Guns are a-blazing with snow-making at Bretton Woods as temperatures dip and expectations climb for the 2022-23 ski season. (Courtesy photo)

For New Hampshire ski area operators — and the Ski NH organization that represents them — hope springs eternal for a snow-filled, visitor-filled 2023-24 winter season.

The coming season is full of anticipation with capital improvement projects (on and off the ski trails), a World Cup ski event at Waterville Valley, and the announcement by Black Mountain owners that they wouldn’t open for the season, only to be followed by the announcement of a white knight effort to keep them open at least another winter.

“I think every year we’re like: This is gonna be the best season ever. Then, we just wait and see what happens,” said Jessyca Keeler, president of Ski New Hampshire, the nonprofit, member-based trade organization that represents and supports 30 alpine and cross-country ski areas throughout the Granite State. “I think it’s going to be fun to just go to the different areas and check out all the new things that they have going on.”

The 2022-23 ski season was very good, according to the data provided by Ski NH.

Alpine skier visits, despite some challenging early-season conditions, were up 13% compared to 2021-22. That, according to Melody Nester, Ski NH assistant director, is more than twice what happened nationally last season. “The United States was at 6.6%, so that’s pretty impressive,” she said.

Cross-country visits were down 10%, owing to a general lack of natural snow early on. “The good news, though, is that like their alpine cousins, cross-country skiers are beginning to invest more heavily in snow-making and groomers as they are able,” Nester noted.

Ski areas with tubing had an 18% uptick in visits. In total, according to Ski NH, visits to member ski areas came to 2,494,175, and represented a 12% increase over the previous season’s 2,220,102 visits.

“After what initially looked like a season that was going to be plagued by warm weather and little snowfall, it ultimately reversed course and finished in the top 10 seasons historically at number nine for alpine skier visits, with a total of 2,263,776 visits. This represented a 13% year-over-year increase compared to 1,997,185 visits the prior year, and 10% over the 10-year average,” Keeler said at the organization’s annual conference in June.

As always, the great unknown for a new winter season is Mother Nature’s mood, and there are lots of predictions — from the Farmer’s Almanac to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the size of the mid-section of a wooly caterpillar.

Long-range forecasters at NOAA say northern New England is among the regions with the greatest odds of seeing warmer-than-average conditions along with an average amount of precipitation, whether that be in the form of rain, sleet or (for ski areas) much-desired snow.

A lot of the talk from meteorologists centers on the upcoming El Nino-influenced winter versus the El Nina winters we’ve had over the last few years. This pattern normally brings warmer temperatures to the region and below-average snowfall in Concord. One Maine forecaster, however, predicts “plenty of snow in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the western and northern mountains of Maine.”

Ski area operators have put a lot of effort and money into improving the visitor experience on and off the hill with ski areas investing in improved snow-making, additional/new chairlifts, and enhanced dining and lodging amenities.

The snow guns at work on the upper mountain at Waterville Valley, site of the FIS World Cups in moguls and dual moguls in January. (Courtesy photo)

Here’s a sampling:

• An example of snow-making for cross-country enthusiasts is at the Oak Hill Outdoor Center in Hanover, which this season will have a new three-kilometer trail with snow-making capabilities. Oak Hill is owned by Dartmouth College and leased by the Friends of Oak Hill, a nonprofit organization. “If you want to be viable, you’ve got to have snow-making,” said Peter Milliken, chairman of the Friends of Oak Hill, told the Valley News.
• Gunstock Mountain also has additional snow-making for its cross-country trails with the purchase of a portable snowmaking gun. In addition, it has 40 new tower guns for the ski trails, it’s made improvements to both its Panorama Pub at the summit and the Stockade Lodge at the bottom, transforming it from a grab-and-go cafeteria into a full-service restaurant (named the Barrel Bar & Grille). It also has a new rental building/tuning shop. It has announced a tentative opening date of Friday, Dec. 8.
• Cranmore Mountain will open its new base lodge, Fairbank Lodge, prior to Christmas vacation week. The lodge adds 30,000 square feet of new, day-lodge facility space to the resort, including a new food pavilion, slope-side bar, day and season-long lockers, restrooms, water bottle fill stations and a ski accessories shop.
• Attitash Ski Resort’s new Mountaineer quad chairlift is on schedule to open during the Christmas week vacation. It replaces the Summit Triple.
• King Pine has replaced the rope tow on its beginner hill with a new magic carpet, called the “Cubby Carpet.” It has also added a new outside deck to its upstairs dining area.
• Loon Mountain has been at work on its South Peak expansion, which adds 11 trails and one four-person chairlift to the resort, increasing the area’s skiable terrain to over 400 acres, 12 lifts and a vertical drop of 2,190 feet — making it the longest in New Hampshire. The 30 acres of new terrain includes two tree-skiing areas, which all cater to beginner and intermediate ability levels.
• Pats Peak has a new race training area with snow-making and night lighting for evening training session.
• Additional snow-making has been added to Bretton Woods, which is preparing for its 50th anniversary season, and state-owned Cannon Mountain.

These are “great signs,” said Keeler of the confidence ski areas have in their future.

“When you see that kind of investment in new lodges and completely overhauling existing lodges and building new buildings for ski patrol or adding new trails, adding a whole new area for people to learn such as Loon — these are really great indicators that, in my mind, point to the health of the industry,” she said.

Significantly, leading up to the new ski season, Black Mountain is scheduled to open, thanks to an effort led by Indy Pass.

The Fichera family, the area’s owner, had announced its closure in October, saying, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, including soaring energy costs, unpredictable weather, extreme staffing shortages throughout the region, and many other challenges, we have made the very difficult decision to cease operations.”

Indy Pass, a coalition of independent ski resorts across the country that includes Black Mountain, stepped in to keep the Jackson-based area operational for the upcoming season while a new owner is sought.

“The Fichera family and Indy Pass are proud to announce that Black Mountain will open for the coming season,” Black said in its announcement. “We understand how important Black Mountain is to the community, and that skiing and riding should not be something for a privileged few.”

Keeler said ski areas throughout the state face similar challenges to those cited by Black: rising energy costs, workforce needs, climate change, to name a few.

A crane secures a sheave assembly on a tower as part of installation of the new Mountaineer quad chairlift at Attitash Ski Resort, which replaces the Summit Triple. (Screenshot)

“Black is a historic mountain. It’s got a lot of character, a lot of history and a lot of fans. People really love that mountain,” said Keeler.

“I think it’s great that the folks from Indy Pass are working with Black Mountain, which I think was one of the first areas to sign up to be an Indy Pass member,” she added. “I think that those guys recognize the value of a mountain like Black Mountain and want to try to put some resources towards helping it figure out what its next steps are going to be. And I applaud that.”

The world is coming to Waterville Valley; the World Cup, that is, for championship mogul skiing.

The FIS World Cups in moguls and dual moguls will be held Jan. 26-27, 2024, on Lower Bobby’s Run.

“The Waterville team looks forward to welcoming the world’s top freestyle athletes, as we bring together passionate fans and a community of people who share a love for the sport,” said Tim Smith, president and general manager of Waterville Valley Resort.

Nester noted the Waterville event will serve as a showcase for all of New Hampshire. “We’ll be able to highlight New Hampshire skiing to the world,” she said. The event will happen at Waterville again in 2025.

For Nester and others, the buzz for the upcoming season is loudly optimistic.

“The ski operators are eternally optimistic that it will be a good season,” she said.