Black Mountain Ski Area

Skiing was great but everyone but the chair life helpers were rude and disrespectful.

If you like thinner and more windy trails, this is the place to go. It’s definitely retro and that’s what’s so great about it. $ 17 Wednesday afternoon deal worked out great for us. Trails were fun to board and were interesting instead of the wide boring groomers you get at most bigger areas. It’s a hidden gem for sure. All the employees we encountered were very friendly. We’ll be back!

Black Mountain has always been one of my favorite mountains to ski! I could not wait to get back on that mountain and ski my little buns off!!!
So happy it was on a Monday, too!!! The place was groomed perfectly! Everything was open and ready to be skied! I had an absolutely blast. The employees are always friendly here. No lift lines, stuck up attitudes and always a decent price!
Black Mountain. don’t change a thing… you’re still amazing! I can’t wait to get back as soon as possible!

Loved my time on the mountain! So. Many. Joys.
We ventured here on a Saturday and experienced the following joys uncommon during peak weekend skiing in the area:
No lift lines
No crowded runs
No annoyingly cute small children
Open seats during peak lunch hour at the bar
Read above again
Friendly, albeit local flare staffers
Black Mtn is a great place to go if you have skied before and want some good shredding away from the hustle of other ski resorts. Their beginner offering is limited. Don’t come here to learn to ski, but instead once you’re ready for some unique runs.

Good mountain for beginners. Cheap prices but you get what you pay for — SLOW lifts and some dirt spots on the trails. Some of the beginner trails are pretty narrow and I prefer wider trails. Not as many teenagers on snowboards at this mountain which is nice! I have never stayed in the rooms but a friend did and I visited her there and noticed the rooms were very outdated and had a funky smell.

Black is not for hot doggers. The moguls aren’t; the namesake diamonds barely measure up. The mountain is not incredibly tall, and the lodge is barely more than a cafeteria. The bells and whistles simply do not exist.
But for the recreational skier, it belongs on your short list.
Why? Try $ 53 daily lift tickets to all runs, solid-​condition rentals included. That’s less than you’d pay for a lift alone at an overcrowded, packed down mountain with more flair and a swollen marketing budget.
As such, there will never be a huge bus of social 20-​somethings getting dropped off en masse, ready to gear up, run four times and spend the day quaffing toddies while scoping for a hookup. And minimal greens means fewer little, little kids (who are, arguably, better skiers, even if their parents are over-​protective) to clog up the slow lane. Essentially, grooming is rendered unnecessary, as there will be maybe 80 people on the mountain with you!
Economical, scenic and quiet. If it’s really about intermediate runs, and you’re actually planning on wearing those legs to Jello, consider Black. It’s fun, even if the main lift is out to bruise your hips on the drop off.

Black Mountain is one of my favorite ski areas. It is great for skiers and snowborders also! We own a condo up on the mountain that we ski down to get there. The trails are great, the chairlifts are easy to get on and off, and it is GREAT for beginners, intermediate, advanced, and skier/​snowboarders who do tricks. 2 chair lift options, easy/​intermediate, and the red chairlift which is for black diamonds trails, and things. I reccomend coming here if your taking a trip to Jackson!

They do have great prices, but this is really not a great place for beginners. What appeared to be the bunny slope area on the map was closed when we were there, and they had a little hill set up for beginners. This was kind of a joke, but we did it anyway, as we were too scared to go up on the more advanced trails. We were told that even the easy trails are hard because they are too narrow. We were surrounded by people that looked to be intermediate and couldn’t spot a single person that appeared to be still learning. It was crowded and we were afraid of getting in the way of the advanced skiers/​snowboarders. Oh, and that was the other issue… hardly any snowboarders here. Almost everyone was on skis.
Yes, the prices are the lowest around, but it’s not worth it if you’re a beginner.

Reasonably priced but also lacking in speediness and friendliness of service. Most trails weren’t groomed which I wasn’t used to even though I’m an intermediate skier, and the trails were very difficult for me and others even though they were marked as easy or medium difficulty. Not even close to enough room to sit in the dining area and since people marked their spots even though they were out skiing, any waiting around or eating had to be done downstairs in the non-​heated, gross basement.
A person in my party took a lesson and they didn’t have room for him at the 10 o’clock so he had to sit around and wait for the 1 o’clock since he had no idea how to snowboard, and wasted half a day. They said he should have called ahead to reserve a spot but there was no mention of that on their website, or we would have called. For a busy holiday week they should have more frequent lessons. The lesson, rental and lift ticket package was a good deal though.
Overall, you get what you pay for I guess. Beautiful mountain and trails just not groomed and lacking heavily in the service department, not just the employees but the amenities as well.

Black Mountain is a great ski area for the right people. It’s perfect for families and new skiers. It’s perfect for people looking for a more laid back and relaxing day than you might find at larger resorts like Attitash and Wildcat.
It’s not the greatest mountain for snowboarding. The chair lifts are old and the unloading area is very steep. Trying to get off the red chair mid way is almost impossible in a snowboard. Additionally the trails are on the narrow side. This can be difficult for the new snowboarder.

$ 35 mid-​week for a medium sized but very good mountain. The sole pub in the base loge is also surprisingly nice (you wouldn’t expect so much from one of the ugliest and smallest base lodges in New England). Chicken teriyaki sandwhich was excellent.
The ski trails are nicely varied, and the left side (when facing the ski area) is my favorite. They don’t groom as much as other mountains though, so take note of that.

