Hannes Schneider Race Organizers Note Skimobile Anniversary

70 Years of skiing from Cranmore’s summit

Franconia Notch, NH  January 14, 2010 – As preparations are underway for the 14^th annual Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race in March 2010 at Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway, New Hampshire, one of the first contributions that Schneider made to the development of the ski area when he arrived, the continuation of the Skimobile lift to the summit of the mountain, is in its 70^th ski season.

Hannes Schneider, considered by many ski historians to be the man most responsible for the growth of skiing into a sport that brought prosperity to rural, mountainous areas of Europe and North America, was uprooted from his Austrian home by the 1938 German takeover of his country. After a year under house arrest by the Nazis in which his fate was uncertain, Schneider was able to leave occupied Europe for the US thanks to the intervention of American banker Harvey Dow Gibson. Then-new Mount Cranmore, Gibson’s North Conway ski resort, welcomed Hannes Schneider as its ski school director and ski industry sage.

One of Schneider’s first suggestions to Gibson on seeing the new ski area in the winter of 1939, was his emphatic opinion that the lifts and trails needed to be extended to the summit of the mountain. Consequently, a second Skimobile trestle was built on the upper mountain in the summer of 1939, and opened for skiing in the winter of 1940, helping Cranmore became one of the busiest ski resorts in the country.

Despite a 1944 fire at the terminal building located between the two Skimobile trestles, the near-unique lift operated until 1989. The trestles and loading platforms were completely reconstructed in 1945, only a few years after the first installation, which lacked concrete footings. Only one other similar ski lift existed, at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia.

Schneider’s important contributions to American skiing are celebrated each year at the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race, a benefit event for the New England Ski Museum. The 2010 event will take place on Saturday March 6 at Cranmore Mountain Resort. In addition to the ski race, held on a gentle dual giant slalom course, the event features an ice carving demonstration, a vintage ski clothing show, a silent auction, music and great food.