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NH, February'ish

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Gurus

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Thinking about spending my annual ski trip in NH this year as I have never been before. Initial research shows that North Conway may be a good home base as it offers somewhat close access to a number of mountains in NH and Sunday River in Maine. May be a bit too early in the planning stage to ask, but, does anybody care to offer up thoughts on Northern NH mountains? We are looking for some trees (mid'ish angle), some groomers, some steeps. Parks, Apre's, Lodges are not a huge deal. Looking for a good place to ride and ski (one boarder, one two-planker) bell to bell with good terrain, good snow. A high speed lift or two would be nice, but definetly not a requirement. Also, any info on Sunday River would be appreciated.

Have viewed maps, web sites and considered:
Wildcat
Loon
Bretton Woods
Attitash
???

Cheers,
Joe
 
Gurus said:
Thinking about spending my annual ski trip in NH this year as I have never been before. Initial research shows that North Conway may be a good home base as it offers somewhat close access to a number of mountains in NH and Sunday River in Maine. May be a bit too early in the planning stage to ask, but, does anybody care to offer up thoughts on Northern NH mountains? We are looking for some trees (mid'ish angle), some groomers, some steeps. Parks, Apre's, Lodges are not a huge deal. Looking for a good place to ride and ski (one boarder, one two-planker) bell to bell with good terrain, good snow. A high speed lift or two would be nice, but definetly not a requirement. Also, any info on Sunday River would be appreciated.

Have viewed maps, web sites and considered:
Wildcat
Loon
Bretton Woods
Attitash
???

Cheers,
Joe
Click to expand...

You've come to the right place for opinions! I like your list, but you'd find Loon to be quite a distance from MWV. Most people either do MWV or Ski93 but not both.

Trekking across the Kancamangus is usually slow going, thanks to the amount of traffic on it, speed limits. If it's snowy,it could be interesting. very winding. If you do make it across, you might be better off adding Cannon to that list. Instead, I'd go the other direction towards Sunday River.

Give us some examples of resorts you've skied that you like or prefer. How many days are you here for? It seems like you want to mix it up. How many resorts? Does size matter? Are you going during school vacation week?
 
Take a walk up the Tucks trail from Pinkham Notch and ski the Sherburne trail
 
Before I owned at Sunday River I stayed in north conway for Nh vacation week. We skied Black, wildcat, attitash, Sunday River and Cranmore.

Plenty to do apres ski. Plenty to due if the weather is not so good, or you want a break .They have a little movies theater. Cranmore is a nice option price wise and do a decent park for a small place.


I use to stay at the Green Granite in town.

If you are more into the river, but want some options staying in goham Nh is a good option lets you get to Cannon Easier and Sunday River very easy.I would suggest the town and country there. I have got dicounts saying I was with Az there before good people. great pool. Bretton woods has some easy glades not far from the region.

If you have question on the river send a pm I am there every weekend as are a few of us here. Good woods plenty of mixed terrain. Takes some getting use to to navigate across the peaks, but not that hard after you do it a couple of times. Best part about the river is if it a low snow year they will have the most. They will make quite a bit around the vacation weeks.They also have IMO the best set up for lifts in the region you mentioned.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the quick reply and thanks in advance for any and all info.

Will plan on going either the week before or the week after Presidents weekend. Plan to ski/ride 3 days, all of which will be weekday. Our favorite mountains from past trips:

Loveland - Great snow, good terrain, great family vibe
Snowbasin - Great lifts, great terrain, low key vibe
Stowe - Geat history, Gondola a plus, actually enjoyed poking around nooks and crannies on Spruce side
Schweitzer - Loved the trees in the snow ghost area, loved the long cruisers in Stella area, everybody we encountered was smiling
Breck - Killer town, can avoid crowds if your smart about it, high altitude means great snow no matter when you go.

We are a couple of married guys who have very understanding wives that allow us this trip, early 40's....so nightlife is not huge, just a good place for nachos, maybe a steak, and a few cold beers.

I get employee rate (roughly 40/night) at Holiday Inns, so the North Conway Holiday will most likely be our home base unless there is something a bit more authentic and not super pricey.

So the Kanc can be quite sketchy with snowfalling?

Also, we dont mind travelling great distances (our 2010 trip, on a non-ski day, we drove from Cortez Co to 4 corners to Valley of the Gods UT to Monument Valley AZ and all the way back to Albuquerque NM) That being said, if we could somehow squeeze Jay Peak at the beginning or end of the trip ,I would be tickled. Though that may be pretty damn tough.
 
Most resorts in that area have great deals is the week following Presidents week. Some of Nh has that week off, some activities still going on as well. North conway sounds like the place to go.
 
