By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
JACKSON – By 90 minutes, Black Mountain in Jackson was the first to open for skiing in New Hampshire Saturday with Bretton Woods ski area also loading chairs for the first time for the 2025-26 season.
Ski areas have received up to nine inches of natural snow in the past six days and the cold night air has helped snowmaking efforts.
At Black Mountain, “The lodge opens at 7:30 a.m., and the Summit Double will load at 7:45 a.m., making Black Mountain the first ski area to open in New Hampshire, edging out our friends at Bretton Woods by a mere 90 minutes. Are we making a statement? You bet,” said Erik Mogensen, president and general manager of Black Mountain Community Corporation, whose Entabeni Systems recently bought Black Mountain.
The independent ski area which is on the Indy Pass has just had more than $7.5 million invested in it by its new owner with extensive new snowmaking a focus. Mogensen said there have been heroic efforts in the past few weeks by the entire team to open on Saturday.
With the cold winter weather at night, and a seasonal forecast for the next week, it is looking very positive for ski areas to open early, with tentative opening dates listed below.
Bretton Woods has consistently been the first to open in New Hampshire but the oldest ski area in the state gave them a run for it and passed them.
This is the earliest opening day for Black Mountain in its 91-year history.
“We are making a statement that this little mountain and everything that it stands for is back and better than ever,” said Mogensen.
Three inches of fresh natural snow was reported at Bretton Woods in the past 24 hours and it had opening day video showing a clearly wintry scene at the summit with trees looking buried like little dribble castles of sand at the beach. Snow guns were also roaring with one trail open and there were a lot of smiles on the faces of skiers and riders happy to be back on the boards.
To see Bretton Wood’s opening day video visit https://www.brettonwoods.com/live-cam-forecast/
The timing for New Hampshire tourism couldn’t be better as the New England Snowbound Expo is being held this weekend at the Menino Center in Boston’s Seaport where a few other ski areas can also brag about open trails, including Killington in Vermont. Sunday River in Newry, Maine is also open with skiing from the Barker Lodge. https://www.sundayriver.com/mountain-report
According to Ski NH the projected opening dates for others are as follows:
Cannon Mountain – November 28th
Cranmore Mountain – November 28th
Dartmouth Skiway – December 19th
Granite Gorge Mountain Park – December 20th
Gunstock Mountain Resort – December 5th
King Pine Ski Area – December 12th
Loon Mountain Resort -November 21
McIntyre Ski Area – December 6th
Pats Peak – December 6th
Ragged Mountain Resort – December 5th
Tenney Mountain Resort – November 28th
Waterville Valley Resort – November 29th
The following ski areas are TBA:
Abenaki Ski Area
Attitash Mountain Resort
Crotched Mountain
Mount Sunapee
Whaleback Mountain
Wildcat Mountain