Northfield, New Hampshire — As another ski season concludes, many are shifting towards other activities. Each passing year, more and more people are shifting to mountain biking, and it seems fitting that one of the best bike parks in North America sits on the site of a former ski area.
Yesterday, Highland Mountain Bike Park opened up for the 2025 season for season passholders. It opened for everybody today, April 24th. The number of trails is limited for now, as the crews work on getting the rest of the network ready to go in the weeks ahead.
While it’s now well regarded as a mountain biking mecca, Highland’s background is steeped in ski history.
The Highlands was a ski area from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. However, mounting debt, a broken snowmaking system, a lack of snowfall during the terrible 1994-95 winter, and extensive local competition led to its closure in 1995. For years, despite revitalization attempts, it remained abandoned.
In 2003, inspired by Whistler Blackcomb’s impressive mountain biking network, Mark Hayes formed Gravity Mountain, Inc., and purchased the ski area. However, the mountain would now be used exclusively for bikers. It reopened in the mid-2000s with the 1987 Borvig triple chairlift, which originally serviced the ski area, being updated to have bike carriers. Over the years, many biking trails have been a built and a new surface lift as recently added. The impressive setup has inspired many ski resorts to build mountain biking trails, and other mountain biking parks have appeared across the country.
Highland will continue to grow in the years ahead. Last August, Highland announced that it had purchased 13.3 acres of land that will become a Camp Village. This area will be used for overnight camp lodging facilities, with the goal of beginning construction on these buildings in 2026. They also signed a long-term lease on 126 acres of land to build new trails, which will include a dedicated uphill route.
Highland’s extensive trail network and features have helped grow mountain biking’s popularity in the United States, which is why it has the following slogan: “America’s Bike Park.”
Image/Video Credits: Highland Mountain Biking Park
