Cranmore Mountain Resort

Harvey Dow Gibson, who would go on to found Cranmore, was born on March 12, 1882, in North Conway, Carroll County, New Hampshire, per Wikipedia. In 1937, Gibson, by then president of Manufacturers Trust Company, established Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway; that same year he also acquired the Eastern Slope Inn. Cranmore's first season was 1937-38, and its first rope tow debuted on the lower slopes on January 15, 1938, per New England Ski History. In 1939, Gibson negotiated the release of Austrian ski instructor Hannes Schneider, who had been imprisoned after the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938 for being an outspoken critic, and brought him to the United States to reopen his ski school at Cranmore, according to Wikipedia's "Hannes Schneider" article. Schneider operated the ski school and resort until his death in 1955, after which his son Herbert Schneider assumed management. Cranmore's Skimobile, introduced in the 1938-39 season, consisted of "small cars traveling on a wooden track," a lift designed by mechanic George Morton, per Wikipedia's "Cranmore Mountain Resort" article; for the 1939-40 season an upper segment was added on Schneider's recommendation, and that season the Skimobile carried 122,000 passengers overall and a single-day record of 4,920 passengers, according to New England Ski History. On November 24, 1944, a fire damaged the Skimobile's control room, with losses estimated at $10,000. The East Bowl expansion -- adding new terrain and a Poma lift on the South Slope alongside the existing double chairlift -- opened in December 1955, the same season Herbert Schneider took over management, per New England Ski History. The Skimobile was discontinued after the 1989-90 season because it had become too costly to run, requiring eight employees to operate, and its removal began in spring 1990. In fall 1984, Herbert Schneider sold Cranmore to Ed Mank's Mt. Cranmore, Inc.; in November 1991 Bay Bank assumed ownership; in June 1995 Les Otten's LBO Resort Enterprises purchased the property; in 1996 LBO Resort Enterprises merged with S-K-I Ltd to form American Skiing Company; and in November 1996 Cranmore was sold to Booth Creek Ski Holdings, per New England Ski History. On June 15, 2010, Cranmore was sold to Brian Fairbank, Tyler Fairbank, and Joseph O'Donnell. Cranmore hosts the annual Hannes Schneider Meister Cup during the first weekend of March; the New England Ski Museum describes the race as honoring Schneider's legacy and paying "tribute to generations of America's mountain troops," and its own page calls the race its largest fundraiser.