Kids driving you crazy yet? It’s usually mid-winter when the house starts to
feel real small and the kids are climbing the walls. You want to get them
outside, but ski trips and tickets are pricey. Cranmore may have the cure,
if you can head north to North Conway.
Cranapalooza is the name and for a $25 ticket – you’ve got game. Every
Saturday, a ski ticket for the whole mountain from 2-9pm is $25 for any age,
anyone in the family. Cranmore
puts on a party Saturday afternoon into the evening to add to the obvious
attraction of skiing and riding for seven hours. But the lift ticket alone
is good value.
Mind
you, I am a first tracks, first chair kind of skier. I am often clocking out
by noon with over a dozen magnificent morning runs. But now that I have
teenagers, I can relate to the benefit of skiing later. The kids can sleep
in, the drive to the slopes is far less frantic and furious with a leisurely
“pack and go” pace to arrive early afternoon.
A $25 ticket accesses skiing and riding from Cranmore’s summit on 12 lit
trails (unlike many ski areas where night skiing is limited to the lower
mountain). The high speed SkiMobile Quad is a swift lift to the top, so the
kids can make plenty of 1,200’ vertical laps under the lights.
If
you have terrain park fans in your family, they can have at two parks.
Serious freeriders will love Cranmore’s Darkside – which gets better at
night under the lights. There are rails, jumps, picnic tables, even stairs
(crazy contraption) emblazoned with skull and crossbones – very edgy. The
park is located on the lower part of the mountain, so Mom can always watch
(in horror) from the lodge as the kids get their hits.
Little kids will be excited when C-More the Penguin comes out and flaps
around for family photos. Magicians, puppets and face painting are part of
the carnival atmosphere of Cranapalooza. You can upgrade your kid’s ticket
($8 more) if they want to go bounce around inside an inflatable Fun Zone
from 4:30 – 9pm. (you may need an adult beverage after this). Fireworks fill
the sky at 7:30pm many Saturday nights as part of the party, and
Cranapalooza also occurs on Wednesday during school vacation week.
As parents, you can ski too, sit by the outdoor fire pit, or enjoy the
entertainment at Zip’s Pub. I suppose if your kids are old enough to ski on
their own, you could slip into town for real romantic dinner.
As one Mom told me, “I have a love hate relationship with Cranapalooza, I
hate night skiing myself but I love how much the kids enjoy all the events
that go one throughout the evening. They won’t leave till they see C-more
and have their s’more by the fire.”
