Northern New Hampshire is New England's premier ski destination featuring plenty of resorts perfect for your winter fun. Assorted discounts and deals abound, as well as many special events.

Alpine Ski Areas

Feels like Upstate NH is chock full of Alpine ski area, so find the one that best suits your tastes. To make selection fun, here's some of the deals we found.

Bartlett, Attitash Mountain Resort

The Attitash Mountain Resort in Bartlett opens around the end of November each year and remains open until early April. Lifts are operated daily unless the Snow Report says otherwise.

Score deals at Attitash by purchasing e-tickets in advance. Obtain your pass at any ticket window, no matter where you are in the resort. Check out daily deals, including "Ladies Day" Mondays, where $55 gets you a lift ticket, ski lesson and lunch voucher. Tuesday deals include two lift tickets, lunch vouchers and ski lessons for $110, while Wednesday is Bring-a-Friend day. If you're an Attitash/Wildcat season pass holder or are the owner of a Vertical Value Card, a friend can purchase a full-day ticket for half price. Nice! And these are just some of the discounts Attitash offers!

Lebanon, Whaleback Ski Area

"Ride the Whale" beginning December 26 and enjoy $15 lift tickets if you ski the last two hours of the day. Weekday flat rates for lift tickets are a mere $20, while weekends and holiday ticket prices range from $15 to $40. Check out the resort's 2014 after-school ski and snowboard programs, as they're ideal for younglings looking to learn and improve winter sport skills. Family, lifetime, college, corporate, military and other special passes are also available, including $99 season passes for full-time college students with ID.

Waterville Valley, Waterville Valley Resort

The Waterville Valley Ski Resort is open for the season now through March 16, and currently features 24 open/groomed trails and five lifts. Keep a weather eye on the resort's last minute lodging specials for weekly updates on fabulous Waterville accommodation deals. Check out ski/lodging packages or investigate season ticket options. Other specials include the Harpoon Brewery Sky Box, a private, slopeside suite that features lift tickets, flat-screen televisions, private bar, continental breakfast and buffet lunch, valley-wide shuttle service and much more.

Lincoln, Loon Mountain

The season began at Loon on November 29, with dozens of trails currently available for heart-pounding fun. Enjoy cross-country skiing and snowshoeing here, or opt for a guided tour. The center's newest feature is their mammoth Ice Castle, a chilly den with walls 25 feet high. Explore the castle day or night; at nighttime the castle glows with hundreds of multi-colored lights. Enjoy feeling as though you stepped through the wardrobe into a "frozen Narina!"

Get your passes to take advantage of early season discounts, or check out what Loon has to offer in terms of ski-and-stay packages. Stay at the Mountain Club, Loon's "slopeside hotel," or opt for nearby accommodations.

X Country Ski Areas

Wolfeboro, Wolfeboro XC Ski Association

Selected by NH Magazine as the best deal for cross-country skiing, daily winter trail passes are free for kids 12 and younger and seniors 75 and older. Enjoy a winter carnival, pancake breakfast, dinners and other events throughout February and March.

Jackson, Jackson XC

A Nordic village in upstate New Hampshire, Jackson allows you to journey over the river and through the woods to some of the area's best cross-country snowshoe trails. A nonprofit organization, Jackson XC is all about providing recreational and competitive cross-country and snowshoe opportunities. While opening for the season is different every year according to the weather, the best time to go is mid-January until the end of March. This year the ski area opened temporarily over Thanksgiving weekend, and opened for the season on December 15. Group and individual lessons are offered, as are ski packages that include passes, rentals and lessons for reasonable prices.

"Our season pass sales are way up and skiers are excited about the coming season," says Jackson XC head honcho Thom Perkins. "We have seen a fair amount of pre-Christmas skier traffic and the staff is ready for full-blast operations."

Bretton Woods, Bretton Woods

Take advantage of the Bretton Woods Nordic Center's 40th anniversary specials! These include lift ticket specials, such as $25 Christmas Day tickets, or $17 Saint Patrick's Day tickets. Accommodation specials are also available, such as stay-two-nights-get-one free at the nearby Townhomes. Additional specials include "ski and zip," "zip and spa" and "ski and spa" packages. Go skiing and follow it with a 50-minute spa session, or enjoy a day full of skiing and zip lining! Gliding over snow-capped trees is certainly one way to spend an afternoon!

Gorham, Great Glen Trails

Hailed as "the most family-friendly" ski resort in the area, Great Glen Trails offers free skiing for children 17 and younger when parents/guardians purchase season passes. Print a coupon off the resort website and enjoy "two for one" Friday and Monday specials! The special features passes, tubing, rentals and more, including Great Glen's Snow Coach ride, a unique "above treeline" tour of Mt. Washington. Great Glen Trails is currently open for the season and offers plenty of summer as well as winter fun, including kayaking and mountain biking.

Intervale, Mount Washington Valley Ski Touring and Snowshoe Center

Stay at select lodges near the Mount Washington Valley Ski Touring and Snowshoe Center and ski or snowshoe for free! While you must be a member to enjoy the center's many trails, inexpensive daily membership prices are available. Are you a Conway resident? Enjoy free access to all trails with a seasonal membership pass.

These are just some of the many ski resorts/areas found in upstate NH! Enjoy hurling yourself down the side of various mountains this winter and take advantage of the skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding and other winter recreation offered in the region.

Kent Page McGroarty is a freelance lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in AZ Central Healthy Living, SF Gate Home and Garden, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine and more.

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