Puck it
Well-known member
If you can ski weekdays, I would be a nomad with the deals.
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Best pass for the Seascoast NH crowd
- Thread starter AdironRider
- Start date
riverc0il
New member
Not sure I buy Boyne being the best option, you can get almost anywhere in VT just as fast as Loaf from Exeter. Heck, Jay Peak is closer than Sugarloaf to Exeter according to Google Maps. If River & early season are a selling point, Boyne seems great. If Loaf and late season are the selling point, you might as well expand your options as far as any where in New England including all of VT.
Cannon is snow making challenged. Wildcat gets ditched in favor of Attitash for early season but is great late season. Attitash/Wildcat pass is much more expensive than NH Res at Cannon. Wildcat is 2k top to bottom vert but Cannon skis big too even if you aren't doing top to bottom every run (personally I'm not big on 2k every run and like options. Loon is a mess on weekends, Waterville and River less so but busier than I can tolerate.
DHS has gone the mid-sized local area with Gunstock. Pat's is closest to Exeter due to the highway, then Crotched, then Gunstock for distance. Depends if mid-sized works for your tastes or not. Personally, I'd go Crotched based on your location if you were going to go that route. But it sounds like you want a bigger mountain, can't blame you there.
For driving, you can't beat Cannon... under two hours from Exeter vs 2.5 on R16 for Wildcat and even longer for River whereas Cannon is all highway and has the NH Resident deal.
My pick would be Cannon and augment that with day tripping early season, maybe with Boyne's "Card" to get cheap riding at the River/Loaf early/late season. Actually, my pick would be Jay/Burke for the season pass as it is worth the extra drive. But if you want to keep it close and cheap, you can't beat Cannon and the off map terrain is the best in NH hands down.
One other consideration is $800 gets you the pass that is good for Wildcat, Attitash, and Crotched which would net you early season, late season, and a nearby hit with good snow making and night skiing. Cannon NH Res is quite a bit less expensive though, no N. Conway, no R16 driving (think Sundays driving home with ski traffic, ugh, been there done that).
Cannon is snow making challenged. Wildcat gets ditched in favor of Attitash for early season but is great late season. Attitash/Wildcat pass is much more expensive than NH Res at Cannon. Wildcat is 2k top to bottom vert but Cannon skis big too even if you aren't doing top to bottom every run (personally I'm not big on 2k every run and like options. Loon is a mess on weekends, Waterville and River less so but busier than I can tolerate.
DHS has gone the mid-sized local area with Gunstock. Pat's is closest to Exeter due to the highway, then Crotched, then Gunstock for distance. Depends if mid-sized works for your tastes or not. Personally, I'd go Crotched based on your location if you were going to go that route. But it sounds like you want a bigger mountain, can't blame you there.
For driving, you can't beat Cannon... under two hours from Exeter vs 2.5 on R16 for Wildcat and even longer for River whereas Cannon is all highway and has the NH Resident deal.
My pick would be Cannon and augment that with day tripping early season, maybe with Boyne's "Card" to get cheap riding at the River/Loaf early/late season. Actually, my pick would be Jay/Burke for the season pass as it is worth the extra drive. But if you want to keep it close and cheap, you can't beat Cannon and the off map terrain is the best in NH hands down.
One other consideration is $800 gets you the pass that is good for Wildcat, Attitash, and Crotched which would net you early season, late season, and a nearby hit with good snow making and night skiing. Cannon NH Res is quite a bit less expensive though, no N. Conway, no R16 driving (think Sundays driving home with ski traffic, ugh, been there done that).
riverc0il
New member
Cannon added a lift to Mittersill and officially incorporated it into the area. Same great area before the lifts turn, total dirt and rock fest after the lift turns (when/if it ever turns!) due to so much traffic. Off map glading has expanded a bit since seven years ago, and Cannon has turned some off map glades into official on maps.
Wildcat has really changed except ownership. They open later it seems and snow making isn't as fast to expand as they focus on Attitash. The combo pass is new. Wildcat doesn't do many deals any more. The twofer is gone, prices have gone up. On mountain, they put a few glades on the map and took one off for environmental reasons.
Loon added South Peak. But Loon is Loon, you don't want to be there on a weekend.
