Courtesy of the New England Ski Museum

New England Ski Museum Opens North Conway Exhibit

Franconia Notch, NH  December 18, 2008 – New England Ski Museum has opened a satellite exhibition in North Conway, NH, fittingly enough in the building that once housed the Carroll Reed Ski Shop. The entrance to the exhibit space, on the lower level of the Shops at Norcross Place, is marked by the prominent ski pole signpost at the corner of Kearsarge Street and White Mountain Highway. The shop’s founder, Carroll Reed, was also a founder of the modern era of skiing in the region and a pioneer in ski-related retailing. The exhibition occupies the space that was once Reed’s office.

The Museum’s intention is to use the space to display exhibits that illustrate aspects of the rich history of skiing in New England. At present the exhibition is Hannes Schneider, Skimeister, which details the life of the Austrian who devised systems of ski technique and ski instruction in his native Arlberg region, then moved to North Conway in the ominous years before World War II. The exhibition was prepared by Christof Thöny of the Klostertal Museum in Schneider’s birth region near Stuben, Austria.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Schneider’s February 1939 arrival in North Conway, and a joint event on January 10, 2009 by the Conway Scenic Railroad and Cranmore Mountain Resort will stage a reenactment of the Schneider family’s entrance into the Eastern Slope Region, as it was then called. Immediately following the 11:45 AM reenactment at the North Conway train station, members of the Schneider family will be available in the Museum’s location to meet the public and comment on the exhibition. Light refreshments will be served.

The Museum’s space also features a collection of skis assembled by J. Arthur Doucette of Jackson, New Hampshire. He was one of the North Conway hockey players selected by Benno Rybizka to be assistant instructors in the American Branch of the Hannes Schneider Ski School in Jackson in the winter of 1936-37. After serving in the 10th Mountain Division in World War II, Doucette made a career of skiing, and ran his own ski school at Black Mountain for many years. Doucette’s collection of skis, from the ridgetop wooden skis of the 1930s to the fiberglass models of the 1980s, provides a good representation of the evolution of the modern Alpine ski, and also indicates the span of his skiing career. In the late 1940s, Doucette served as a tester for Howard Head’s new metal ski designs, and several of Head’s earliest—and most fragile—skis are shown in the exhibit.

For the time being, the Museum’s North Conway branch will be an unstaffed exhibit in which visitors are welcome to browse. The lower level of the Shops at Norcross Place is open from roughly 10 AM to 5 PM daily. A selection of Museum publications are available to the taking, notably the Museum Shop Catalog, and issues of the Journal of the New England Ski Museum, which features in-depth articles on ski history topics like the ‘lost’ ski areas of New England, the ski trails in the region cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps in an earlier national economic crisis, and the National Ski Patrol.

About the New England Ski Museum
Located in Franconia Notch next to the Cannon Mountain Tramway, NH, the New England Ski Museum is a non-profit, member-supported museum dedicated to collecting, preserving and exhibiting aspects of ski history.  The Museum is open from 10 AM to 5 PM seven days a week from Memorial Day through the end of March. Admission is free. The Museum also maintains satellite exhibits at the Shops at Norcross Place in downtown North Conway, NH and at Bretton Woods Mountain Resort. For more information call 800-639-4181 or visit www.skimuseum.org.

The best made plans often go astray. 

I had planned for weeks for a weekend trip to Okemo, to partake in the best early season skiing in years,but the eastern ice storm hit my property in upstate NY on Friday the 12^th of December and changed my plans.  

Rain fell hard all Thursday evening and Friday saw temperatures fall into the low teens, freezing up everything in its path.

Instead, I found myself dipping water from a well, sawing up limbs and branches, stacking wood, huddling by ourfriend the woodstove, and sharing conversation with my wife instead of watching TV.  It was a trip back in time to our ancestors’ days when most of their days were spent protecting themselves from the elements and keeping food on the table.

The storm was beautiful and threatening (the ice clad braches still pose a threat to more trees falling), at the sametime.

