One of the most historic ski resorts in North America is making a boatload of changes for the 2023-24 season. Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway, New Hampshire sent us a press release, detailing what’s coming this upcoming winter.
The major addition is obviously the new base lodge. The Fairbank Lodge will be home to a food pavilion, bar, a large outdoor deck, a function space for events, a Sport Thoma retail shop, a locker room, restrooms, and residences on the top two floors.
What we didn’t know about was the addition of five new trails. These are all cutover trails that will make traversing the mountain easier. Their terrain park network will also be enhanced, with a new park on Lower Koessler.
For more information about these projects, the official press release from Cranmore Mountain Resort is below.
What’s New This Winter at Cranmore Mountain Resort
Fairbank Lodge (All-new base lodge)
Scheduled to open prior to Christmas Vacation Week, the new lodge will bring 30,000 sq ft of new, day-lodge facility space to the resort, including a new food pavilion, slope-side bar, day and season-long lockers, restrooms, water bottle fill stations, and a ski accessories shop. Cranmore’s rich history will be incorporated into the interior design of the building, including large wall murals located throughout the first two floors.
The second floor will feature Skimobile Station, a food pavilion that will be open daily; Koessler’s Bar, with slope side views and access to a 7,000 square foot patio—it will be open daily and feature live music on Wednesday (Saturday and holidays) nights from 4–7pm; the Mt. Washington Room is a function space available to rent for weddings and events.
The Cranmore Club is a season-long locker room membership. Located on the first floor, the Cranmore Club spans 1,400-plus sq ft and has 150 tall, dark cherry lockers. Each locker is generously sized at 15 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 72 inches tall, providing ample storage space, particularly for families. The Cranmore Club provides practical amenities such as boot warmers, a comfortable seating area, a flat-screen TV, a changing room, exclusive Cranmore Club merchandise and a coupon book which can be used at our food and beverage outlets.
Additionally, Sport Thoma’s Cranmore location will move into the first floor of Fairbank Lodge. This ski and snowboard accessory outfitter is a favorite shop to Cranmore Race Team families and Valley locals.
New Trails
Five new trails were cut for this season: South Way, East Branch, Gentoo Lane, C-more’s Return, and K2. C-more’s Return completes an initiative from last season to make traversing the resort easier for beginner skiers. C-More’s chute is a cross-over trail from the North Slope to the South Slope, C-More’s Return Crosses from the South Slope to Beginner Basin. These new trails are all cutovers which make traversing the mountain easier.
Terrain Parks
Cranmore will debut an all-new beginner to intermediate terrain park, The 38. Located on Lower Koessler, The 38 will have a mix of boxes, rails, and snow features. The park is named after 1938, the first year Cranmore was in operation. This park joins Tschol’s Terrain Garden, located on lower Beginner’s Luck; Reed’s Progression Park, located on the South Slope; and Morton’s 60, located on the North Slope.
In addition, Reed’s Progression Park got a new entrance and was extended. Tshol’s Garden was extended by 300 feet. All of the parks are named to pay tribute to Cranmore’s rich history.
Cranmore welcomes a few new features from Coastal Jibs of Quebec, Canada. Coastal Jibs manufactures classic terrain park features such as rails, pipes, jibs, and wall rides, as well as a catalog of junior and custom features. They outfit terrain and bike parks throughout the Northeast US and across Canada such as Whiteface Mountain, Mont Tremblant, Okemo Mountain Resort, and Lake Louise Ski Resort.
KidsRule
KidsRule Mountain Camps returns to full-day programming which includes lunch. In recent seasons there were only half-day availability for mountain camps.
Expanded Hours
Wednesday nights have been added to our operations schedule, with night skiing and riding off the South Quad, and access to five trails until 8pm. Our award-winning Tubing Park will be open on Wednesday nights as well, from 4–8pm, with tickets sold in two-hour increments.
Wednesdays are a big day for Cranmore’s Valley community, with Meisters celebrating its 86th year of being the first community ski race league. Expanded hours mean the course will now stay open until 7pm. We’re also offering special local pricing for Wednesdays, $35 night skiing tickets and $25 tubing tickets for residents of Carroll, Coös and Oxford Counties.
Zip’s Pub
Zip’s will return to daily operations as a full-service bar and restaurant. This is Zip’s final season, as it will make way for Phase Two of Fairbank Lodge development.
Makin’ it Easy
- Cranmore will have a shuttle service to transport guests from Artist Falls Lodge, Skimobile Square, Arlberg Children’s Center and Fairfield Inn and Suites.
- Pick-up boxes will be available this season outside of the main ticket office to print your own pre-purchased tickets.
- The soon-to-be-released Cranmore app will help you access real-time information right from your pocket!
- Cranmore also launched a new and improved website at Cranmore.com in September.
The Lookout (new condominium building)
The groundbreaking for The Lookout took place in September. Located steps away from the Skimobile Express Quad, Phase 1 of The Lookout will include 17 village and garden-view residences and the resort’s state-of-the-art first aid facility. Residences have between 2–4 bedrooms, are either single-story or lofted, and range from 1,170 to 2,490 square feet in size. Phase 1 is projected to be completed in 2024.
Inaugural Events for Cranmore
- Thanksgiving Homecoming Weekend; (Saturday, Nov. 25, 2–5pm; at Zip’s Pub – Live music, apps, cash bar, and trail sign auction.)
- NYE Party and Celebration; (Sunday, Dec. 31, 4–8pm; at Fairbank Lodge – Cranapalooza Glo-Party, fireworks, live music, games, prizes and more)
- Fairbank Lodge Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening Celebration; (Date: TBD, 3–5:40pm; at Fairbank Lodge – Open to locals and season passholders music, heavy appetizers, cash bar, and tours of the building.)
- New Fire and Ice Festival; (Saturday, Jan. 20; 11am–5pm; at Fairbank Lodge – Format TBA)
- Apres Entertainment; (Saturdays and vacation periods, 4pm–7pm; at Koessler’s Bar)
Sustainability
The resort was one of the first to install electric heat pumps in the Kearsarge Brook Condominiums, and the first condominium building in New Hampshire to use this progressive system for heat and air conditioning. This electric heat pump system will be used in the new Fairbank Lodge Condominiums.
Since 2010, Cranmore has invested over $1 million into mountain snowmaking improvements, adding over 500 energy-efficient snow guns to our snow gun inventory and replacing and upgrading water pipes to increase water capacity on the mountain. This investment coupled with a strategic snowmaking plan ensures our snowmaking system is always maximized. These improvements have allowed Cranmore to reduce snowmaking hours by 25%, make snow faster by utilizing smaller periods of cold weather, and reduce electric use by half.
This year, Fairfield Inn and Suites added even more universal electric vehicle charging stations to the parking area.
Cranmore Race Team
Cranmore welcomes Andy Gagnon as the new Cranmore Race Team program director. Gagnon most recently was the alpine director at Waterville Valley Academy, in addition to serving as head U16 coach and head FIS coach for Waterville Valley Academy previously. Prior to that, he served as NCAA head coach at Plymouth State University and Colby Sawyer College. Andy brings an incredible amount of experience to our staff.
Joining Gagnon this year is Fred Turton, Cranmore Race Team’s new youth program coach and coaching staff mentor. Turton will spearhead youth program development with team momentum, to create a challenging, fun, and athletic environment with a positive progression toward race team goals. Turton comes to Cranmore with a wealth of knowledge and experience gained over his 40 years in the alpine ski racing community. Some of Fred’s qualifications include USSS level 500 certification, FIS technical delegate, NHARA youth program coordinator, and serving on several national development committees.
Image Credits: Cranmore Mountain Resort