Waterville has expansion plans but nothing in place yet. Might be worth revisiting after their pending expansion. For now, they can't hold a candle to Cannon's terrain and price and the drive time is almost the same either way. And statie's aren't half as tough on drivers as Campton PD.
Attitash, nothing much new there besides different owners. Some new off map glading and more on going. I checked em' out last year and was impressed by what I saw but not enough to get me over there again.
Basically, you haven't missed much. The big resorts blow more snow than ever, the skier/rider mountains don't. Everyone has added glades in some capacity but what held true seven years ago still holds true today.
riverc0il
New member
If you can ski a lot midweek, Bold & Beautiful pass is $379 mid-week for Cannon and Bretton Woods but includes holiday black outs. But then you still need something for the weekends since you ski so much, you'd probably have to augment that with a second pass.
You know, I was one to beat the drum regarding Wildcat not offering deals under Peak, but the Vertical Value card is probably a better deal overall than the twofers they offered in the past. 50% off midweek and 25% off weekends. You can even use the 25% off on the Sunday afternoon cruise. Considering I work late on Saturday evenings, that's actually a pretty good Sunday option for me when I want a bigger hill than Gunstock. If I hadn't tied up funds in other areas and wasn't so limited on time skiing midweek this season, I would've gotten it.
Peaks Sunday through Friday pass for $500 is a great deal. My only issue there is I really don't like the drive to Crotched (for my close fix option). I'll probably be going Gunstock again next year with the VV card to augment my options.
I'm only 10 minutes from Exeter, but I could never see myself going the Burke/Jay pass. 2:45 one way to Burke is just too far for day trips for me. I do several day trips each season that are that far or further away, but I couldn't see myself doing it every week.
Peaks Sunday through Friday pass for $500 is a great deal. My only issue there is I really don't like the drive to Crotched (for my close fix option). I'll probably be going Gunstock again next year with the VV card to augment my options.
I'm only 10 minutes from Exeter, but I could never see myself going the Burke/Jay pass. 2:45 one way to Burke is just too far for day trips for me. I do several day trips each season that are that far or further away, but I couldn't see myself doing it every week.
riverc0il
New member
Vertical Value is a pretty good deal. You basically buy a full weekend lift ticket and pay $19 for the card so it pays for itself after two visits. No brainer if you ski Attitash/Wildcat a lot but not enough for a season pass.
I tossed the Burke/Jay out there largely because Jay is closer than Loaf and some suggested Boyne. But quite frankly, I think it should be on the table. The distance may be really far for day tripping but the quality is going to surpass NH areas, which could be an issue for AR coming back east from being out west.
AR could make Burke in 2.5 hours if pushing the limit a bit which isn't much further than Wildcat. I think if Wildcat is on the table, then Burke absolutely should be on the table as well, especially when you can get Burke/Jay together for just one lift ticket's worth more and then they can hit Jay when they feel up for the drive.
It all depends on the mentality. Easy for me to talk about Burke/Jay living only two hours from Jay. But I ski a lot of places in VT that are 2.5 hours away from me (MRG, Smuggs, Stowe) so I know what a 2.5 hour day trip is like and I do so many times every month. At three and a quarter, Jay might be a stretch but worth it when the NoVT spine is the only place in New England with natural snow.
Considering they are almost the same distance, I don't know how you could talk Wildcat without talking Burke, at the least it should be on the table (what's new at Burke in the past seven years? two high speed quads and a big increase in snowmaking and who knows what else is coming with Stenger involved).
I tossed the Burke/Jay out there largely because Jay is closer than Loaf and some suggested Boyne. But quite frankly, I think it should be on the table. The distance may be really far for day tripping but the quality is going to surpass NH areas, which could be an issue for AR coming back east from being out west.
AR could make Burke in 2.5 hours if pushing the limit a bit which isn't much further than Wildcat. I think if Wildcat is on the table, then Burke absolutely should be on the table as well, especially when you can get Burke/Jay together for just one lift ticket's worth more and then they can hit Jay when they feel up for the drive.
It all depends on the mentality. Easy for me to talk about Burke/Jay living only two hours from Jay. But I ski a lot of places in VT that are 2.5 hours away from me (MRG, Smuggs, Stowe) so I know what a 2.5 hour day trip is like and I do so many times every month. At three and a quarter, Jay might be a stretch but worth it when the NoVT spine is the only place in New England with natural snow.
