Attitash

Located in the White Mountains of central New Hampshire, Attitash competes with other mountains in the vicinity of Mount Washington. The resort has always aimed to attract a family-friendly audience, and a recent new high-speed quad has really improved the lift network. But Attitash faces a tough fight against the classic New England slopes of its nearby competitors, and the resort won’t be perfect for everyone.

Size and Terrain Layout

Spanning over 300 acres, Attitash is on the bigger side as far as New Hampshire ski resorts go, although it’s still quite a bit smaller than the largest ski areas in other parts of the Northeast. The resort comprises two distinct mountain areas: the Attitash side and the Bear Peak side. While they are only connected by a few trails, both sides are similarly-sized and generally specialize in the same type of terrain—although there are a few notable distinctions between the two.

Beginner Terrain

Despite its family-friendly atmosphere, Attitash is a somewhat middling resort for beginners. The green terrain that Attitash does have is fairly enjoyable, with a dedicated learning area off the Progression Quad on the Attitash side. But outside of this area, directly-accessible green terrain at Attitash is nearly nonexistent, with no green runs in upper-mountain areas. Just a single true green trail exists off the Kachina Triple lift on the Bear Peak side, and getting to all remaining beginner runs on Bear Peak involves going down a blue run first.

Beginners will not love Attitash’s lift setup either, with the only lifts that directly serve green terrain being slow, fixed-grip chairs. Crossing between the two resort sides is a pain for beginners as well—going from Bear Peak to the Attitash side is basically out of the question for skiers and riders of this ability level, and while going the other way around is probably doable for less-experienced guests, the route involves some really flat terrain that won’t be enjoyable.

Intermediate Terrain

Visitors will want to be of intermediate proficiency to truly appreciate Attitash. The resort is first and foremost an intermediate’s mountain, with the vast majority of its footprint offering groomed blue cruising trails. These trails cover pretty much everything an intermediate could want from a groomer, with some trails like Wandering Skis and Saco even offering a pleasant sense of isolation that’s rare among New Hampshire ski resorts. Frankly, the whole footprint of Attitash is so low-angle that with the exception of just a few of the toughest blacks, it would be hard to get into too much trouble at this ability level. A handful of gladed areas exist off the resort’s blue runs, although these areas take quite a bit of snow to fill in.

Freestyle Terrain

Freestyle enthusiasts will want to head to the Bear Peak side to access Attitash’s terrain parks. The two parks are nothing to write home about, but they do feature a range of small to medium boxes and rails and small to large jumps.

TRAIL MAP

Advanced and Expert Terrain

The advanced experience at Attitash isn’t terrible, but skiers and riders of this ability level may start to feel underwhelmed. The resort offers a decent range of groomed black runs, with some featuring consistent, wide-open fall lines and others involving modestly narrower pitches. The resort also features several ungroomed mogul runs, particularly off the upper mountain. One might argue the longest and best of these can be accessed from the top of Bear Peak. That said, Attitash lacks truly expert terrain entirely, and those looking for a serious challenge should look elsewhere.

Lifts and Crowd Flow

In years past, the biggest distinction between the Attitash and Bear Peak sides was arguably the lift logistics. Up until 2023, the Attitash side had what might have been one of the most confoundingly designed lift setups we’d ever seen, with a high-speed quad that only extended about halfway up, but the only access to the summit coming from a slow, fixed-grip triple that took over 10 minutes to ride. The Bear Peak side’s much more normal setup, with a base-to-summit high-speed quad and a few slow helper lifts, made it much more desirable and resulted in significant overcrowding during peak times.

But for the 2023-24 season, Attitash finally replaced its Summit Triple lift with the Mountaineer high-speed quad, bringing base-to-summit lift service to the Attitash-side summit for the first time—and in the process, fixing this substantial lift network flaw. This new lift has made it much more desirable to spend time on the Attitash side and helped spread crowds around the two resort sides much more evenly. Attitash still does get quite crowded on weekends and holidays, especially given its proximity to Boston and available on-site lodging, but the lines on the Bear Peak side are nowhere near as bad as they used to be.

On-Mountain Facilities

As with many other modestly-sized ski resorts, Attitash’s only real facilities are at its bases. But while they aren’t the flashiest out there, the lodges at the resort are fairly nice. It is worth noting that the Attitash base area is a tad confusing with what seems like the main lodge actually being the Adventure Center, with less space and a confusing layout. The base lodge itself is tucked to the side, with little signage indicating its presence. The Bear Peak facility setup is better, with a large lodge prominently placed at the base.

