What is the best ski area in New Hampshire?

NewEnglandSkier13

WMUR.com wants to know the very best things in New Hampshire in our weekly segment called WMUR Viewers’ Choice.

This week, we want to know what the best ski area in New Hampshire is! Please, do not nominate ski areas outside of the Granite State.

Leave a comment below with your nomination or cast your vote on our Facebook page.

Voting ends each Thursday at 9 a.m.!

http://www.wmur.com/entertainment/viewers-choice/what-is-the-best-ski-area-in-new-hampshire/37557524?utm_campaign=WMUR-TV&utm_medium=FBPAGE&utm_source=Social

joshua_segal

We did this on SJ 1.0 for areas in excess of 1000 vertical.  I wish I remembered the results.  I think the top 3 were Cannon, Wildcat and Attitash; Ragged was surprisingly high (4 or 5) and WV was surprisingly low (between 8 and 10).

rickbolger

It’ll be interesting to see results from a more broad based group. I bet if we did it again here our results would be similar to last time

ski_it

I’d go with Joshua’s list although perhaps WV or Loon ahead of Attitash. I prefer to ski at Wildcat over Cannon but obviously the skiing is tougher at Cannon.

joshua_segal

1000 footers in NH

Attitash

Black

Bretton Woods

Cannon

Cranmore

Gunstock

Loon

Mount Sunapee

Ragged

Waterville

Wildcat

There are many ways to put together a list like this.

I propose: name 3 as “best three”; name 5 as the middle; and name 3 as the bottom 3

Don’t participate if you haven’t skied at least 6 of the areas.  Any area you didn’t ski gets lumped in the middle.  If we have agreement that this is a good approach, I’ll compile the numbers and come up with “the SJ official order”.

If you prefer something else, go for it!

(When we did this last, there was also Tenney and the Balsams.)

obienick

I have not skied Black, Cannon, Loon or Mt. Sunapee.

My top 3 (alphabetical):

Bretton Woods

Cranmore

Wildcat

Middle 5 (alphabetical):

[Black]

[Cannon]

[Loon]

[Mt. Sunapee]

Ragged

Bottom 3 (alphabetical):

Attitash

Gunstock

Waterville Valley

Do you want the Top/Bottom 3 ranked or like this?

ski_it

Wait I thought Crotched Mountain was 1016? And if Tenney opens,  its 1440.I guess I won’t mention Balsams, Moose, Tuckerman or Mittersill…

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“ski_it” style=“font-weight: normal;”>Wait I thought Crotched Mountain was 1016? And if Tenney opens,  its 1440.I guess I won’t mention Balsams, Moose, Tuckerman or Mittersill…</blockquote>

Crotched is between 850 and 875 as authenticated by GPS and mapnut.

Moose was 940′

Mittersill is Cannon

and when Tenney and the Wilderness return, we can add them..

ski_it

“Crotched is between 850 and 875 as authenticated by GPS and mapnut.” Hey you’re right of course, I get 878 from G Earth and being nice about it. When are they going to fix their stats?

Crotched Trail Map Map 1000′ VERTICAL Map 2066 summit elevation - 1915 G Earth Map 1050 base elevation - 1037 G Earth Calculates to 1016′ vertical - 878′ G Earth over a 10 percent error.

ski_it

My top 3 :•Cannon•Wildcat•LoonMiddle 5 :•Waterville Valley•Attitash•Mt. Sunapee•Bretton Woods•GunstockBottom 3 :•Cranmore•Ragged•Black

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“ski_it”>…. When are they going to fix their stats?</blockquote>

Would that CM were the only one to lie about their vertical.  Stratton - not quite 2K; Wachusett - not quite 1K, etc.  I think we had a thread on SJ 1.0 that had a list of areas that advertised “enhanced verticals”. 

Incidentally, Pico at 1947′ appears to be the closest to 2K who never claimed to be 2K.

To get the 1000 vertical at CM, one has to measure from actual peak of CM (to which the lift does not go) to the bottom of the snowmaking pond (to which the lift doesn’t go).  All that being said, IMO the shape of CM makes it ski bigger than it really is.  

I would suggest that CM is NH’s best sub-1K vertical area.  The only one that comes close is Whaleback.

joshua_segal

Not much interest in this thread apparently:

Top 3:

Attitash

Cannon

Wildcat

Middle 5:

Black

Cranmore

Loon

Mt. Sunapee

Ragged

Bottom 3:

Bretton Woods

Gunstock

Waterville

Note: I have only been to Black and Cranmore once each.  I suspect one (or both) might have been in my bottom three, but I gave them a “charity pass” to the middle group because I remembered very little about either..

riverc0il

I would put Dartmouth up there for sub-1k as well for NH. Great place to go for natural snow. Though I think Whaleback fully open is better than Dartmouth. Crotched is a better overall mountain than either due to its more consistent surfaces and snow making power. But I would put Dartmouth and Whaleback over Crotched for better natural snow.