Considering they are almost the same distance, I don't know how you could talk Wildcat without talking Burke, at the least it should be on the table (what's new at Burke in the past seven years? two high speed quads and a big increase in snowmaking and who knows what else is coming with Stenger involved).
kickstand
Member
Judging by the chaos in the children's program area and in that same base lodge, it wouldn't surprise me. Never seen that lodge that busy. That being said, never felt like the trails were over-crowded and I never had more than a 5 minute wait for a lift.
Oh yeah... if you work schedule allows you to get in that many days then there is no way you should not get a pass somewhere. Easily justifiable. Somehow I was thinking primarially weekends status.
One other thought would be to pick a mountian and get in on a share house for the winter... do your due dilligiance so the house fits the dynamic that you and your wife are looking for. (You dont want to be in a party house if you are looking for a "first chair" house). You might actually save in the long run by only making the long drive once a weekend rather than 3 times.
kickstand
Member
Honestly, once you get past Portsmouth and over the river, it's clear sailing now, except for maybe a holiday weekend. There's much, much more two lane stretches than you might remember. The stretch from Pease up to the bridge can still be brutal, with that stupid lane drop, but once you get thru the first toll, no problems. The widening of 16 thru Rochester has made a huge difference. As long as you don't end up behind someone doing 5 below the speed limit thru Ossipee and Tamworth, and you're fine.
I admit I don't know anything about 101, so if it's faster/easier to get over to 93, go for it...
timm
New member
You can get to Wildcat a lot faster than 2.5 from Exeter. I've made it to/from Boston in 2:45 or less.
AdironRider
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For like 15 years 101 was a shitshow with widening, etc but they have it together now, at least from Exeter to Manchvegas where I would be hitting 93.
Riv - thought long and hard about Jay/Burke. Still would be the ideal pass, and is the ultimate goal as if the deal on the Exeter house comes through, well be cash flowing even with us living there and will have some extra scratch to go towards a little a-frame up there. Long term thats what we'd like to do, but in the interim looking for NH mountains that are day-trippable on the regular.
Thought about Crotched, but it seems like a lot of extra dough to take advantage of night skiing. Realistically I dont think Id see a return there.
Pats is a fun hill and only 50 minutes or so from Exeter if you boogie, but its just to small to keep me occupied. If I was to go night skiing I would probably just pay for tix between there and Crotched.
Riv - thought long and hard about Jay/Burke. Still would be the ideal pass, and is the ultimate goal as if the deal on the Exeter house comes through, well be cash flowing even with us living there and will have some extra scratch to go towards a little a-frame up there. Long term thats what we'd like to do, but in the interim looking for NH mountains that are day-trippable on the regular.
Thought about Crotched, but it seems like a lot of extra dough to take advantage of night skiing. Realistically I dont think Id see a return there.
Pats is a fun hill and only 50 minutes or so from Exeter if you boogie, but its just to small to keep me occupied. If I was to go night skiing I would probably just pay for tix between there and Crotched.
I agree that the widening of 16 has made a big positive difference. Traffic isn't too bad heading up to Conway from there any more (in the winter).
I would avoid the Loon / Sunday River / Sugarloaf pass. It is very expensive, and the crowds at Loon are unbearable unless you go mid-week. The one advantage of that pass is the early season at Sunday River.
If you can ski mid-week, then the Cannon and Bretton Woods pass makes a lot of sense. Bretton Woods and Cranmore now offer a 6-day/week pass too.
Cannon:
Great terrain (with natural snow). Reasonable season pass rates for NH residents. Snow-making is not good. Lift system could be better.
Bretton Woods:
Excellent snow making. Excellent grooming. Great glades, but otherwise no challenging terrain. This place is made for family groomers. Everything is more expensive here.
Have you looked into the EICSL clubs in the Mt Washington Valley? They provide a very convenient way to stay up their for cheap, and they are a dedicated group that always provides someone to ski with. The vast majority of club members have the Granite (Attitash / Wildcat / Crotched) pass. Even without the pass, the Vertical Value Card is indeed a no-brainer.
Crotched:
It can be a haul for such modest vertical, but is provides a great night skiing option with their new HSQ and midnight madness.
