I have to do several shout outs!
1) McIntyre - a very small hill (200 ft vert) in Manchester, NH. This is where our kids took private lessons on the cheap about 20 years ago when we lived in a nearby town. After that they never looked back.
2) Pats Peak - a still small but probably more than a hill at 700 ft vert, was a local place (15 minutes from home) that was fun for beer league races, our kids skied there through their school, night skiing on discounted tickets
3) Crotched Mountain - Small ski area with 1000 ft vert was fun for their 2:30-5 skiing or night skiing as well (Midnight Madness with skiing until 3 am)
4) Gunstock - certianly bigger (1400 ft vert) than the others mentioned but to us it was a local hill that we skied at a lot for night skiing. Two for Tuesdays was popular for us. Also we held on to comps for powder nights. It was 30 minutes drive but worth it.
Other honorable mentions are Abenaki Ski Area (Wolfeboro, NH) , Lyndon Outing Club (Lyndonville, VT), Living Memorial Park (Brattleboro, VT), Lost Valley Ski Area (Auburn, ME) which are all places we tried for the fun of it - all one and dones, but it is fun to check these small places off the list - makes you feel like a pro too!
My local hill as a kid - Jay Peak and even after moving away from the area it became part of the 20 or so mountains tour we did every season.
Now being in Colorado, we do not have that local hill that is less than 30 or 40 minutes away - there is Echo (600 ft vert, 226 ac) which is the closest to Denver but still too far for us. Keystone is our night skiing option with almost 300 acres for night skiing but only until 8 pm.
For Colorado Springs many call Monarch the local hill - short in stature at 1200 ft vert but big on space with 800 acres it is still 2 hrs away.
We have also skied another that is considered a local hill to many - Eldora but that too is no lightweight at 1240 vert and 680 acres. Some from back in New England refer to it as the Pats Peak of Colorado.
