North Conway, New Hampshire – Uphill skiing is on the rise, as earning your turns has grown a vast following since the onset of the pandemic. This is especially true in New England, where basically every ski area has an uphill policy. However, this also means these ski areas have varying prices for going uphill, logging in, signing liability waivers, and where you can go up on the mountain. For example, Bolton Valley charges $20 on weekdays and $25 to ski uphill on weekends. Meanwhile, Pats Peak requires you to either have a season pass at their ski area or buy a $99 Uphill Travel pass.
This is what Uphill New England aims to solve. A pass purchase (priced at $215) gives you an armband and a simple liability waiver that gives you access to 18 ski resorts. Being a passholder gives you access to their app, which allows you to check in, track stats, and provide information about the mountain and its uphill routes. It also gives access to their community, allowing uphillers to find new friends to ski with. It’s definitely a little pricey for skinning, so I’d say its target market is those who ski tour regularly.
For this season, the pass gives access to 18 ski resorts. Returning mountains from last winter include Berkshire East, Big Moose Mountain, Black Mountain of Maine, Bolton Valley, Bromley, Dartmouth Skiway, Middlebury Snowbowl, Mt. Abram, Saddleback, Tenney Mountain, Waterville Valley, and Whaleback. For this season, Uphill New England has added Camden Snow Bowl, Cranmore, Jiminy Peak, Killington, King Pine, and Pico to the pass. The Uphill New England pass gives unlimited access to each mountain except for Bolton Valley, which offers three days on the pass.
The app allows you to check in, track stats, and provide information about whether the uphill route is open. The app will also see improvements for this winter. There will now be ways to log in offline with or without clicking on the QR code at the base area.
For more information about Cranmore’s participation in the Uphill New England pass, check out the video from WMTW 8 below.
Image/Video Credits: Uphill New England, Ski Rex Media, WMTW-TV
