Pats Peak Ski Area — Attraction in Henniker

The hill itself is a great beginner to moderate level place to ski. The people operating the lifts are generally friendly and helpful. In previous years we have enjoyed our multiple ski trips to Pat's Peak.

Unfortunately this year is very different. Our first 2 visits this year (2022) have been less than satisfactory. The first visit we arrived around 10 during a snow/rain storm and the crews hadn't finished cleaning up the parking lot, yet Pat's was letting people park. In the attached photo you can see my tire stuck in faulty installed and incomplete curbing that was new and buried beneath the snow. The management were not helpful at all and sent someone out to tell me to get my own tow truck. No one came to check if we were injured. I spent hours waiting for a tow truck while my family and friends went skiing. Once my tire was free of the faulty curbing, I spoke with management and showed them how the curbing wasn't even blocked by the red fences that were sitting in a nearby parking space. While they did reimburse me for the cost of our tickets and rentals that day, the cost of repairs to my vehicle was over $700. Please be cautious of the new curbing! It is near the front right of the parking lot in first lane in front of where you come out of the rental shop.

Second experience this year was President's Day, Monday. It was a Federal holiday as well as the first day of school vacation for Massachusetts kids. I don't know if Pat's Peak simply didn't prepare inadequately for the amount of people that came that day, but a 2 1/2 hour wait to get rentals that were reserved online ahead of time is totally unacceptable. They were drastically understaffed having only 2 people at the check in, 2 people doing boots/helmets, 1 person for snowboards, 3 people for skiis, and one guy who's job was to tell you which line to stand in for skiis based on the color of your boot bindings. While the staff was very apologetic, and they said to just ski as long as you want, ignore the 4 pm cut off, that didn't make up for the amount of wasted time standing in line for rentals. Management needs to do a way better job preparing for crowds.

Going back again to try again for NH school break. Maybe we will have a better experience this time... 3rd time's the charm?

One other note, food is decent but the prices are VERY high especially on beverages. $4 for a medium size cup of coffee/cocoa, can of soda, or bottle of water, is ridiculous! Some serious price gouging right there. There is outdoor storage a a lodge over the rental shop where you can bring and eat your own food/drinks.

Hopefully Pat's Peak can get their act together. It's a nice little local...

Thank you Grappone! If it wasn’t for Grappone, I would have probably ever visited this place. Last November, my wife and I traded our 2022 Tesla Model Y for a 2023 Toyota Highlander Platinum at Grappone and when we were signing our paperwork, the saleswoman asked us: “Would you like a season pass for Pats Peak?”. To what we said: “…umm… sure.” Whatever. It was free, so why not. We didn’t know they were offering free season passes to people buying a new vehicle. So hey, it’s free, it’s wonderful news. I didn’t know anything about Pats Peak other than my wife told me she heard it was a small mountain. But she never has been to, even though she grew up in Vermont and New Hampshire. I lived in the Upper Valley for 20 years, and I have never heard of Pats Peak. So, finally at the end February I decided to go with a few friends. I went on a Friday night to get my Grappone pass settle down, so I didn’t have to do that the next day with my friends. And that same Friday night I was very surprise on how nice this place was. I was in disbelief. 20 years and I have never been here before? Anyhow, I walked around with my 7 years old daughter and I absolutely loved the facilities. The bathrooms were big, well lit and clean. They look brand new. And the bar on the third floor was packed but looked super nice. The lights outside were amazing and everything sort of looked new. The next day I went over with my friends and my impression was even better. The facilities (the buildings) are better, newer and/or cleaner than the ones at Mount Sunapee, Ragged Mountain, Okemo and Whaleback. Significantly better. So are the personnel. I wonder if they pay them more than other mountains because most of them were very nice. They were cleaner, nicer and more efficient than any personnel you could find on the other mountains mentioned. Even Mount Sunapee that supposed to be this ‘premium’ place. But the facilities are Pats Peak are way, way better than Sunapee’s. I already checked the season pass prices for next season 23/24 and they are super reasonable, way cheaper than Sunapee. They have an option so you can ski only during the weekdays that is a steal. So inexpensive considering you can ski on weekdays during the day and night! Anyhow, I highly recommend you to visit the place. At least just to check the place out. Worth the trip for sure. I am in love with Pats Peak and I look forward to keep going for the...

Something for everybody and especially great for the beginner venturing into bigger slopes.

We are a family with young children whom had done 6 weeks of lessons and now were ready for bigger challenges on their own. I can only speak to the resort itself and the blue/green slopes but not the advanced slopes.

This was our first visit albeit during COVID so things were different but our experience was still excellent. Also since we have gotten a lot of snow recently I am sure the place was about as packed as it can get especially judging by the parking lot.

The blue/green slopes are clustered at opposite sides of the mountain. One side was where the ski school is which is where we started by going on the magic carpet slope first just to get them started. It was a nice wide slope which made it easy to avoid the beginners (any resorts within 90 min of Boston are too jammed with ski school for this to be usable). Then we took the Valley lift up to 2 green slopes. One was a nice long gentle sloped course, nice and easy. But the other had some terrain obstacles which were quite nice addition. Ramps and rails were their highlight as we have not seen anything like this on a beginner slope. The next slope over was their big terrain park which they wanted to try but we never made it back to. Something for next visit.

Then we took the Peak lift all the way up to the top to take in the views. And yes there is a long green slope there which we all loved. We took it up to the peak again and this time went to their Basin area which had a few shorter blue and green slopes and was definitely not as crowded. There is a dedicate lift there and never a line.

The resort itself was great. Firstly everything is centered around the lodge which was right at the bottom and all slopes ended there (except the Basin area). This means not having to keep trekking long distances in boots get to the bathroom or get food. There also were food stands at either end of the lodge which means you don’t need to go far for that. We greatly appreciated the minimal walking we had to do as this is what is often tiring about skiing. For our oldest we had to do a rental and that nice and orderly...