The runs are often as advertised, narrow and challenging. there were runs that were open that would rip your ski’s, but at least they were open, which I can’t decide if its a good thing or not. see photo. at least it was more challenging.
They also run a bit close to the wind in noting what runs are open, I get the impression that they count glades in the top number but not in the bottom.

This is good mountain to visit for a change of pace from the large, expensive more crowded mountains in the area such as Attitash and Wildcat. It is small enough that you can explore the entire mountain in a day. Tickets are about half the price of Wildcat and Attitash. Short lines make up for slow lifts. On a sunday there couldn’t have been more than 100 people on the mountain. The whole mountain can be accessed from the summit double chair and it is not hard to return to the bottom of the double no matter what trail you take. The staff was friendly even when they caught us doing some trails that were roped off. Additionally there were some glades that weren’t too difficult.

Good old time NH skiing. Were there on 2÷27÷11 and conditions were awesome. packed powder with about 8″ of new powder on top. Staff is very friendly. Virtually no lift lines. Summit chairs were not open, not sure why. Some skiers were actually taking off skis and walking up toward the top. Place could use some «freshening» though, doesn’t seem like it has to be *that* knarly.

Black may not be quite as big as nearby Attitash or Wildcat, but what you lose in size, altitude, and attitude, you gain in 1) no lift lines, 2) solid conditions, 3) lots of terrain variety, and 4) family friendly yet still fun for the experts.
If one must have a big mountain, you can take a direct flight to Salt Lake and be at Alta/​Snowbird in about the same time it takes to get to North Conway/​Jackson from Boston. But if you want a comfortable, fun, relaxing, unpretentious place where folks just want to ride and ski the day away, Black is it.

Black is the skiing experience of yesteryear before the advent of mega ski corporations, slick marketing campaigns and the $ 80.00 a day lift ticket.
Black Mountain has many positives and really only one negative which is that the terrain is limited in scale. However the terrain they have is super interesting with beautiful little glades scatter around the mountain. Ticket prices are $ 40.00 on the weekend, $ 35.00 for a weekday ticket.
Crowds are unknown at this mountain so lift lines generally consist of 0 to 2 folks ahead of you. This is the ski till you drop mountain. The bar area is tiny but they make a great bloody Mary and serve wonderful wings. Grab a table by the window with a view of all the goings on outside.
Easy to find, a great value and a pleasant staff. What more can you ask for?

I have sat here and started this review 15 times. I know that I love Black Mountain. I just don’t know if I want to tell you about Black Mountain.
Black is a great little mountain hidden up on Black Mountain road off of 16a. It’s not obvious, you can’t see it from the highway. It’s not big. There are no high speed quads. The lodge is small, the bar smaller. You would think all of this would be negative but it is really the reason I love it so much. There are generally no crowds at all so the small lodge doesn’t matter and the mountain isn’t that big so the slow lifts don’t take forever to get to the top. The bartender, Joey, is great and very customer focused. On busy days you’ll wait a while for food if you head in for lunch at noon — 1pm so if you NEED to eat lunch at that time bring it yourself. The kitchen is not built for big crowds.
The inn nearby is the Whitney Inn and the Shovel Handle Pub. Awesome place. If you stay there the Lift Line lodge (where the suites are) is practically ski in ski out on Black. Great for families since you can just go to your room and have lunch.
The mountain itself is small but you can find terrain for every level. My hubby is a great skier and he likes Black just fine. There is no White Heat here but there are a few steep trails. The key here is that there has to be a lot of snow for it to be great. If it’s a season slim on snow, you may not get the best experience from Black. However, there are some surprising days here. There was a day this past season just after some rain and a freeze (love NE skiing) and the conditions at Wildcat were horrifying. I mean scary with ice. We went over to Black and the conditions were great. No ice at all.
Oh and lift tickets are absurdly cheap.
So if you come to Black keep in mind that it is a gem. Treat it like a gem. Have patience and reap the rewards of a small, family owned mountain.

This is truly a hidden gem in New Hampshire.
I went on Superbowl Sunday with my two young sons. We rolled in at about 11:00 in the morning, and the parking lot was half empty. Even though there were only two lifts (a triple chair that goes ¾ of the way up and a double chair that goes to the summit), lift lines were non-​existent. The snow conditions were phenomenal — powder or packed powder everywhere, virtually no icy spots (maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise since the 2008 – 2009 season is one of the best in recent memory). My boys are beginners, so I was a little worried that more than ¹⁄₃ of the mountain is black diamond or above, but the trails are nicely arranged in groups that allow you to pick an appropriate course down from the top of the triple (although there are only black diamonds at the summit, so we stayed away from the double chair). Most of the trails are narrow and winding with natural obstacles, plus several «glade» trails, rather than the wide-​open trails found at other areas.
Lift tickets are very, very reasonable — half of what some of the mega-​resorts charge. If you need to rent equipment, you can get a better deal at one of the several ski shops on Rt 16 in North Conway or Ossipee on the way to the mountain (we saved about $ 10 a package by renting in Ossipee instead of at the mountain).

This is a great little mountain with a good selection of trails. The lift tickets are reasonably priced ($ 39 for a full day, $ 26 for a half day, $ 25 for college students/​full day). We were there on the last day of the extended season, so there was only one lift open but there still wasn’t much of a wait. Other standard amenities: food, pub, gear rentals. Because it was the last day of the season they made a «pond» at the bottom of a slope and had a contest to see who could ski across it without sinking (most people failed). Easy to get to from the Conway area, and probably less crowded than Cranmore.