Lincoln, NH - The 2014/15 ski season in New Hampshire will go down as the fourth best season on record, with over 2.57 million visits (alpine, cross-country and tubing) to NH ski areas combined. While the season kicked off with 12" of snow in most areas around the state, making for a great early season, key periods between the Christmas holiday week and Presidents Day vacation saw weather challenges. Nonetheless, abundant snowfall in February and March resulted in numerous record-breaking spring skiing days for many New Hampshire ski areas.
This winter alpine ski areas recorded 2,311,095 visits, which was an increase of 1.7% over 2013/14, and a gain of 5.1% over the 10-year average. Cross-country ski areas welcomed 138,944 visits last year, ranking 12th historically. Although visits were down 5.6%, 2014/15 cross-country visits were still 3.5% over the 10-year average. New Hampshire's 11 ski area tubing centers posted their second best overall season ever, with 123,959 visits, a 3.3% jump over last year and 14% higher than the 10-year average.
The 2014/15 winter was an often challenging one. Warmer temperatures and rain plagued most NH ski areas during Christmas week and over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, while Presidents Day weekend brought extremely cold weather and high winds to many areas. However, abundant snowfall throughout February and March combined with sustained cold temperatures during those months provided for an extended ski season that lasted well into April. It was during the latter months of the season that New Hampshire ski areas gained ground by welcoming people hungry to make turns.
"The fact that our winter visits ended up fourth overall and fourth for downhill skiing visits clearly demonstrate that there was pent up demand by the time March and April rolled around," observed Jessyca Keeler, Ski NH executive director. "Although the season started with a bang due to the big Thanksgiving snowstorm, our ski areas faced some pretty big weather challenges during prime holiday periods that kept skiers and riders at bay. By late February until resorts closed in the spring, however, many of our ski areas welcomed double digit gains over last year. I think people were excited to finally get out of their snowed-in homes and enjoy some spring skiing."
"Snowmaking is also an enormous factor in the success the New Hampshire ski industry had overall this year," said Ben Wilcox, Ski NH chairman of the board and general manager of Cranmore Mountain Resort. "With the powerful and efficient snowmaking systems that New Hampshire ski areas have, we were able to provide great skiing throughout the season. Perhaps a bigger challenge was the amount of snow our key market areas received - in Boston and southern New Hampshire. Too much snow in those areas actually made it tough for people to travel."
"We're already looking forward to the 2015/16 winter," remarked Keeler. "Enthusiasm for the start of a new season is usually high when the previous one ended as well as this one did, with many areas offering deep snow for spring skiing well into April. People remember that and get excited for the coming winter."