My take

You started this thread saying this was a ski NH trip.If that's true and you will be staying in N Conway,you still need to get to Cannon to ski arguebly the one of the top 2 in NH along with Wildcat.The trip from N Conway will be about the same as going to SR which I would get to also.If it were me and I was making the trip to N Comway to get a flavor of NH skiing I would probably target Cannon and Wildcat.While your in the MWV you might as well try Attitash and maybe Black.If you have never been to SR then I would pencil that in if you can.My priority would be Wildcat,Cannon and Sunday River.
 
SIKSKIER said:
You started this thread saying this was a ski NH trip.If that's true and you will be staying in N Conway,you still need to get to Cannon to ski arguebly the one of the top 2 in NH along with Wildcat.The trip from N Conway will be about the same as going to SR which I would get to also.If it were me and I was making the trip to N Comway to get a flavor of NH skiing I would probably target Cannon and Wildcat.While your in the MWV you might as well try Attitash and maybe Black.If you have never been to SR then I would pencil that in if you can.My priority would be Wildcat,Cannon and Sunday River.
Click to expand...


Sikskier does cannon still do the two for ones mid week?. A real good deal Cannon is great. Black has some really cheap deals too. Small old school, but nice. Wildcat has to be a stop you make.
 
excellent posts, all. Thanks so much. Now, I need to resist the urge to spend the afternoon viewing trail maps while here at work - I tend to pore over them for countless hours. :-)
 
Based on your list, everything says "big" to me. Based on what you're saying, it sounds like you want to ski around.

Let's assume you want three different areas one each day.

you didn't ask, but since you mentioned Jay, why not Vermont:
Home base: Waterbury: Sugarbush-Mad River-Jay

How about:
Sugarloaf-Wildcat/or/Sunday River-Jay
MWV for 2 nights, then Jay for night 3, then go home from there? Jay is 2:15 travel time from North Conway and you'd take 302, not the Kanc. 302 can get a bit windswept, but no more than any other road.

Problem with Kanc is that it's it's very winding and hugs the river and is 2 lanes. The snow piles up on the sides with no place for it to go, depending on the day it can be icy or clear. It's not hugely traveled, so the maintenance only moderate.
 
Move up the road a little from No Conway and stay in the village of Jackson. Nice places to stay - a few good bars. More charming than No Conway. Also closer to Black, Wildcat, Sunday River and for the most part Attitash. I have made the trip from No Co a few times to Cannon and it isn't too bad unless the weather is sour. And yes they still do 2fers Tuesday and Thursday.
 
If Jay's in the mix, you may want to do Jay-Burke-Cannon-Bretton Woods-Loon. The Hampton Inn in Littleton does a package where a ticket to either Jay or Burke is included. The inn is actually closer to Cannon/Loon/Bretton Woods and Jay is about an hour away. After you break camp there, head over to the eastern side of the Presidentials, stay in Gorham or the Joe Dodge Lodge and you have Wildcat, the areas in North Conway, Tucks and SR within striking distance.
 
SIKSKIER said:
You started this thread saying this was a ski NH trip.If that's true and you will be staying in N Conway,you still need to get to Cannon to ski arguebly the one of the top 2 in NH along with Wildcat.The trip from N Conway will be about the same as going to SR which I would get to also.If it were me and I was making the trip to N Comway to get a flavor of NH skiing I would probably target Cannon and Wildcat.While your in the MWV you might as well try Attitash and maybe Black.If you have never been to SR then I would pencil that in if you can.My priority would be Wildcat,Cannon and Sunday River.
Click to expand...

Cannon Tues & Thur 2 for 1 ($67)
Bretton Woods Wednesday 2 for 1 $(68)
Cranmore Mon - Thur, 2 for 1 ($59)
Black Mountain- Midweek $35
 
Last edited:
Holiday Inn

The strength of my Holiday Inn tie-in is possibly weakened by the sweetness of other lodging/lift deals.
If the home base were to be North Conway, an Attitash – Sunday River – Wildcat plan may be the way to go.

Would love to somehow add Jay, Cannon or Sugarloaf to the plan, but 3 days skiing with 2 days driving is all that we can swing (Coming from South-Central PA, 9+ hours drive)

Any thoughts on Attitash? That is sorta the wildcard for me. Appears to have the terrain and trails, yet I hear little about it.
 
Gurus said:
The strength of my Holiday Inn tie-in is possibly weakened by the sweetness of other lodging/lift deals.
If the home base were to be North Conway, an Attitash – Sunday River – Wildcat plan may be the way to go.

Would love to somehow add Jay, Cannon or Sugarloaf to the plan, but 3 days skiing with 2 days driving is all that we can swing (Coming from South-Central PA, 9+ hours drive)

Any thoughts on Attitash? That is sorta the wildcard for me. Appears to have the terrain and trails, yet I hear little about it.
Click to expand...

My family and I will be staying at Attitash the week before President's week. Also, coming from about 9 hours away (Delaware). I go where the deals are, so it may not be Attitash this time. 2 years ago we skied two days at Attitash and had a great time.

There are more exprienced New Englanders who can give you better technical advise about the varying terrain between ski resorts.
 

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