Courtesy of the New England Ski Museum

Guidelines Issued for 2009 Cal Conniff Grants Applications

Franconia, NH (December 1, 2008)--.  The New England Ski Museum will award

grants totaling $2,500 this March at the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race

at the Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway, NH on March 6-7, 2009. The

Museum's Cal Conniff grant program is intended to support individuals and

organizations that coincide with the Museum's mission to preserve the

history of skiing and winter sports.  

The Grant Program is named in honor of former Ski Museum Board member Cal

Conniff. He is a former Executive Director of the National Ski Areas

Association, and while President of the ski museum founded the Hannes

Schneider Meister Cup as a benefit event for the non-profit group. 

The Cal Conniff Grant Program is open to individuals, organizations and

educational institutions with an interest in snowsports, such as Alpine and

Nordic skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing. Applicants may include, but are

not limited to, competitive athletes, school programs, clubs, students,

teachers, researchers, filmmakers and historians. Anyone who can demonstrate

the need for funding for the purposes of education, preservation of

snowsports history, encouraging winter sports participation, or other

involvement in snow sports is eligible.

The grant program in connection with the race was adopted at a September

2000 Board meeting. Since that time, $30,750 in grants have been awarded to

organizations and individuals, including the Eastern Ski Jumping & Nordic

Combined Foundation, Gunstock Adaptive Program, Winterkids, Nansen Ski Club,

Cochran's Ski Area, Northeast Slopes, and Poland (ME) Regional High School.

The selection process will be conducted by the Museum's Grant Committee on

an objective and nondiscriminatory basis. The committee judges applications

based on the following:

. How important is this grant to the success of the program?

. Will this applicant contribute to the preservation of ski or

snowboard history?

. Does the success of this applicant have an educational value?

. Does this application encourage participation in skiing or

snowboarding?

. Does the applicant seem organized in the pursuit of the project?

The application process is kept purposefully informal. Applicants should

send a letter that explains what the grant would be used for - a description

of the project, its goals, who it impacts, and the dollar amount requested.

Supporting information for the application should include:

. Resume (individuals) or organizational description (groups);

. Two letters supporting the merits of the individual or program;

. Representative photograph of person or program that may be published

by the Museum if the applicant is successful.

Applications materials can be e-mailed to staff@skimuseum.org or mailed to:

Grants Committee

New England Ski Museum

PO Box 267

Franconia NH 03580-0267

The deadline for applications is February 9, 2009. For more information

about a Cal Conniff Grant, please call the New England Ski Museum at

603-823-7177, or visit its website, http://www.skimuseum.org./

Early cold weather and a few significant drops of natural snow will make this season's start the best in some time.  Significant snow has

fallen in the high country today, on top of some very respectable man made bases.  Several areas opened last weekend and more scheduled

for this week.

 I skied at Okemo last Saturday (opening day was friday) , where there were 15 trails open, several top to bottom.  Usually unheard of this

time of year.

Making snow at Okemo's base area 11/22/08 

Prestigious Forbes Traveler website says Lake Placid is one of USA's

prettiest towns

Courtesy of ORDA 

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - In a time when destination resorts are wondering about

the current economic climate and what it will bring in the future, now there

is word that Forbes Traveler website has included Lake Placid on a list of

America's Prettiest Towns.

     Authors Sarah Tuff Dunn and Greg Melville, writing for

ForbesTraveler.com, placed the two-time Winter Olympic host on their

independent lists based on "natural grandeur and small-town charm."

     On the website, Dunn says Lake Placid's "classic Main Street,

pine-speckled hills and pristine small lakes" appeal to her, while Melville

describes Lake Placid as "the closest you can get to living out West when

you're in the East. It's got the jagged mountain backdrop surrounding an

unpretentious ski village bordered by two crystal lakes."

     Ted Blazer, President and CEO of the Olympic Regional Development

Authority (ORDA) which manages the village's 1980 Winter Olympic venues,

stated that this piece comes at the right time.

     "With the world facing many changes, we are most appreciative that

Forbes Traveler included us in this listing," he said. "Those of us who live

here are blessed by our natural surroundings. Given that some 70 million

people live within a day's drive of us, we are hopeful that this kind of

publicity will help bring visitation to our venues and our community this

winter and beyond."

      Please click on the following link for the complete listing of

America's Prettiest Towns, including Lake Placid.

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