King Pine Ski Resort - A Small Mountain of Fun for the Family
Written: Feb 01 '06 (Updated Nov 05 '09)
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Pros: great prices, family friendly, variety of winter activities
Cons: not a lot of terrain, adventurous skiers might get bored after a few runs
The Bottom Line: Fun for the entire family, even non-skiers can hit the slopes in the tubing park. There's something at King Pine for everyone!
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| AliventiAsylum's Full Review: King Pine |
One of the terrific things about living where we do now is the number of ski resorts we have just a short distance away from our house. About ten minutes from our home is King Pine Ski Resort. This is the place every Tuesday following lunch that my daughter’s school goes to for an afternoon of skiing. Nice, huh?
LOCATION
King Pine Ski Resort is located on Route 153 in East Madison, New Hampshire. If you are coming from the south to the Mount Washington Valley area, Route 153 intersects with Route 16 in the town of Conway. There are signs to King Pine from either this direction or via Route 113 through the town of Madison. For most people, I think taking the Route 16 to Route 153 route is the easiest.
FACTS
King Pine Ski Resort has just 16 skiing trails accessibly by five lifts on the mountain. Most of the terrain is designed for beginner and intermediate skiers. However, they do boast Pitch Pine, one of the steepest ski slopes in the northeast!
There is a small terrain park for the more adventurous in the groups. However, because of it’s small size King Pine Ski Resort is a great place for families to go, especially if you are considering allowing your children to venture off by themselves for the first time.
Night-skiing is available depending on the season and conditions. Normally there is night-skiing on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. However, that changes during vacation weeks. My oldest daughter has skied here with friends several weeknights, taking the bus from the high-school right to the resort. Because King Pine Ski Resort is more family-oriented, they tend to watch the teenagers closer than other resorts and are very willing to take away a pass for unruly behavior.
King Pine Ski Resort also boasts a tubing park with a nice-sized hill for snow-tubing. There is also more than 15km of trails for cross-country skiers and snow-shoers. An ice-skating rink is also contained within the resort complex across from the main base lodge.
CONDITIONS
This year has been the mildest winter on record here in new Hampshire. That said, my daughter has not missed a Tuesday of skiing. King Pine Ski Resort has an excellent snow-making system for all of the trails on the mountain. I did here that there were problems with the cross-country skiing, so those conditions might vary.
The trails are always well-groomed and taken care of. It was at King Pine Ski Resort that my 10 year-old skied her first black diamond trail, Jack Pine. I have watched the kids ski down for several weeks and there are never complains about it being icy. I think since the mountain itself faces east, it stays pretty well frozen once the snow is on it.
The season here generally runs from just after Thanksgiving until the last weekend of March.
RATES
The rates at King Pine Ski Resort are very reasonable, especially if you are just going to give it a shot for a short time. It’s a great place to go tubing in the morning and tubing later in the day as the rates drop after 12:30 PM. I’ve bought my daughter a ticket for as little as $11 for her to go skiing on a Sunday afternoon. A valid lift ticket for the hill also grants access to the cross-country trails and skating rink.
For a full schedule of rates, see: http://www.kingpine.com/rates.htm
For snow tubing, tickets only come in two-hour sessions. We usually go to another mountain in the area that has all-day tickets so the kids can go back and forth between the tubing and skiing as much as they want.
MISCELLANEOUS
There is a ski-school at King Pine Ski Resort. I know a lot of the instructors as many of them are the same people we see with the school and they are all terrific with the kids. The area for the little kids with the Magic Carpet and longer Tow Rope are nice although I do wish they would replace the Tow Rope.
Although the program at King Pine Ski Resort is not the same program I’ve seen at other ski resorts, because of it’s smaller size it’s a lot easier to put the kids in for a few hours of lessons, then pick them up and have them join you for the rest of the day.
There is a small cafeteria in the main lodge as well as a bar. We often bring a picnic lunch with us and that’s no problem either. The lodge is cozy and offers a nice view of the learning area of the mountain. There is a rental shop at King Pine Ski Resort. The equipment is in pretty good shape from here.
King Pine Ski Resort is a part of the larger Purity Spring Resort. There is a wide variety of accommodations and packages available: http://www.purityspring.com
FINAL THOUGHTS
Although I don’t think a family would want to spend an entire week exclusively at King Pine Ski Resort, it does make a great place to go with the kids when you want to give them a little more freedom to venture out on their own. If you are interested in more than just the downhill skiing, there is plenty to do between the tubing, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, and ice skating.
The mountain is small and well cared-for. Most of the terrain is geared toward less adventurous skiers, but there is the lure of that steep black-diamond for the more adventurous. It’s really a great place to spend a day or help your children get used to skiing.
Website: http://www.kingpine.com
King Pine Ski Area at Purity Spring Resort
1251 Eaton Road, Route 153 • East Madison, New Hampshire 03849
603.367.8896 • 800.373.3754 • fax: 603.367.8664
Other sites to see in New Hampshire:
Attitash Bear Peak Ski Resort ~ Bretton Woods Ski Resort ~ Canobie Lake Park ~ Cranmore Mountain Ski Resort ~ Franconia Notch State Park ~ Kancamagus Highway ~ Loon Mountain Ski Resort ~ Madison Boulder Natural Area ~ Mount Washington Cog Railway ~ North Conway, NH ~ Polar Express Event ~ Shawnee Peak, Bridgeton ME ~ Six Gun City ~ Story Land ~ Whale's Tale Waterpark ~ White Lake State Park ~ White Mountain National Forest ~ Wildcat Mountain
Some places to stay in New Hampshire:
Attitash Mountain Village - Bartlett NH ~ Comfort Inn & Suites - North Conway NH ~ Hampton Inn - Concord/Bow NH ~ Yankee Clipper Motel
Places to eat in New Hampshire:
Bea's Cafe, Conway NH ~ Cafe Noche, Conway NH ~ Decades Steakhouse, North Conway NH ~ Delaney‘s Hole in the Wall, North Conway NH ~ Harts Turkey Farm, Meredith NH ~ May Kelly's Cottage, North Conway NH ~ Merlino's Steakhouse, North Conway NH ~ Moat Mountain Smokehouse, North Conway NH ~ Muddy Moose, North Conway NH ~ Peach's Restauran, North Conway NH ~ Red Parka Steakhouse & Pub, Glen NH ~ Yankee Smokehouse, West Ossipee NH
Books about the area:
Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide ~ 50 Hikes in the White Mountains
© 2006 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
Level of Experience Needed: Beginner
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AliventiAsylum
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 2076
Trusted by: 687 members
About Me:
Now writing reviews to pay for the "out of network" costs of our health insurance...
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