about spring skiing and riding! Regardless, it looks like we'll have the deep base we need to keep the season going for an incredible spring of skiing and riding in New Hampshire so we might as well throw it out there.

Working and living in the middle of NH ski areas, I have never understood the empty slopes on sunny spring days. Don't get me wrong it's awesome for me to enjoy personally, but I just don't get why people don't take advantage of the warm weather, cheaper prices, and no lift lines? I also love the soft snow, it may not be as good as a powder day, but it is soft snow once the temps rise in the morning and I'll take that over our more "firm" mid-winter days anytime.

Obviously part of it has to be the fact that many people enjoy golf, boating, yard work, children's sports leagues etc. With the exception of this winter, many recent winters have had a slow start and then an unbelievable spring season. Even with monster spring snow storms, people will stop coming out around mid-March.

We know there's not much we can do on our end to convince people to come if they have other plans or hobbies, but I make spring skiing a priority, like powder days. It's hard to beat skiing in a sweatshirt all morning and then having a beer in the sun mid-afternoon.

If you're thinking of getting any spring days in, be sure to keep checking our Great Deals section at SkiNH.com, they'll be deals popping up regularly now as the ski areas do all they can to "bribe" you to come on up. Enjoy the warm weather whenever it shows up!

-Karl