You know the ski season has officially started when the snow guns are blasting at McIntyre.
Attendees to Ski New Hampshire’s kickoff event Monday at the Manchester ski area arrived to see the guns blowing fresh powder over the Queen City’s lone ski hill, a local hub for families.
With temperatures getting cold enough for snow making and some Granite State resorts already open, it was a perfect time to forget last season’s weather woes, which contributed to a 4% decline in alpine skier visits.
Representatives from 20 ski resorts — about two-thirds of the state’s ski areas — gathered with industry and media folks and elected leaders to talk about the months ahead.
While the machine-generated snow at McIntire generated excitement, travelers visiting from the North Country were thankful they did not have to drive through any snow Monday, said Jessyca Keeler, president of Ski New Hampshire, the state’s industry trade group.
“Those of us up north, we got some great snow,” Keeler told the group. “I think anywhere from like 10 to 12, maybe 14 or 15 inches of snow over Thanksgiving, which was awesome. And other than that, we just had some wonderful cold temperatures. I think we’re finally in a cold snap. The cold snap that we need to make snow and get some trails open.”
Bretton Woods, Cannon Mountain, Waterville Valley Resort and Great Glen Trails had already opened by Monday, and 10 resorts are scheduled to open this week, she said.
Skiers to many of the state’s resorts will notice upgrades since last year. Several downhill and cross-country ski areas invested in more snowmaking equipment, including Loon, Cranmore, Granite Gorge, Great Glen Trails, Gunstock, Jackson XC, Pats Peak and Tenney Mountain, Keeler noted.
“There’s a continuation of big capital investments,” she said, noting resort building projects at Pats Peak, Cranmore and Gunstock.
Outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu, whose family owns Waterville Valley Resort, praised the evening’s host, likening McIntyre to a training ground for the bigger resorts in the White Mountains.
“Manchester is not the top of Bretton Woods in terms of temperatures and opportunities. The fact that a place like this can be so successful, create that opportunity to build that younger skier and send them your way, is really great,” he told the group.
That contribution is part of an economic engine expected to generate $1.6 billion this year in New Hampshire, according to the state. Last season, nearly 2.2 million alpine skiers visited New Hampshire.
“That is something that we’re very proud to continue to be able to see, the spend rates that we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” said Taylor Caswell, commissioner for the state’s Department of Economic Affairs.
The state spends some of its marketing dollars making sure skiers in Massachusetts know when there’s snow up north, especially when the grass is green in their backyards.
“We work very closely with Ski New Hampshire, and we do it in a very quick way where we’re able to be nimble with the type of advertising we do because, as somebody said earlier today, if it’s not snowing in Boston, they don’t think that there’s snow up here,” Caswell said.
“We immediately throw up content on snowmaking and live shots in the previous day at different sceneries across New Hampshire, so that people know that it’s different in the North Country. It’s different in the White Mountains. It’s different in New Hampshire. Come up here and spend your money.”
Ski NH honored outgoing state Senate President Jeb Bradley and outgoing U.S. Representative Annie Kuster for their contributions to the ski industry.
Governor-elect Kelley Ayotte got some props from Sununu for besting the fellow Republican in a ski race at Waterville Valley more than 30 years ago at a fundraiser in honor of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher and astronaut from Concord who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.
Sununu recently came across the race tally and saw that he was No. 30 out of a field of 300, while his successor at the State House was No. 12 — a good sign that she will have a strong interest in the ski industry.
“I have full confidence, based on the fact that I got crushed so badly back in 1992, that your next governor is going to be someone that really, really understands what’s going on, has a huge passion for it and most importantly, can deliver,” Sununu said.
Ayotte, who showed up to the event in a bright red sweater emblazoned with the word “ski,” praised Kuster, a Democrat, and Bradley, a Republican, for their support of the industry.
“I think it just shows you that skiing is such a bipartisan sport, right? We don’t really care what your party is like,” Ayotte said. “Can you ski and do you enjoy it?”
