New Hampshire Ski Areas Report Fourth Best Season

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16 June 2015

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SAM Magazine—Lincoln, N.H., June 16, 2015—Ski NH's 33 alpine and cross-country resorts hosted more than 2.57 million alpine, X-C, and tubing visits during the 2014-15 season, according to Ski NH. Abundant snowfall in February and March resulted in numerous record-breaking spring skiing days for many New Hampshire ski areas. That helped offset sporadic weather challenges from Christmas through the Presidents Day vacation period.

Alpine ski areas recorded 2,311,095 visits, an increase of 1.7 percent over the prior season and 5.1 percent over the 10-year average. Cross-country ski areas welcomed 138,944 visits last year, which ranked 12th historically. X-C visits were down 5.6 percent from the previous year, but up 3.5 percent over the 10-year average. The state's 11 ski area tubing centers posted their second best season with 123,959 visits, up 3.3 percent for the year and 14 percent above the 10-year average.

It was a year of weather extremes. Warmer temperatures and rain plagued many areas during Christmas and over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Presidents Day weekend brought extremely cold weather and high winds. Then snow and consistently cold temperatures extended the season well into April.

"We're already looking forward to the 2015-16 winter," said Ski NH executive director Jessica Keeler. "Enthusiasm for the start of a new season is usually high when the previous one ended as well as this one did. People remember that and get excited for the coming winter.”