Attitash:
It can get relatively crowded on weekends (think Bretton Woods sized crowds). The Bear Peak side used to be an excellent choice for the HSQ and non-existent lines. However, the management has made some changes this year that have really messed that up. In a (successful) attempt to bring more families over to Bear Peak, they ruined two of my favorite trails by making them a terrain park. They also took their black race trail (Illusion) and rebranded it as blue to make that side of the mountain look less intimidating on a map. The result is a trail that gets skied off to ice very quickly and is full of people who are in over their head.
The Attitash side has longer lift lines, more families, more learning skiers. There is no detachable lift to the summit on the main peak, so that can be painfully slow.
The snow making at Attitash gets off to a very late start as they don't every put in an effort until the second week of December, but they do a good job of covering the mountain once they finally get started. I think they just look at the dollars and don't see any reward to blowing until the last minute to prepare for Christmas. They opened top-to-bottom a single run on Bear Peak on December 7 and it took them another week to get a run open on the Attitash side. Even Cranmore had them beat by weeks.
Wildcat:
First the negatives: This mountain has a lot in common with Cannon. The terrain here is probably the most challenging in NH. Just don't expect refined skiing. The snow making is way underpowered, and as a result they don't groom most of the mountain. They get started earlier than Attitash, but they don't even have enough capacity to blow top-to-bottom on one trail. As a result, it takes at least a week (assuming perfect weather) to get a single top-to-bottom route open. Wildcat is also very wind prone (probably more so than Cannon). I've seen weeks where they only run the summit lift half the days due to wind. For example, they are closed today and tomorrow due to wind chill.
And the positives: still may favorite mountain. I like the bare-bones skiing experience, and it does keep costs relatively low. Their summit lift is fantastic: 6 minutes to the top for 2100 vertical feet. Lift lines are almost always short if they exist at all. (This assumes it is not on wind hold...) The elevation advantage here is clear: they get much more natural snow (already over 100 inches this season). Over Christmas week this place was 100% open on natural snow only and conditions were fantastic. Of course now they have melted down and that sub-par snow making system is evident. Wildcat is also routinely the last area open in the NH, usually well into April. They will leave trails "open" that lack a skiable line the whole way down.
I would avoid the Loon / Sunday River / Sugarloaf pass. It is very expensive, and the crowds at Loon are unbearable unless you go mid-week. The one advantage of that pass is the early season at Sunday River.
If you can ski mid-week, then the Cannon and Bretton Woods pass makes a lot of sense. Bretton Woods and Cranmore now offer a 6-day/week pass too.
Cannon:
Great terrain (with natural snow). Reasonable season pass rates for NH residents. Snow-making is not good. Lift system could be better.
Bretton Woods:
Excellent snow making. Excellent grooming. Great glades, but otherwise no challenging terrain. This place is made for family groomers. Everything is more expensive here.
Have you looked into the EICSL clubs in the Mt Washington Valley? They provide a very convenient way to stay up their for cheap, and they are a dedicated group that always provides someone to ski with. The vast majority of club members have the Granite (Attitash / Wildcat / Crotched) pass. Even without the pass, the Vertical Value Card is indeed a no-brainer.
Crotched:
It can be a haul for such modest vertical, but is provides a great night skiing option with their new HSQ and midnight madness.
Attitash:
It can get relatively crowded on weekends (think Bretton Woods sized crowds). The Bear Peak side used to be an excellent choice for the HSQ and non-existent lines. However, the management has made some changes this year that have really messed that up. In a (successful) attempt to bring more families over to Bear Peak, they ruined two of my favorite trails by making them a terrain park. They also took their black race trail (Illusion) and rebranded it as blue to make that side of the mountain look less intimidating on a map. The result is a trail that gets skied off to ice very quickly and is full of people who are in over their head.
The Attitash side has longer lift lines, more families, more learning skiers. There is no detachable lift to the summit on the main peak, so that can be painfully slow.
The snow making at Attitash gets off to a very late start as they don't every put in an effort until the second week of December, but they do a good job of covering the mountain once they finally get started. I think they just look at the dollars and don't see any reward to blowing until the last minute to prepare for Christmas. They opened top-to-bottom a single run on Bear Peak on December 7 and it took them another week to get a run open on the Attitash side. Even Cranmore had them beat by weeks.
