Power in Choice

White Mountain supports a dynamic life of activities and opportunities for engagement outside the classroom. Students are required to participate in one sport per semester. They can select from adventure sports like whitewater kayaking or snowboarding, traditional team sports like soccer or lacrosse, or other team-oriented activities like robotics or farm and forest. No school our size has the number of offerings we do. There is power in choice.

At White Mountain, every student plays, and every student becomes an integral part of the team. Regardless of grade-level or previous experience or training, our safe and supportive team atmospheres allow students the flexibility to focus on a favorite sport or try something new! The result: new or improved skill sets, stronger bonds, and greater self-confidence.

Adventure Sports

The All-Mountain Program (AMP) allows students who have experience as skiers and snowboarders the opportunity to continue developing their skills while still having fun exploring the mountains! Students spend their time at Cannon Mountain and Bretton Woods, where they work in smaller groups with a coach. Each group has the option to focus on something new each and every day. Whether its learning how to carve like a racer or how to gain confidence skiing through the bumps and the woods, the AMP can get you there!

Prior freestyle experience is not required when joining either of our freestyle programs! Whether you’ve grown up hitting jumps and rails, or it’s something you’ve always wanted to learn how to do, our freestyle teams are the place for you! Athletes spend time working as a team on- and off-campus to develop skills as freestyle skiers or snowboarders. At the mountain, athletes will work on everything from proper safety and decision making to learning new and challenging tricks. On-campus, athletes will spend time in the gym on our indoor gymnastic trampoline as well as on Hood’s Hill in our community-built, small-scale terrain park.

Both teams practice at Cannon Mountain and compete throughout New England in weekly slopestyle and/or slalom events. Our freestyle ski team holds the 2013 and 2014 title for Lakes Region Individual Girls Champion (Olivia Coots ’15) and the 2018 and the 2019 overall Lakes Region Female Team Champions title.

White Mountain offers one of the most robust climbing programs of any secondary school in the country, with several climbing options each season, including during the winter. As in all of our outdoor education programs, the ice climbing coaches are highly trained and accredited. They teach safety and skill-building while providing opportunities to take advantage of climbing some great New England ice. Beginners and experienced climbers alike are welcome to join.

Our Mountain Biking team has a long tradition at White Mountain. We ride in all weather and conditions all over the North Country: downhill and cross-country, doubletrack and gnarly technical stuff, fun rides, and even a couple of races. Amazing local areas such as the PRKR Mountain Trails, Kingdom Trails, and Franconia Trails offer our riders an incredible amount of options! Students are also lucky to have a network of mountain bike trails right on campus!

White Mountain offers one of the strongest outdoor rock climbing programs of any independent or public high school in the country. Our location in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire ensures many opportunities to explore numerous world-class climbing routes right here in our backyard. We climb outside each day during sports block at places like Cannon Cliff, Cathedral Ledge, and Rumney Rocks. Our groups practice inside on the School’s 3,500-square-foot Beverly Selinger Buder Climbing Wall and bouldering cave during inclement weather.

White Mountain’s climbing program is highly accredited. Our staff is certified or trained by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and upholds the highest safety standards. Our program is open to climbers of all ability levels, from the beginner to the advanced climber. With several different groupings, we can support and challenge any athlete that enters our program.

White Mountain offers indoor rock climbing during each of our three athletic seasons: fall, winter, and spring. Our school’s team participates in the USA Climbing American Bouldering Series (ABS) in the spring, with a regular circuit of competitions in the New England region. We even hold our own USA Climbing-sanctioned events right here on our campus on our 3,500-square-foot Beverly Selinger Buder Climbing Wall and bouldering cave. We have one of the most robust climbing programs of any independent or public high school in the country, and we are most proud of our ability to serve athletes at any level, from the novice to the most advanced climbers.

The indoor rock climbing program meets outside of the regular sports block after classes so that interested team members may also practice their skills and gain experience in our outdoor recreational rock climbing program, with several different groupings by ability level.

The whitewater kayaking program is a popular spring sport option for White Mountain students. The spring snowmelt heading into our North Country rivers can make for an exciting spring season here in the mountains. Our program welcomes and challenges students of all ability levels. Our coaches are highly accredited and maintain updated accreditation and training.

Team Sports

Spurred by the interest of a few dedicated runners, the White Mountain cross country team began its inaugural season in September of 2011. The effort and dedication of this team is simply incredible. The team competes weekly as a varsity program in the NEPSAC Lakes Region League against schools two or three times our size.

The XC team enjoys the advantage of an amazing variety of trails (and hills) for training both right on our campus and in the immediate area. They can be seen running up local ski areas or doing interval work on the miles of trails that circle our 220-acre campus and the conservation land adjacent to it. The Cross-Country Team also donates a lot of time to local trail maintenance, mapping, and sign creation.

This spring season sport takes advantage of some incredible routes in the North Country. The White Mountains provide a spectacular backdrop to—and challenge for—our practices and races. Students spend days getting their bikes and legs ready with visits to the spin studio in the early season. The rest of the season is spent cycling through beautiful surrounding areas. We participate in the New England Road Cycling (NERC) League. Members of NERC include both public schools and private boarding schools throughout our region. NERC is a competitive circuit, but our program welcomes both the novice and the experienced rider.

