Eight

NEW HAMPSHIRE SKIERS: A GALLERY

It was kind of a fraternity; you were a skier, a little different from the rest of the people.

—Charles N. Proctor, interviewed in 1981.

Fred Harris, founder of the Dartmouth Outing Club, the Brattleboro Outing Club, and the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association, was the man who first suggested that Dartmouth hire a ski coach. He also represented the United States at the Fédération de Ski Congress (FIS) in Oslo in 1930.

John Carleton, Dartmouth’s first ace, was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1924. Carleton played a major role in securing the CCC for trail cutting in the White Mountains.

Ed Blood, cross-country specialist chosen for the 1932 Winter Olympics, finished 16th out of 31 competitors in the 18-kilometer event and 18th in the jump for the “combined.” Fame like this could get you on the Gaudey Company’s gum cards.

Kate Peckett traveled to Europe to find instructors for her father’s inn on Sugar Hill. She was largely responsible for initiating the cutting of the Richard Taft Trail, the most challenging of New England’s early downhill trails in 1932. She also had her hand in the ski fashion business as a consultant for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York.

Betty Whitney is shown in front of the AMC’s Cardigan Mountain lodge in 1935. Betty and Bill Whitney ran Whitney’s Inn and slopes in Jackson with its one-of-a-kind shovel-handle tow. Whitney’s was one of the most popular skiing places in the eastern slope region.

Park Carpenter, here at Madison, was one of those behind-the-scenes organizers who directed the course of skiing in the late 1920s and 1930s. He was involved in the start of the Ski Bulletin, in arranging snow-train destinations, and heavily involved in organizing AMC ski parties.

Ted Hunter is on course in the 1935 Harvard-Dartmouth slalom at Tuckerman. Hunter was one of the Dartmouth standouts in the 1930s.

Harvey Dow Gibson, the man whose money freed Hannes Schneider to come to North Conway, presents a trophy to Toni Matt, best known for his schuss of the Headwall in the 1939 Inferno Race. Next to him are Sel Hannah, 1940 Olympian and later a builder of ski trails, and Herbert Schneider, who ran Mount Cranmore after his father’s death and authored a well-known instructional manual.

Dartmouth’s 1936–1937 team was perhaps the best college ski team ever. The members of the team are, from left to right, Henry Cooke, Tige Chamberlin, Ed Merservey, Steve Bradley, Ted Hunter, Warren Chivers (captain), Dave Bradley, Dick Durrance, Howard Chivers, Walter Prager (coach), Fran Fen (manager), Bob Mussey (assistant manager), and Ed Wells. There are five Olympians here.

Mary Bird, here skiing on Mount Washington, was a member of the 1935 FIS team and the Olympic team of 1936. She played a role in the humorous film Schlitz on Mount Washington and taught more seriously for Carroll Reed when it was unusual to have a woman in the ski school.

Lowell Thomas is shown here on Cannon Mountain. It is difficult to measure the influence that his mellifluous radio voice had on skiing. He was a strong advocate of ski instruction American style: having fun rather than being disciplined into perfection.

Alex Bright was a founding member of Boston’s Ski Club Hochgebirge, member of the FIS, participant on Olympic teams in 1935 and 1936, and was most influential in the creation of the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway. He not only had the idea for it but also got the ear of Gov. John Winant in 1934, and by 1938, the tram was a reality.

Hans Thorner displays a jump turn. One of the half dozen Swiss who came to New Hampshire in the 1930s, Thorner ran a ski school in Franconia and later at Mount Washington. After the war, he made a number of films, including one on the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz.

Winston Pote’s camera captured Sig Buchmayr’s jump turn on the Tuckerman Headwall. Buchmayr was one of the attractions of Peckett’s in the early 1930s. After the war, he owned a popular ski shop in New York City.

Skimeister Hannes Schneider sends off Paula Kann (later Paula Valar) to the 1948 Olympics. She finished 11th in the special slalom. Later, she became a well-known instructor, specializing in fun and games for children, and was featured in a major article in Life magazine.

The dean of Dartmouth’s twin daughters, Sally and Susan Neidlinger, were photographed on a western holiday in 1947. Sally went on to the U.S. Olympic team in 1952, and Susan was a prominent racer in the east and later a force in the New Hampshire legislature.

These are two New Hampshire entrepreneurs. Pete Seibert, from Bartlett, built Vail, Colorado, after his service in the 10th Mountain Division. Tom Corcoran started Waterville Valley, which became one of the state’s most popular areas.

Tom Corcoran built Waterville Valley’s skiing reputation by providing excellently groomed slopes for beginners and intermediate skiers as well as many racing courses for World Cup events.

Paul Valar, onetime member of the Swiss team, was the longtime director of two ski schools at Cannon Mountain and Sunapee and one of the founders of the Professional Ski Instructors of America. He is chatting with Penny Pitou, Olympian of 1956 and a double silver medallist in the downhill and the giant slalom at Squaw Valley in 1960.

Roger Peabody, executive director of the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association, is shown with 1968 Olympian Suzy Chaffee. Chaffee became better known for her interest in ballet skiing.

Gordy Eaton was on the Olympic teams in 1960 and in 1964 as well as on the FIS team in 1962. He later coached the U.S. ski team. He is seen here running in the third New England Kandahar in 1959.

Joan Hannah was a member of the Olympic teams in 1960 and 1964 and the FIS team in 1962 where, at Chamonix, she won a bronze medal in the giant slalom. Later, she instructed at Vail for many years.

An anonymous blind skier is guided by the skier in front. New Hampshire areas—Sunapee, Waterville, Loon, and others—have made efforts to promote skiing for the disabled with special programs and facilities.

New Hampshire’s latest star, Bode Miller, trained with the Franconia Ski Club and went on to win two silver medals in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

The New Hampshire gallery finishes with a 1938 photograph of a lone skier “going for it” on the Tuckerman Headwall, something skiers all over the country dream about. It is part of the mystique of New Hampshire.