If you need inspiration for filing stories this winter, Ski New Hampshire’s members have each supplied their top story for the season. To follow-up on these leads, please reference the media contact guide included in this press kit to reach out to the ski areas directly.

Black Mountain

Backcountry Beckons
In partnership with Ski the Whites, Black Mountain will be adding a backcountry skiing and snowboarding program to their facility. This will include a backcountry-specific lesson and rental program that can be found in their base lodge.

Bretton Woods

Top Grooming and Snow Conditions
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire’s largest ski area, continues its quest to provide a consistently exceptional ski experience, as recognized once again by SKI Magazine’s reader survey as among the best in the East. For the fifth consecutive year, Bretton Woods holds the top two spots for Grooming and Snow, with the Best Grooming in the East getting the highest nod this year. With these two main ingredients supported by the Best Service and Lifts in the state, the recipe for a fantastic day on the slopes starts here at Bretton Woods.

Cannon Mountain

2X More Snow
Last winter, Cannon Mountain made the most snow in its history, while also reducing energy costs by 30 percent. 2016-2017 snowmaking upgrades not only churned out two times more snow, but also helped to save over $400K in energy costs at the same time. Our $5.1 million energy-efficiency initiative with over 400 state-of-the-art tower guns kicked our system into overdrive and we’ll be back at it again for 2017-18 with even more snowmaking upgrades. We’ll make it white and keep it covered so that you can make it yours.

Cranmore Mountain Resort

A Master Plan
Cranmore’s $50 Million Master Development Plan is now underway, with the new 18-unit Kearsarge Brook Condominium project being completed last month. New amenities for the resort will also include a four-season outdoor pool, with indoor viewing area and changing rooms, by the New Year as well. On-mountain improvements include an enhanced snowmaking capacity with 86 new high-efficiency guns, new lighting on beginner terrain, a renovated unload zone, and expanded night skiing hours on Saturdays and holiday periods.

Granite Gorge

Slashing Prices
Granite Gorge is focusing on affordability for the 2017-18 ski season. All alpine lift ticket prices have been cut by over 30 percent from last season, with a full-day adult ticket costing just $33. What’s more, Granite Gorge is also offering a brand new 2-hour ticket that can be used for any two hours throughout the ski day for those looking to just get a few runs in. And when you buy your lift tickets online, you’ll save an additional 10 percent.

Gunstock Mountain Resort

Night Session Savings
Gunstock Mountain Resort’s all new Night Sessions offer great savings under the lights. Anyone with a lift ticket or season pass can now get a basic rental package (excluding helmet), Quick Tip lessons (beginner through intermediate levels available), and two runs of tubing or the Mountain Coaster, or one run of each during night skiing hours.

King Pine Ski Area

Top Notch Snowmaking
To maintain its snowmaking infrastructure, which is capable of covering 100 percent of its trails, King Pine has spent close to a $300,000 installing 5,000 feet of new larger diameter snowmaking pipe; acquired 45 additional new HKD Snowmakers high efficiency, low energy tower and ground guns; and sent four of its fan guns to Snow Machines Inc. to be upgraded and refurbished to the most up-to-date specifications. All of this positions King Pine to move greater amounts of water, increase snowmaking performance, operate more guns covering greater terrain more quickly, all while significantly reducing the energy expended to do so.

Loon Mountain Resort

Continued Commitment to Snowmaking
This winter, Loon is enhancing its commitment to New Hampshire’s most powerful snowmaking system by installing 11 semi-automated snowmaking hydrants on Rampasture, and upgrading key infrastructure in the resort’s West Basin area. Over the last several years, Loon has installed more than 150 semi-automated snowmaking hydrants on key early-season snowmaking trails. By drastically reducing the time required to turn the guns on and off, these hydrants allow our snowmakers to open more terrain more quickly in the early season – and enable Loon to deliver better, more consistent snow all season long.

Mount Sunapee Resort

Real.Easy with RFID
In honor of our 70th operating season, Mount Sunapee Resort is celebrating with the Real.Easy.Card, an RFID-enabled lift ticket. This upgrade to our infrastructure will make for convenient online purchases, direct-to-lift access, and the ability to pre-load and re-load lift access products, which means that you’ll spend less time in the ticket and lift lines, and more time hitting our slopes.

Pats Peak Ski Area

A Smoother Ride
The ol’ Peak Double Chair was a good one. But with the new triple chair lift, Pats Peak will be doubling the capacity of the lift from 800 to 1,600 people per hour. Also, they will be deploying some newer technology at the bottom of the lift with a conveyor carpet system that will make loading easier and faster, cutting down on the ride time to the summit.

Ragged Mountain Resort

Quality at a Low Price
Ragged Mountain is on a mission to bring you the best value in skiing in all of New England. First, we brought you MISSION: AFFORDABLE season passes with prices starting at just $249 and ending at $449. Then we created the Bebe Wood Free Learn to Ski & Ride Program which made it ultra-affordable for people to take up our amazing sports. New for this season, Ragged Mountain has added another new snowmaking pond on top of the increased water storage capacity we added last year. In the last two years, we have increased our snowmaking water storage capacity eight-fold! That means more snow and the best value for both current and future skiers & riders!

Waterville Valley Resort

Progressing to the Next Level
This summer saw the launch of Phase II at Waterville Valley Resort, an additional $7.5 million resort-wide investment that followed last season’s 45-acre terrain expansion. Most notable for this winter is $1.9 million in new snowmaking equipment, 3 new surface lifts, and the first stage of a base lodge renovation. The most significant technological innovation is the first ever Gateless RFID System, which will streamline ticketing and lift-access. Additionally, All-Mountain Progressive Programming will adopt new strategies to improve every person’s experience on snow. New and returning National events to the East Coast, including the U.S. Moguls Championships and the Toyota Revolution Tour will hit our slopes as well. New developments will continue through the 2018/19 season and beyond.

Whaleback Mountain

Crowd-Sourced Capital Improvements
Backed by a grant from the Byrne Foundation and private donations, Whaleback Mountain’s West-Side Expansion project is well underway. A volunteer-built pump-house is but one of the many snowmaking upgrades the ski area has made this summer, which also includes two new snowguns that will make snow in warmer temperatures than the rest of their fleet. The biggest project, however, is the new 800-foot West-Side T-Bar, which will provide access to several intermediate and beginner trails.

Ski New Hampshire is the statewide association representing 34 alpine and cross-country resorts in New Hampshire. For information on ski areas, conditions, vacation planning and updated winter events at Ski New Hampshire resorts, visit SkiNH.com. For statewide travel information, go to VisitNH.gov.

Contact:

Karolyn Castaldo
Communications & Marketing Manager, Ski NH
603.745.9396x205 | Karolyn@SkiNH.com

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