Wildcat:
First the negatives: This mountain has a lot in common with Cannon. The terrain here is probably the most challenging in NH. Just don't expect refined skiing. The snow making is way underpowered, and as a result they don't groom most of the mountain. They get started earlier than Attitash, but they don't even have enough capacity to blow top-to-bottom on one trail. As a result, it takes at least a week (assuming perfect weather) to get a single top-to-bottom route open. Wildcat is also very wind prone (probably more so than Cannon). I've seen weeks where they only run the summit lift half the days due to wind. For example, they are closed today and tomorrow due to wind chill.
And the positives: still may favorite mountain. I like the bare-bones skiing experience, and it does keep costs relatively low. Their summit lift is fantastic: 6 minutes to the top for 2100 vertical feet. Lift lines are almost always short if they exist at all. (This assumes it is not on wind hold...) The elevation advantage here is clear: they get much more natural snow (already over 100 inches this season). Over Christmas week this place was 100% open on natural snow only and conditions were fantastic. Of course now they have melted down and that sub-par snow making system is evident. Wildcat is also routinely the last area open in the NH, usually well into April. They will leave trails "open" that lack a skiable line the whole way down.
Edd
Well-known member
From Exeter, Google maps says 166 miles for Burke vs 115 miles to Wildcat which is a round-trip distance of 102 miles. Not exactly the same distance. The time difference, however, (2:42 to Burke and 2:30 to Wildcat) is only 24 extra minutes of of round-trip driving. If AR was unconcerned with the gas I can see being very tempted by Burke.
riverc0il
New member
Sorry, I meant time, not distance. Don't forget traffic on Route 16. I know you guys are saying there were improvements to make it better. I don't know where it stops being two lane as I haven't drive Route 16 south of Ossipee in some time. But as I recall from a town or two south of Wakefield until Conway is all one lane, not a lot of dotted lines, and lots of cops. Coming home on Sunday is murder. I bet you could get home Burke to Exeter faster than Wildcat to Exeter on a Sunday afternoon. Something to be said for almost 100% highway compared to 15% highway. I'll take that extra 12 minutes (in perfect conditions on the Wildcat side) everytime. Used to live in Northeast MA, used to enjoy skiing Wildcat, used to hate driving there and switched to Cannon after only a few years of the Kitty.
kickstand
Member
Most of the Conway crowd eats breakfast and runs. 3:00pm drive home on Sundays is wonderful.
16 is now 2 lanes for the entire time there are exits, which is a little before you get to Wakefield. Heading north, there is a stretch just before the Irving where its 1 lane, but it's dotted almost the whole way to the light. After Wakefield, you're right, it's 1 lane with only a few dotted sections and several speed limit drops. Cops are really only out Fridays 5-9 and holiday weekends. Heading home, I rarely see any cops.
Yeah, the skiing I've done at Wildcat in recent years has almost been exclusively on Sundays. I've never really had an issue with traffics/cops. You get the occasional slowpoke, but they're usually local drivers who aren't traveling the whole commute and don't hold you up long.
As far as state highways go to access skiing, I don't seem to mind 16 where as I road like 26 to Sunday River I loathe.
As far as state highways go to access skiing, I don't seem to mind 16 where as I road like 26 to Sunday River I loathe.
AdironRider
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Ive never really had an issue with cops on 16 either. Im sure they're somewhat biased to out of state plates if they do exist.
Most likely still looking at a Cannon pass, but we'll see how it shakes out. Wife currently has a line on a gig at Bretton Woods, which would throw a wrench in the whole plan as it stands now.
Most likely still looking at a Cannon pass, but we'll see how it shakes out. Wife currently has a line on a gig at Bretton Woods, which would throw a wrench in the whole plan as it stands now.
midd
New member
I saw more cops on Rt. 16 this past Friday night than I have in the last 10 years of heading up there regularly. Right from Newington up to almost Madison. Even saw a bunch Sunday morning on the way back. Couple groups of people pulled over between Chocorua Lake and Route 25.
Puck it
Well-known member
If I am going to Wildcat or Attitash, 93 to 3 to 302 is a lot less aggravation. 16 sucks even with the improvement. You still get suck behind some yahoos doing the speed limit or less.
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