With a stirring view of Mount Washington (at 6,288 feet, it's the tallest peak in the Northeast) and located within a stone's throw of North Conway, Attitash Bear Peak is worth the trip. Attitash Mountain has 1,750 vertical feet, while Bear Peak boasts 1,450 feet of vertical rise and is swaddled with well-spaced glades of intermediate pitch (30 acres' worth), but with only 155 inches of annual snowfall, it's really just a big tease. Most runs are pounded with the man-made stuff and groomed by the cats, and with the constant flow of humanity down the slopes, eastern ice tends to rear its slippery head. While some locals dub the mountain "Atticrash," they also concede they spent little time on Bear Peak, which draws less of a crowd (yet the after-lunch rush can clog the lift lines).

Bear Peak blends spacious intermediate cruisers (Snow Dancer) with narrower runs (Cub's Cut and Pinball Alley). From the top of Flying Bear High-Speed Quad, Illusion is a rolling, twisting, downhill burner, fast and open and filled with enough jumps, rolls, and spines to plaster a perma-smile across your face for the afternoon.

Attitash, in operation since 1965, is more typical of the traditional New England trail system, with winding, narrow, scenic runs like Saco, which loops down alongside granite outcroppings and walls left over from the last ice age. However, as the snowboarding market grows exponentially, mountains change with the times. The Summit Triple hovers just above the 500-foot in-ground halfpipe, offering a bird's-eye view of snowboarders going for broke, while the "Family Fun Zone" provides novices and families with a relaxed atmosphere, easygoing terrain, and

With a stirring view of Mount Washington (at 6,288 feet, it's the tallest peak in the Northeast) and located within a stone's throw of North Conway, Attitash Bear Peak is worth the trip. Attitash Mountain has 1,750 vertical feet, while Bear Peak boasts 1,450 feet of vertical rise and is swaddled with well-spaced glades of intermediate pitch (30 acres' worth), but with only 155 inches of annual snowfall, it's really just a big tease. Most runs are pounded with the man-made stuff and groomed by the cats, and with the constant flow of humanity down the slopes, eastern ice tends to rear its slippery head. While some locals dub the mountain "Atticrash," they also concede they spent little time on Bear Peak, which draws less of a crowd (yet the after-lunch rush can clog the lift lines).

Bear Peak blends spacious intermediate cruisers (Snow Dancer) with narrower runs (Cub's Cut and Pinball Alley). From the top of Flying Bear High-Speed Quad, Illusion is a rolling, twisting, downhill burner, fast and open and filled with enough jumps, rolls, and spines to plaster a perma-smile across your face for the afternoon.

Attitash, in operation since 1965, is more typical of the traditional New England trail system, with winding, narrow, scenic runs like Saco, which loops down alongside granite outcroppings and walls left over from the last ice age. However, as the snowboarding market grows exponentially, mountains change with the times. The Summit Triple hovers just above the 500-foot in-ground halfpipe, offering a bird's-eye view of snowboarders going for broke, while the "Family Fun Zone" provides novices and families with a relaxed atmosphere, easygoing terrain, and baby bumps for beginners. For the 2012-13 season, Attitash opened Abenaki Park on Bear Peak, which has progressive features and jump lines that flow and are easy to get to from the Abenaki lift mid-station.