At White Mountain, we emphasize both fitness and skill development all season long. Our team plays a challenging schedule against its larger Lakes Region League peers. Players come to White Mountain with an amazing range of soccer talent, and each player is fully supported in their own athletic growth, whether they’ve played for years or are brand new to the sport. White Mountain athletics are built on a team-centered approach, and soccer is not an exception. There are daily team-building and communication challenges, and every player takes an active role in helping the team. We are proud to say that every player plays and that absolutely every player is a valued contributor to the success of the team. Most importantly, we emphasize daily the simple joy and fun of the game.

We are really excited about the dedication and energy that the girls bring to the field every day. This team learns a lot, plays incredibly well as a unit, and has an incredible amount of spirit. The girls play a challenging schedule of games against Lakes Region League schools and some games against local public school teams. We focus on each player’s development and growth and on sharing the life lessons that participation in sport can teach us. Decorating t-shirts, team dinners, and donating our time to work with youth soccer programs are just a few of the things that set this spirited bunch apart from other teams. Everybody matters on our team, and everyone is expected to teach and lead just as much as they are expected to learn and grow.

The boys lacrosse program welcomes athletes of all ability levels. Our dedicated coaching staff focuses on skill development, strategy, and team-building at the appropriate level of challenge for each individual player. White Mountain lacrosse players and coaches alike bring enthusiasm and grit to each practice and contest. Coaches work with players to set goals early in the season and provide open and clear feedback with their athletes as they progress in their understanding of this great game each season!

The girls lacrosse program welcomes athletes of all ability levels. Our program is designed to challenge beginners through seasoned lacrosse players. We build team strength and unity through conditioning, focus on skill development, and learn and improve our understanding of game strategy throughout the season. Our coaches work with each athlete to set and reach goals and provide open, thoughtful feedback each day at practice. Most importantly, we value having fun and learning together.

Co-Curricular Activities

White Mountain uses classes from Creative Edge Dance Studio (CEDS) for its co-curricular offerings. For over two decades, CEDS has been providing fun, rewarding, and challenging experiences in the exploration of dance. In 2018, after operating independently for many years, CEDS was formally incorporated into the School.

CEDS’ well-trained and qualified teachers have a wealth of professional, academic, and studio experience in the fields of dance, performance, and education. CEDS offers a wide range of class options and levels to suit the needs of aspiring dancers. White Mountain students can take dance courses à la carte, or take dance full-time as a sport/co-curricular each semester.

Offered in the fall and spring, students in our Farm and Forest Program learn how to manage the School’s 1.5-acre organic farm and maintain the five miles of trails on campus and the land adjacent to campus. Getting fit and having fun are always in order as students harvest fresh produce from the garden, slide in the mud after runaway chickens, jump up and down to pack the snow, and combat voles in the orchard.

Farm and Forest members:

  • Annually grow approximately 2,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables
  • Plant seedlings
  • Manage a hoop house
  • Care for our chickens
  • Press apples to make apple cider
  • Make and can jam from our berry bushes
  • Jar pickles from our cucumbers
  • Tap maple trees and produce maple syrup
  • Create signage, clear brush, and build bridges for our multi-purpose trails

Students get fit as they map and clear the network of trails around campus. In the spring, students discover the joys of “sugar on snow” as we tap our own trees to make maple syrup in March. We also visit other farms to pick apples, learn about milking goats and making cheese, and see how maple syrup is produced commercially. A highlight of the Farm and Forest program in the fall is the annual Harvest Dinner, which is held during Family and Alumnae/i Weekend. Come sample the fresh, organic food produced right here on campus!

Students can engage with robotics at White Mountain through one of the two courses the School offers, or as part of Northern Horizons Team 7416, which participates in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). Each year, teams competing in the FRC have six weeks to build a robot from scratch to compete in a series of tasks and games, which are different from year to year.

White Mountain’s robotics offerings allow students, at all levels of experience, learn about or grow their knowledge in coding, physics, electrical engineering, fabrication, and other STEM-related topics. Participants in FIRST also learn about developing business plans, fundraising campaigns, websites, and more.

Students who choose theater for their sport will have the opportunity to have fun playing around in acting games and improvisation. Through improv and focused games, actors improve their on-stage skills: first in monologues, then in skits, and finally in a one-act play.

In theater, everyone gets to be on stage. We learn a lot about developing characters, memorizing scripts, and blocking, but we laugh a lot, too. Theater is a safe place to try on different characters, learn how to act, and learn about yourself. Not only will students have the opportunity to be on stage, they will also learn the nuts and bolts of set design, lighting and sound technology, and costuming. Students perform for their friends, family, and the local community in several productions throughout the year.

Meet Our Athletic Director

Our athletic director can answer any of your sport or co-curricular questions or connect you with a coach if you would like to learn even more!

Ian Martinson

Athletic Director / Learning Center Academic Coach

603-444-2928 x238