United States Ski and Snowboard (USSS) is the national governing body for amateur ski racing in the United States. The USSS sanctions, insures and regulates all the competitions in which we compete. It also manages the computer classification system which ranks U16 and older competitors on the national point list. New Hampshire Alpine Racing Association is a voluntary corporation formed to organize all NH ski racing programs. NH is part of the Eastern Division of USSS.

See the NHARA Handbook for details on programs for each age group.  The NHARA Handbook is now online only.

U8 non-scored competition (6 and 7 year-olds) is organized at your home area or close to home area for the season. Club and divisional events will be calendared that focus on measurable skills in a fun and positive environment emphasizing the development of the fundamental skiing skills of balance, agility, basic carving and coordination. U8s in NH are not eligible to participate in Open races or qualifying events.  A membership in USSA is required. A NHARA membership is not required.

U10 non-scored competition (8 and 9 year-olds) is organized at close to home areas for most of the season. The U10 program consists of non-scored Open GS & SL races (recommend not to exceed participation in 5 races) and divisional Skills events throughout the season.   Competitors must hold a valid USSA youth membership and NHARA membership for all sanctioned NHARA programs.

U12 non-scored competition (10 and 11 year-olds) is organized at close to home areas for most of the season. The U12 program consists of non-scored Open GS & SL races throughout the season and with division qualifiers in February for selection to the NHARA U12 Finals and NHARA U12 Championships in early March.  Competitors must hold a valid USSA youth membership and current NHARA membership for all programs.

U14 non-scored competition (12 and 13 year-olds) is organized at close to home areas for most of the season. The U14 program consists of non-scored Open races (GS, SL & SG) throughout the season and division qualifiers in February for selection to the NHARA U14 Finals and NHARA U14 Championships in early March. Athletes may qualify from the NH U14 Champs to the Eastern Region U14 Championships in mid-March. In late March, the USSA Eastern Region and Alpine Quebec and Alpine Ontario will compete at the non-scored U14 Can Am Races. Selection is from the race portion of the Eastern U14 Championships. Information on access and format will be available from your club and the NHARA website. Competitors must hold a valid USSA youth membership and a valid NHARA membership for all programs.

U16 competitors (14 and 15 year olds) compete at the state level in a qualifying series for selection to regional events. The qualifying series (SL/GS/SG) will consist of 'scored' events, with each individual's results scored to the USSA points list

U16s are also allowed to compete in other USSA scored competitions to test the competition waters with older athletes (recommend not to exceed 25 starts). USSA points earned at these events will be valid as soon as they appear on the USSA points list but may not be used for seeding in or selection from the qualifying events. A scored NHARA U16 State Finals will be held in late February for athletes not attending the regional championship events. The top 3M/3W from the State Finals will qualify for the Eastern U16 Finals. The Eastern U16 Finals and the Eastern U16 Championships are major season long goals. These will lead to further high level racing at the U16 Am Can event where selected racers will compete against athletes from Alpine Quebec and Alpine Ontario.

Competitors must hold a valid USSA competitor membership and a valid NHARA membership for all programs.

Various series of races form a pipeline from local to state to regional to national and to international events. The age groupings of seeded competitions allow for a designed progression of athlete development from state and regional teams to becoming nominated for the U.S. Ski Team. Advancement to these top levels of competition is based on ability.

Competitors must hold a valid USSA competitor membership and a valid NHARA membership for all programs.