Ski East: Bretton Woods Essentials
Features
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Sign up for Outside+ today.
Getting There
From Boston (165 miles), take I-93 to Exit 35, Route 3 north, then Route 302 east. From New York (330 miles), I-95 north to I-91, then I-91 north to Exit 17, then Route 302 east.
Sleeping In
Hotel rates range from $210 to $1,200 per couple per night, MAP. Includes lift tickets and breakfast and dinner in the hotel dining room or at any of the resort dining facilities. Alternatives include condos, the Bretton Arms Inn, the Bretton Woods Motor Inn.
Dining Out
In addition to the hotel dining room, guests can choose from the Bretton Arms Inn (fine, fireplaced dining in an intimate country-inn setting), Fabyan’s Station (casual comfort food in a converted railroad station), Darby’s Restaurant (Italian fare in a casual setting at the Bretton Woods Motor Inn), or the Slopeside Restaurant (light dinners in the base lodge).
Early-Season
deal Holiday Traditions Package, from $299 per couple per night in Renaissance-level room at the hotel. Includes a Christmas tree and a wreath to take home and a one-night, weekday, non-holiday return visit. Additional guest/family rates available.
Ski Area Stats
Summit elevation: 3,100 feet. Vertical drop: 1,500 feet. Skiable acres: 330 on 62 trails. Lifts: one high-speed detachable quad, one fixed quad, one triple, three doubles, one tow and one Magic Carpet. Average annual snowfall: 170 inches.
Night Skiing
Friday and Saturday nights on the Bethlehem Express Quad, including halfpipe and terrain park.
Cross-Country
95 km of trails on the hotel grounds, track- and skate-groomed, plus 5 km of ungroomed backcountry trails.
Roughing It
Guests can spend the night at a rustic (woodstove and bunks) backcountry cabin¿accessible only on cross-country skis.
Kids Rule
The Mount Washington loves children. Daycare is available at the hotel (King of the Mountain Kids Kamp, ages 6-9, sledding, cooking, arts and crafts, snowman building, etc.; half-day $15, full day $25, full day with lunch $32.25) or at the ski area (Hobbits Program, ages 4-12, skiing and on-snow activities; full day $65, half-day $55). Evening care: 6-9 pm, includes dinner and activities, $10.
Diversions
Sleigh rides, snowshoeing, snowtubing, skating, horse rides, sledding, moonlight ski tours, occasional dog-sledding.
Amenities
Massage, swimming, fitness center, racquetball.
Run and Gun
Bretton Woods is home to New Hampshire’s only biathlon facility. On weekends when competitions are held, guests can try their hand in novice clinics. Rifles included.
High Society
Guests who have slept here include: Winston Churchill, George and Barbara Bush, Warren G. Harding, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Princess Margaret, Alfred Hitchcock, Joan Crawford, Alistaire Cooke, Jim Neighbors, Babe Ruth, Bobby Orr, Julius Erving, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Vladimir Horowitz.
“HONEY, I’M HOME!”
Though hotel spokespeople cringe at the mention, Maine horror-master Stephen King is said to have conceived “The Shining” during a stay at the hotel. Relax¿guestroom doors are quite stout.
Information
Bretton Woods Resort/Mount Washington Hotel: Route 302, Bretton Woods, N.H., 03575; lodging: (800) 258-0330; ski area: (603) 278-3300; website:
.
