New Hampshire’s Budget-Friendly Ski Mountains for Families

With lift tickets running as high as $120 a day at larger resorts, families are looking to smaller mountains with more budget-friendly rates. These five mountains in New Hampshire offer top eastern ski conditions at between $48 and $72 a day for adults on weekends, even less on weekdays. Three of these locations are close to Interstate highways.

Black Mountain

The northernmost is Black Mountain, in Jackson, at $72 on weekends and $50 on weekdays. Five lifts access 40 trails and the mountain’s warm, friendly atmosphere gives you a taste of what skiing was like in the early days — but with up-to-date snow-making and grooming. An added plus is lodging and dining right at base in a traditional ski-in-ski-out lodge.

King Pine

Also in the White Mountains, King Pine, located in Madison, is a charmer, with 14 runs carved through pine woods, some with surprisingly steep terrain for a small mountain. Rates, which also include cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating, are $72, $50 on weekdays. The mountain is part of Purity Spring Resort, an old-fashioned family-oriented resort.

Dartmouth Skiway

Dartmouth Skiway is operated by Dartmouth College in nearby Hanover, with weekend rates of $50 and weekday rates of $30. Half of the 104 skiable acres, which cover two facing mountainsides, are graded for intermediate skiers. The other half is evenly divided between beginning and expert terrain. The longest trail is 1.25 miles. Dartmouth Skiway is only a few miles from I-91 in Vermont.

Whaleback

Not far from Dartmouth Skiway, and just off I-89, Whaleback has $50 weekend tickets and $40 midweek tickets. Like the other ski areas mentioned, Whaleback has a varied terrain and an especially good beginners’ area and learning program. One trail is gladed for tree skiing. This area is an old-school, community-run ski mountain, where kids come first.

McIntyre

The southernmost of the mountains is McIntyre, close to I-93 in Manchester. Weekend rates are $48, weekdays $36. Two double chairlifts serve its nine trails. McIntyre also comes with a tubing hill. The emphasis here is on learning, with an excellent ski and snowboard school and a 9,000-foot base lodge.

Note that weekday rates during school vacation (the last week in February) are the same as weekend rates at all these mountains.