Northern New Hampshire: Cannon, Black and Cranmore Mountains
Three Mountains in Northern New Hampshire
Scheduling our ski and snowboard trips we look for locations where we can hit a multiple mountains within short distances of each other. Northern New Hampshire came to mind this winter after purchasing the Indy Pass and having already visited Pat’s Peak on a trip. We chose to visit Cannon Mountain Ski Resort and Black Mountain Ski Area, while up there added a stop at Mt Cranmore. Our goal this season was days on the slopes and new to us mountains. Northern New Hampshire provided all that and more.
Cannon Mountain started our trip. Weather was not our friend, low cloud ceiling, fog and wet weather dampened (pun intended) some of our riding, we made under 10 runs with a lunch break before calling it a day. Our second day at the end of our trip was much better. Reaching the summit of over 4000 feet a few times and descending the 2180′ vertical drop with the kids on our boards. The views were incredible, and diversity fo trails and challenges were fun for all. We spent the day at Cannon, finding everyone friendly, COVID guidelines enforced and lots of great pictures, videos and family fun riding.
Black Mountain was the perfect throwback 2 lift mountain for the kids. Great running trails granting them freedom and the adults. Abilities vary within our group and overall we found Black easily to conquer the terrain, kids described as a solid green/blue hill. My extreme boarder wished they had some more challenges and/or a park but enjoyed the two days we spent there. The parking lot provides great access to the lifts, parking by the double on the second day we skied straight to the car and packed up with ease.
Cranmore Mountain Ski Area in North Conway had a different feel from Cannon and Black. A family resort and mini village with buildings for lessons, tickets, store and restaurant areas. We did night skiing only here. The terrain options and one lift offers little variety but having a park open was fun for my daughter. Most of the runs are green at night. Easy quick runs and with little crowds at night we went up and down quite a few times. We plan on checking out the whole mountain on a future trip for day riding and exploring.
Our Rankings
This trip over all our ranking was: 1st Cannon, 2nd Cranmore (we saw the potential), 3rd Black
The Northern New Hampshire Mountains offers many places to ski and snowboard, next season we plan on hitting many in the White Mountain area that are connected with our ski passes. Our Indy Pass included Cannon and Black, but Cranmore was $39 each for night ticket. Major savings.
Travel
The White Mountains are roughly 5 hours from the 684/84 intersection, actual mountain distance may vary.
More To Do
Visit Mt. Washington Auto Road- check out our review.
Updated 3/2021
