A Century of Skiing in New Hampshire
The 1960s brought another ski boom, as ski technology rapidly advanced and the baby boomer generation became enamored with skiing. This brochure from 1961 advertises “Winter Vacationlands” in NH. It shows the iconic Skimobile that carried skiers up Cranmore Mountain, and the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway, the first of its kind in the nation.
Skiing, which began merely as a convenient form of transportation, was popularized as a sport in Europe around the turn of the 20th century. When skiing came to America, Scandinavian immigrants and Dartmouth College students helped catapult New Hampshire to the forefront of the sport’s development. The Granite State boasts many firsts for American skiing. Here, trails were cut specifically for downhill skiers, large-scale ski resorts were planned, and innovations were made in ski lift technology. The establishment of the Dartmouth Outing Club in 1909 and the 1939 arrival of famed Austrian ski instructor Hannes Schneider to North Conway mark two key points in the history of New Hampshire skiing.
Peckett's Inn on Sugar Hill was one of the first/the first New Hampshire resorts to create ski trails and encourage guests to stay in the winter to ski. Skiers are pictured racing here in the late 1930s.
After a negotiated deal that brought him out of Nazi house arrest, Austrian ski instructor Hannes Schneider ran a ski school in North Conway, where he taught students his pioneering Arlberg ski technique. He is pictured here teaching a lesson to ski students.
Dartmouth Outing Club members were enthusiastic early adopters of the sport in the 1910s and ‘20s. Students in the Intercollegiate Outing Club Association (IOCA) are shown skiing on Mount Moosilauke in 1940.
From 1935 to 1961, the State Planning and Development Commission published numerous maps, advertising brochures, and posters to encourage winter tourism in the state. This brochure, from 1953, shows the heavy concentration of skiing facilities present across the state during the 1950s ski boom.
A State Planning and Development Commission poster from 1958 advertises ‘Sun and Snow in New Hampshire’ to potential tourists.
The 1960s brought another ski boom, as ski technology rapidly advanced and the baby boomer generation became enamored with skiing. This brochure from 1961 advertises “Winter Vacationlands” in NH. It shows the iconic Skimobile that carried skiers up Cranmore Mountain, and the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway, the first of its kind in the nation.
Northern NH has historically been a prime destination for skiing because higher-elevation ski routes in the White Mountains promise cold temperatures and snow for much of the year. This 1936 map, published by the Eastern Slope Ski Club, boasts “The Longest Skiing Season in the East,” with skiing in the White Mountains from Christmas through June 15th.
A brochure, circa 1950, from the White Mountains Region Association, tells readers to “Vacation in Winter” in the White Mountains.