Get a Sip of Sunshine at Sugarbush
March 6: Media, Bloggers and Hospitality Day, Wachusett, MA: Feeling influential? Wachusett rolls out the carpet for qualified bloggers, media and hospitality industry staff this day, offering free tickets, lessons for newbies, rentals and more. You’ll be treated to a coffee break, given a $10 lunch voucher and have the chance to get to know a local mountain. Even better: once you fall in love, you can ski until midnight (with an evening ticket purchase) as the mountain spins the lifts until midnight for the last time this season that night. (Guests ski free from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.). www.wachusett.com
March 7-8: First Class Beginners Program, Loon Mountain Resort, NH: Spring is a wonderful time to learn to ski or ride (softer snow, more sunlight all day, often warmer temps), and Loon makes it easy: Sign up for the last weekend this season of this program and you’ll head home on Sunday a true skier or rider. For $450 you’ll be fitted with just the right gear for you (head boots and skis for skiers; Burton gear for riders) and spend the weekend with pro coaches building your skills. Après party Saturday is included too and get this: that gear is yours to keep. www.loonmtn.com
March 7: Moonlight Snowshoe Tour, King Pine, NH: A winter night woodsy tour on snowshoes, led by a guide who knows the region inside and out, takes off at 7 p.m. under the light of the winter moon. $25 pre-registration required. Rentals available for an added fee. www.kingpine.com
March 5: Lawson’s Finest Beer Dinner, Sugarbush, VT: Lawson’s Finest, brewed right in the Mad River Valley, is a Vermont ski staple. Their Sip of Sunshine brew, among others, are beloved at après and all other times up north. This night you ride the snowcat (or the truly hearty hike, skin or snowshoe up) to Sugarbush’s Ally’s Cabin for a multicourse beer paired dinner and then, under the light of the moon, ski down to Rumbles Kitchen at the base for one last beer (or ride the snowcat down). www.sugarbush.com
March 8: Tend the Trails, Cranmore, NH: Who other than the lift ops, patrol, groomers and instructors make your ski days and nights just right? The bartenders. Cranmore gives you a chance to celebrate those crucial resort employees by taking some runs with them. Meet at 8 a.m. at Zip’s Pub, one of the region’s most classic après ski bars and say hello and gear up. Then ski and ride with the mixologists from 8:30-10 a.m. Post ski and ride, you’ll return to Zips for a Bloody Mary made by the tenders you’ve just bonded with. www.cranmore.com