Northern Extremes Snowmobiling in the White Mountains
We consider ourselves winter sports enthusiasts. We’ve run the gamut of skiing, ice skating, ice fishing and hiking hundreds of times, but up until this past weekend had never snowmobiled. After our visit with Northern Extremes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, it had us wishing we didn’t wait so long to try this thrilling sport.
Northern Extremes' main rental facility is located in Bartlett, NH. As with any outdoor winter activity, make sure you dress warm. Similar to dressing as you would for skiing, without the ski boots. Our friends at Point 6 hooked us up with pairs of their performance, wool socks and we couldn't have been more impressed by their quality and warmth during our snowmobiling adventure!
The trip started with checking in at their headquarters where we received snowmobile helmets. Renters can elect to do a self-guided tour or a guided tour. There were many different tour duration options to choose from—ours was self-guided for 2 hours on a double snowmobile. From there we took their shuttle a couple blocks down the road to the White Mountains National Park entrance. The snowmobiles were waiting and ready to go!
After a safety and operations overview, we were on our way cruising through the forest. There was a great variety of trails, from windy, woody trails to open cruisers with 360 mountain views. The views were especially breathtaking on the Bear Notch Road trail.
All of the trails were clearly marked and it was easy to find our way around with the detailed trial map Northern Extremes provides. We rode the shuttle back with a group who’d done a guided tour and it seemed like they had just as much fun. While this may have been our first snowmobiling adventure, it certainly won’t be our last!
Kristy Albano & Matt Pickering
