Recreation
Snow skiing and snowboard riding are popular winter activities at Mount Sunapee Resort & Ski Area. The ski area lies within Mount Sunapee State Park, but in 1998 the state leased the 968-acre (392 ha) ski area of the park to be operated by Tim and Dianne Mueller, who own Okemo Mountain Resort. New lifts were added in 2004.
The state park's extensive trail system is used in all seasons for hiking and in winter for snowshoeing. The park is linked to Pillsbury State Park and southern New Hampshire by the 50-mile (80 km) Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway and to the ten-town Lake Sunapee region by the 75-mile (121 km) "emerald necklace" of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge (SRK) Greenway which connects Mt. Sunapee to Wadleigh State Park in Sutton and to Winslow and Rollins State Parks on Mount Kearsarge in Warner and Wilmot. From the ski area parking, the Summit Trail travels two miles (3 km) along the western slope to the summit, where it meets the Solitude Trail for a one-mile (1.6 km) walk to Lake Solitude and White Ledges. The Solitude Trail then links to several trails, notably the popular Andrew Brook Trail and the steeper Newbury Trail, both heading eastward, and to the M-S Greenway as it heads south along Sunapee Mountain toward Pillsbury State Park.
Every August, Mount Sunapee Resort is host to the week-long League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's Fair, billed as "the oldest craft fair in America".
Mount Sunapee is also home to the Mount Sunapee Slush Cup, an annual event where participants welcome the coming of spring by attempting to ski or snowboard across a 90-ft. man-made pond. “Slushers” race down a 365 ft. slope to brave the ice-cold water and compete in several age groups for titles like “Best Skim,” “Best Costume,” and “Best Splash.” Locals and Slush Cup enthusiasts will celebrate the 13th Annual Sunapee Slush Cup in April 2011.
Mount Sunapee State Park beach, also known as Newbury Beach, is just off the traffic circle at the entrance to the state park. The beach has a store, canoe and kayak rentals, a playground, and a new bathhouse. A boat launch is available with some restrictions.
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Famous quotes containing the word recreation:
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)