Industry News
Attitash Mountain Resort, New Hampshire, has confirmed that yet again it will not be offering summer operations in summer 2024. In addition, the resort stated on social media that it will be removing the alpine coaster and zipline on the mountain “due to aging infrastructure.” The coaster was introduced in 2010 while the zipline was installed in 2014. Instead, the Hunky Dory ski run will return to its old place, which had been taken up by the alpine coaster. Hunky Dory was a blue run adjacent to the Grand Stand chair.
Attitash General Manager Brandon Swartz stated on Instagram, “We’re going to focus our efforts on gearing up for next season by pre-emptively maintaining our snowmaking infrastructure and reconnecting snowmaking on Tightrope, maintaining lifts, trails, and buildings to minimize any disruptions or impacts during the winter season.”
The decision has been met with mixed reactions, with some social media users calling the resort out for destroying the livelihood of businesses relying on summer operations. Many bemoan the decommissioning of the largest zipline east of the Rocky Mountains while the alpine coaster appears to have less proponents. The 4,969-foot-long Flying Bear Zipline took riders at 65 mph down Bear Peak and was considered by many as the best zipline in the East, offering not only a thrilling ride but also spectacular views from the peak.
Vail Resorts purchased Attitash in 2019, together with Crotched Mountain and Wildcat in New Hampshire from Peak Resorts. Initially, Vail Resorts faced criticism for not improving infrastructure at Attitash but has since installed the Progression Quad in 2022 and the Mountaineer Quad in 2023. The installation of the Progression Quad in 2022 required the dismantling of the water slides, prompting fears that the resort under Vail was abandoning all summer operations. Attitash has assured guests several years in a row that it will return to summer opeartions and Swartz reassured, “We remain committed to reopening Attitash as a summer destination and want to make sure that when we do, we’re able to give it 100% and deliver an experience that will be most complementary to everything that the valley has to offer.”
The Mountaineer Quad started operations in the 23/24 season and replaced the outdated Summit Triple. The Summit Triple was installed in 1986 and was prone to mechanical breakdowns, sometimes sitting idle for prolonged periods. As the only summit access to the Attitash Peak, break-downs resulted in distruptions to operations across the Mount Washington Valley. The Mountaineer Quad almost doubled uphill capacity to Attitash Peak and cut the uphill-time in half.
Attitash Mountain Resort offers 311 acres of skiing across two peaks, Attitash Peak and Bear Peak. The recent upgrades by Vail Resort have been focused on infrastructure on Attitash Peak. The dismantling of two pieces of summer infrastructure on the Bear Peak side could mean impending upgrades to infrastructure on the Bear Peak side. The lift infrastructure on the Bear Peak side of the resort is from the 90s, so a good decade younger than on the Attitash Peak side but upgrades to runs and snowmaking would improve connectivity between the two peaks.
