Lebanon, New Hampshire — Finding cheap places to ski and ride can be challenging. It seems like lift ticket prices at the most popular ski resorts keep going up exponentially every year, which creates a perception that skiing is too pricey. However, local ski hills still exist that offer affordable places to learn how to ski or ride. While they don’t have the biggest vertical drops, ski hills in New Hampshire like Abenaki, Arrowhead, Mt. Eustis, and the Veteran’s Memorial Recreation Area offer affordable lift tickets and uncrowded slopes. This winter, one New Hampshire ski hill is bucking the pricey lift ticket trend thanks to a generous donation from a local.
Yesterday, Storrs Hill in Lebanon, New Hampshire, announced that it will be offering free skiing and riding throughout the 2024-25 season. The ski hill typically operates on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, but Storrs also opens its slopes during holiday periods. This free skiing was made possible by a donation from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation. All that guests need to do is ask for a ticket at the base lodge.
Storrs Hill, which is operated by the Lebanon Outing Club, hopes that this won’t be just a one-winter thing, as it intends to try to make skiing free from now on if they continue to receive donations like this.
Storrs Hill is among the most historic ski hills in not just New Hampshire and New England, but in the United States. The Lebanon Outing Club, which runs Storrs Hill, was founded in 1923 thanks to Erling Heistad and some local high school students. In 1925, the first ski jump was constructed at Storrs Hill, and ski jumping has remained a core tenant of the experience at the mountain.
Six years later, the first alpine trails were cut, and a rope tow was installed in 1935. Its Poma chairlift, which services the ski area today, opened back in the 1970s. Over the decades, the ski hill has become a pivotal learning location for skiers, snowboarders, and ski jumpers. Legendary ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin also trained there back when she lived in New England. Click here to read the full history of the ski hill.
I’ll say as a local that lives around thirty minutes away from this place that this is great news. We have many great options to ski in this region, including Sunapee, Ragged, Whaleback, and Storrs. I get to ski Storrs roughly once a year, and I’ll say that some of the best corduroy I skied last winter was in Lebanon. This news will help introduce more people to the sport and let some people who haven’t skied or rode for a while get re-acquainted with it.
Image/Video Credits: Lebanon Outing Club at Storrs Hill, Elise Explores