Navigation

Besides the complexity of finding the Attitash-side base lodge, getting around Attitash isn’t too bad. The resort’s small size makes its fairly easy to get around the individual Attitash and Bear Peak sides, with well-placed signs and trail maps aiding with navigation. As one might expect, getting between the two resort sides, which requires some pre-planning and involves a few flat sections, is Attitash’s most complex situation.

Snow Totals and Resort Elevation

As with many other New Hampshire resorts, Attitash does not see quite the same snow totals as the mountains in neighboring Vermont. But Attitash sits at a much lower elevation than its other central New Hampshire competitors; with a summit elevation of just 2,350 feet, the resort tops out at a similar altitude to the bases at some competing mountains. This circumstance puts Attitash in a snow shadow compared to these nearby resorts, with the mountain barely receiving 100 inches of annual snowfall in a typical season. In addition, the resort’s lower elevation makes it more susceptible to rain than its higher-altitude competitors.

Snowmaking and Grooming

On-mountain maintenance keeps the resort at a baseline level of resiliency, but both snowmaking and grooming operations could be better, with the resort often leaving the sides of trails ungroomed and failing to get certain runs into openable condition, leaving them closed during even the core season. These circumstances make the mountain feel more neglected than it should be. It is worth noting that snowmaking operations did see a noticeable improvement in this past season, resulting in more trails staying open compared to the previous five or so years, although grooming operations still need some work.

Epic Pass Access

It’s worth noting that Attitash is on the Epic Pass, with unlimited access and no holiday blackouts on the Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, and Northeast Value Pass products. For those who only plan to ski weekdays, Attitash is also on the cheaper Northeast Midweek Pass.

Reciprocal Wildcat Access

It’s also worth noting that a Attitash lift ticket also gives you full access to nearby Wildcat. While Wildcat has a smaller footprint than Attitash, its significantly longer vertical drop may make it more enjoyable for advanced skiers or riders. The drive between the two mountains typically takes just under half-an-hour.

Getting There and Parking

Attitash sits a bit further north than many other New Hampshire ski resorts, but it’s still a reasonable distance from Boston, with a typical drive taking just under three hours with no serious traffic. For those who choose to make the trek from New York, the drive typically takes around six-and-a-half hours, making the journey about equivalent in length to a trip to Vermont’s northernmost mountains. Attitash also sits about three-and-a-half hours from the Canadian city of Montreal.

Like many other Northeast ski resorts, there is no public transportation to and from Attitash. However, the resort offers free parking at all times, with one main lot at each base area and an overflow lot north of the Attitash side. That being said, all of these lots could use serious maintenance work, with treacherously deep potholes that might damage your car if you’re not careful. The main Attitash-side lot is on the other side of a busy, active highway, and while there’s technically a tunnel to cross beneath the highway and the slopes, it’s a bit out of the way and not easy to find.

Lodging

One benefit to an Attitash ski vacation is the resort’s on-mountain lodging. The resort offers a variety of ski-in/ski-out accommodations, ranging from slopeside condos to the 3-star Grand Summit Hotel at the base of Bear Peak. The more down-to-earth Attitash Mountain Village sits just across the access road from the Attitash-side base, with an indoor pool, hot tub, and skating rink. A wider range of options exist a short drive away, most notably in the town of North Conway, which is a 15-minute drive from the mountain.

Après-ski

Despite its strong on-site lodging setup, Attitash offers a limited après-ski scene. The resort does have pubs in both of its base lodges, with live music events scheduled on Saturdays in February—but besides that, the mountain has very little going on after the slopes close.

Verdict

So Attitash offers a decently family-friendly footprint, high-speed lifts, and convenient on-site lodging within a reasonable driving distance of Boston. But the resort doesn’t really stand out in any notable way terrain-wise, and its middling snow totals put it at a disadvantage versus other New Hampshire competitors. Attitash might be worth the trip for Bostonians with an Epic Pass product looking for a ski-in/ski-out weekend trip, but other resorts offer better snow and terrain just a slightly further distance away.

Pricing

Attitash’s lift ticket prices aren’t cheap, reaching well over $100 during peak times. However, they’re still quite a bit more reasonable than that of bigger resorts in Vermont. Those who want the best deal on access should be sure to secure an Epic Pass product before they’re off sale in early December.

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