Black Mountain
Overview
Black Mountain, in Jackson, New Hampshire, has a claim to genuine ski-history significance: opened in 1935, the resort says it was among the first ski areas in the country to offer lift-served skiing, including an early overhead J-bar lift that gave the hill its enduring vintage character. Nearly ninety years later, that same lift type still appears among the resort’s five lifts today, alongside a platter, a rope tow, and two chairlifts, a lineup that reads more like a living museum of early American ski infrastructure than a modern high-speed setup.
The mountain’s recent history has been rockier than its terrain. The Fichera family ran Black Mountain from 1995 until financial and staffing pressures forced a temporary closure in 2023. Indy Pass, rather than a resort holding company, stepped in first with support and ultimately took full ownership, a deliberate move to keep the hill operating as an independent ski area rather than folding it into a larger corporate portfolio or losing it altogether. That ownership history now makes Black Mountain a rare case of a national pass network directly rescuing and running one of its own partner resorts.
On snow, the resort drops 309.8 vertical meters from a 685.2-meter summit to a 375.4-meter base across an unusually high 59 mapped runs for its size, totaling 15.82 kilometers of trail. The difficulty split is close to even three ways: 5.86 kilometers easy, 5.4 kilometers advanced, and 4.56 kilometers intermediate, a balance that lets Black Mountain serve first-timers and confident skiers on the same modest-sized mountain without leaning heavily toward either end.
Both the Indy Base Pass and Indy+ Pass include Black Mountain, each granting two all-day or all-night tickets, a natural fit given Indy’s ownership stake. Portland International Jetport, 90.2 kilometers away, is the nearest airport, with Lebanon Municipal a secondary option at 109.6 kilometers; Manchester, New Hampshire, population roughly 110,229, is the closest larger city at 132.9 kilometers, ahead of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Lowell, Massachusetts, both farther out in the region’s tri-state ski corridor.
What makes Black Mountain’s story unusual among small New England ski areas isn’t just its age, plenty of White Mountains hills date to the 1930s, but the fact that its most recent existential crisis was resolved by the very pass network that lists it as a partner rather than by a private buyer or a larger resort conglomerate. That gives visitors a direct, tangible way to support the mountain’s survival simply by using an Indy Pass there, a dynamic that doesn’t exist at most other resorts in this dataset. Combined with genuinely vintage lift technology still in daily service and a close-to-even split across easy, intermediate, and advanced terrain, Black Mountain offers something closer to a living piece of American ski infrastructure history than a modernized resort experience, one that visitors can support directly just by buying a lift ticket rather than by donating separately to a preservation fund.
Key stats
Official website — Last checked 2026-09-13
Lifts by type
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| j-bar | 1 |
| platter | 1 |
| rope tow | 1 |
| chair lift | 2 |
Runs by difficulty
| Difficulty | Distance |
|---|---|
| easy | 5.86 km |
| advanced | 5.4 km |
| intermediate | 4.56 km |
Maps
View official Black Mountain trail map (page) →
Run & lift overview
Black Mountain: 59 runs, 5 lifts. A schematic built from OpenStreetMap/OpenSkiMap data — this is not Black Mountain's official trail map. © OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenSkiMap (ODbL).
Typical conditions by month
Monthly conditions data for Black Mountain is not yet available.
Lift tickets & passes
- Indy Base Pass — 2 All-Day or All-Night tickets per resort; blackout dates apply (exact 26/27 holiday blackout dates not yet finalized as of verified_date)
- Indy+ Pass — 2 All-Day or All-Night tickets per resort, no blackout dates
Getting there
Nearest airports
- Portland International Jetport (PWM) — 90.2 km straight-line
- Lebanon Municipal Airport (LEB) — 109.6 km straight-line
- Augusta State Airport (AUG) — 110.3 km straight-line
Nearest cities
- Manchester, New Hampshire — 132.9 km straight-line
- Sherbrooke, Quebec — 148.2 km straight-line
- Lowell, Massachusetts — 171.6 km straight-line
Also covered by
Where to stay
A dedicated lodging guide for Black Mountain is not yet available.
Nearby resorts
- Wildcat Mountain — 11 km straight-line, 617.6 m vertical
- Attitash Mountain Resort — 12 km straight-line, 505.2 m vertical
- Cranmore Mountain Resort — 14 km straight-line, 343.1 m vertical
- Bretton Woods Ski Area — 25 km straight-line, 424.9 m vertical
- Pleasant Mountain — 31 km straight-line, 378 m vertical
FAQ
- Is this the same Black Mountain that's a large North Carolina ski resort?
- No. This is Black Mountain in Jackson, New Hampshire, a small independent ski area in the White Mountains, distinct from any similarly named resort elsewhere in the country.
- How old is Black Mountain Ski Area?
- It dates to 1935, making it roughly 90 years old, and the resort says it was one of the first ski areas in the country to offer lift-served skiing, including an early overhead J-bar lift.
- Who owns Black Mountain now?
- After the Fichera family operated it from 1995, financial and staffing troubles forced a temporary closure in 2023; Indy Pass stepped in with support and eventually took full ownership to keep the hill running independently.
- How big is Black Mountain?
- The resort drops 309.8 vertical meters from a 685.2-meter summit to a 375.4-meter base, with 5 lifts (a j-bar, a platter, a rope tow, and 2 chairlifts) serving an unusually high 59 mapped runs across 15.82 kilometers of trail.
- Is Black Mountain good for beginners?
- Easy terrain leads the difficulty mix at 5.86 kilometers, ahead of 5.4 kilometers advanced and 4.56 kilometers intermediate, giving the resort a fairly even three-way split across skill levels.
- Is Black Mountain on the Indy Pass?
- Yes. Both the Indy Base Pass and Indy+ Pass include Black Mountain, each with two all-day or all-night tickets per resort, a fitting arrangement given that Indy Pass itself now owns and operates the resort.
- What's the nearest airport to Black Mountain?
- Portland International Jetport is closest at 90.2 kilometers, with Lebanon Municipal Airport a secondary option at 109.6 kilometers.
- What's the nearest city to Black Mountain?
- Manchester, New Hampshire, population around 110,229, is the nearest larger city at 132.9 kilometers, with Sherbrooke, Quebec, close behind at 148.2 kilometers.
Data sources
Last verified: 2026-09-17
Base facts from OpenSkiMap (ODbL), OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata (CC0), OurAirports (public domain) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). See /data-sources/.