Find Your Adventure: Zip-lining over NH

Looking for an opportunity to get out and try a new sport or hobby this season, but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Each of our local adventure experts will guide you through how to approach ziplining, ATVing, biking, surfing, scuba diving, climbing and whitewater rafting, complete with tips and tricks for each quest and recommendations for where to go.

Find More Adventures:

Wild On Wheels: ATV-in in NH
Cruising the Thin Blue Line: Surfing in NH
Take a Hike: Hiking in NH
Find Your Froth: Whitewater Rafting in NH
Hot Wheels: Biking in NH

Riding High by Ian Aldrich

Ziplines offer thrill-seekers stunning tours of NH scenery

The Bretton Woods zipline tour is impressive, with nine different lines, two sky bridges and three rappels.
Photo Courtesy Bretton Woods Ski Resort

I’d like to report that I wasn’t afraid, but that would just be silly bravado. The truth is my nerves were jumping as I stood on the first platform at the Bretton Woods Ski Resort’s Canopy Tour, a multi-hour zipline experience that brings visitors down the mountain via thick cables and some securing hitches. It was a midweek day, and my buddy and I had made the nearly three-hour drive to the White Mountains from the Monadnock region to take our first shot at ziplining. Could I do this? Should I do this?

It wasn’t like I was a stranger to adventuring around this region. Over the years, I’d hiked and biked all over the Whites, in all kinds of weather. Big snows. Drenching rains. Scorching days. But dangling from a cable 160 feet up while hitting 35 MPH was a thrill I’d somehow overlooked — or maybe dodged? Somehow, however, I’d gotten it into my head that the Bretton Woods experience — descending more than 1,000 vertical feet with spectacular views of the western Whites — seemed too good to pass up, fear of heights be damned. 

Except they weren’t. I hemmed and hawed on that first platform, which, I’m ashamed to admit, wasn’t even that high. But then a funny thing happened: I left my feet. Then I did it again at the next platform. And on it went. By the time we reached the halfway point, those early fears had (almost) subsided and a cool rush of adrenalin coursed through my body. There were whoops. There were high fives. There was — dare I even say it? — an excitement for being a few hundred feet in the air, staring down a 900-foot line that cut through the trees. 

A good zipline tour can build that kind of empowerment. A Latin American import, ziplining has flourished in New Hampshire as the state’s major ski resorts have reinvented themselves as year-round destinations. Fortunately for us, the opportunities keep getting better. 

The Bretton Woods tour is arguably the state’s most comprehensive, with nine different lines, two sky bridges and three rappels. It operates year-round and can take a good couple of hours to complete. But there’s worthy competition in other parts of the state. 

In nearby Lincoln, you’ll find New England’s first zipline operator. Alpine Adventures opened its course in 2006 and remains the largest outfit in New England. Making its home along 300 rugged acres on Barron Mountain, Alpine’s three main tours (Tree Top, Skyrider and Super Skyrider) all begin with an off-road safari in the company’s six-wheel-drive Pinzgauer, a perfect mood setter for the adventurous fun that follows.

At Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford, visitors can experience one of the longest zipline runs in the country. Both of its Recoil and Pistol zips cover a distance of nearly 4,000 feet and as the names would suggest, go wicked fast — up to 70 mph. 

It’s all about going peak-to-peak at Attitash Mountain Resort in Bartlett. Its famous Flying Bear Zip, the fourth longest single span in the contiguous United States, begins at the summit of Bear Peak. From there, riders follow a nearly- mile long trajectory across the Stoney Brook Valley to Attitash Mountain. 

The beautiful White Mountain National Forest comes into full focus at Wildcat Mountain in Gorham. The unique zip found here features four side-by-side cables that allow friends to descend the 2,100-foot ride together. 

A different kind of scenery awaits at Morningside Flight Park in Charlestown, smack-dab in the Connecticut River Valley. A longtime favorite among hang-gliders and paragliders, Morningside more recently has catered to a different population of thrill seekers with the addition of the seven-line Superman glide. Want more? Don’t miss the two-hour hang-glide-zip combo package. 

Each of these tours is led by experienced professionals who put a heavy focus on safety long before you step onto your first platform. And while they can’t guarantee you’ll be permanently free of any fear of heights, it’s almost certain that you’ll see (and experience) the Granite State like never before. 

Find your adventure!

Bretton Woods Ski Resort: Open year-round. Single-admission tickets start at $89. brettonwoods.com

Alpine Adventures: Open year-round. Single-admission tickets start at $89. alpinezipline.com

Gunstock Mountain Resort: $85. gunstock.com

Attitash Mountain Resort: $70. attitash.com

Wildcat Mountain: $40. skiwildcat.com

Morningside Flight Park: Single admission starts at $59. flymorningside.kittyhawk.com

Ian Aldrich is executive editor at Yankee magazine, where he has worked for more than two decades. Aldrich has written many stories about outdoor adventures in New England.