Variable Weather and Low Snowfall Force Nordic Skiers onto Shorter Trails
Snow guns used to be a rare sight at NH cross-country ski areas. Now, nordic centers across the state are starting to invest in them. With this investment comes a fundamental reshaping of the nordic ski experience: instead of long, winding trails through the woods, skiers are increasingly finding only short ribbons of man-made snow.
Oak Hill Outdoor Center, Hanover, NH Total Terrain: 29.31 km
Skiers on a January day at Oak Hill Outdoor Center, which began making snow for the first time in the winter of 2024.
Annie Hanna, a high schooler from Lebanon, skis at Oak Hill. Hanna hopes that with snowmaking now open at Oak Hill, she and her Ford Sayre Ski Club teammates won’t have to travel to northern Vermont as often for early-season training.
Friends of Oak Hill Treasurer Matt Rightmire points to a map of the 3.3 kilometer loop trail he helped raise money to construct. The loop was designed to be skiable without much natural snow.
Jackson Ski Touring Center, Jackson, NH Total Terrain: 100 km
Jackson XC purchased two snow guns for the 2023-24 season. They are shown here in front of the center’s iconic red covered bridge, which skiers can traverse when there is enough snow.
Skiers at the start of a one-kilometer stretch of machine-made snow on New Year’s Eve, 2023.
Though Mother Nature didn’t deliver any natural snow for New Year’s Eve in 2023, families still flocked to Jackson XC to ski on machine-made snow.
Great Glen Trails, Gorham, NH Total Terrain: 45 km
A snow gun sits at the edge of a .25 kilometer strip of snow blown for Christmas week vacationers to ski on. During a warm and rainy week, this was the only open portion of the center’s 45-kilometer trail network.
Skiers stop to rest near the end of the trail. In order to ski even one kilometer, they had to ski four laps on the available terrain.
Program Director Nate Harvey walks along a trail that was washed out by December 18th floods. Its rocky base was carefully crafted to allow for more consistent skiing in low-snow conditions.