The problem with saying “best” is that different areas are best at different things. Bretton Woods is the “best” area for many types of skiers given its generally limited pitch and long well manicured runs. That isn’t my cup of tea but that is the “best” for many skiers.

Black is fantastic when their trees are open and they have natural snow. I’d have a hard time deciding between Whaleback or Black for an under the radar powder day at a mid-sized area. Cranmore… eh, I guess I understand the appeal for a certain audience but I think that crowd would be better served by Attitash (steeper) or Bretton (flatter). Waterville does nothing for me. Haven’t been to Gunstock since I was learning to ski so I do want to get back there and check the place out.

I’ve skied every non-feeder area in NH and as much as I don’t care for BWv or WV, I wouldn’t put them in the bottom 3. And I would put Loon on par with Attitash. I’m obviously biased towards Cannon and I’d give Wildcat the nod for second. But again, “best” for who? Overall? I can’t put Cannon or Wildcat in the top two for the majority of skiers…

bmwskier

Despite all of my time in the north country I haven’t skied New Hampshire that much– Tuckerman’s, one day at Wildcat, a day at Black learning how to telemark with EMS, and about four runs at Loon that got cut short when one of the kids’ I was chaperoning blew a knee out. I definitely want to get over there more– I’ve heard such good things about Cannon, WV et al, that I feel like I’m missing out a bit. 

joshua_segal

riverc0il makes many good points. not the least of which is the subjectivity of “what are the parameters for being the best?”  In some ways, it has analogies in baseball.  A great shortstop or catcher can get by as a 220 hitter, but your first baseman or outfielder better be hitting at least 20 home runs.  The best paid is the guy who only plays every 5 days, the starting pitcher.

A person who skis 20 days a winter can cherry pick and find great snow days almost anywhere.  As someone who skis daily, I wouldn’t want Mad River Glen to be my home area.

Location is so important.  Holiday Valley has put together an incredible following, but they are in a location with no competition.  Pico is a great area, but due to its being in the shadow of Killington, remains in the shadows.

I suspect for me, the most important parameters include:

- availabilty of advanced runs

- availability of glades

- crowd issues

- snowmaking and grooming for the days that conditions would otherwise be impossible

- length of season: I want to be skiing from Oct. to Jun.

Regarding specifics of riverc0il’s posting, I’ve only been to Dartmouth once about 40 years ago, so I don’t remember much about it.

I knock Loon down for three reasons: crowd, bad trail layout with downright dangerous intersections, and a general lack of steeps.  A possible fourth: maybe they have glades now, but they didn’t 10 years ago.

All that being said, I think the question for this thread is not what other people think, but what you think. I’ll need at least 10 lists to attempt to collate the data to come up with an SJ consensus..

NewEnglandSkier13

King Pine would have to be my personal favorite. It’s rarely crowded, there is an amazing ski school and great novice terrain, but there is also steep, often ungroomed, double blacks for the expert skier. If you want to venture into the woods King Pine has multiple gladed areas. Best of all it is very affordable!

King Pine is what would be closest to my “home” mountain.

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“NewEnglandSkier13”>King Pine would have to be my personal favorite. It’s rarely crowded, there is an amazing ski school and great novice terrain, but there is also steep, often ungroomed, double blacks for the expert skier. If you want to venture into the woods King Pine has multiple gladed areas. Best of all it is very affordable!

King Pine is what would be closest to my “home” mountain.</blockquote>

Crotched Mt. is my home and favorite mountain.  But it, like King Pine, is not helpful to this thread.  

Perhaps the problem with this thread is we do not have 10 SJers who have skied 6 or more of NH’s areas with 1000+ vertical drop to come up with a consensus.

tedede

<blockquote style=“margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;”>Perhaps the problem with this thread is we do not have 10 SJers who have skied 6 or more of NH’s areas with 1000+ vertical drop to come up with a consensus.</blockquote>

Or perhaps we’re just not interested in compiling a “best” list with best being a very subjective term.

NewEnglandSkier13

Why are we only considering 1,000 plus? We are looking for the best area, not the best large area. Am I right?

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“tedede”><blockquote style=“margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;”>Perhaps the problem with this thread is we do not have 10 SJers who have skied 6 or more of NH’s areas with 1000+ vertical drop to come up with a consensus.</blockquote>

Or perhaps we’re just not interested in compiling a “best” list with best being a very subjective term.

</blockquote>

Maybe.  But in an election, one doesn’t have to explain why s/he likes a particular candidate to vote for him/her.