-By Peter Pinkham
Ambling through North Conway Village on a February afternoon in the year 2010, with bare grass showing through the thin frosting of snow around the edges of Schuler Park, yet, amazingly, a crowd of skiers, shoppers and out-of-state cars making the Village appear to be the center of the vacation world, I wondered what the same scene would look like if Mt. Washington Valley ski areas hadn’t snowmaking on their slopes and trails.
There was a time they didn’t. Forty years ago the only snow in Mt. Washington Valley came from the heavens. And in February of 1970 the heavens hadn’t provided more than dustings all winter. Inns and motels were next to empty; restaurant owners gazed through their steamed windows at empty streets. One North Conway innkeeper, who could see that the only melting that would take place that spring would be his business, had had enough. He called other innkeepers and restaurateurs, and together they visited Herbert Schneider, the maestro of Cranmore Mountain Ski Area to see what could be done to help.
With a poor town and no funds anywhere to be seen to cure the problem, the conclusion of the little meeting was: all we’ve got are our bootstraps. That’s what we had to work with; so we did. Without the voice of the Conway Daily Sun, which would make its appearance in future years, the Manchester Union Leader was prevailed on to get out the word. Neighbors were called, posters were printed, and, struggling as they were, the Valley’s many small businesses and ordinary citizens all got behind the effort. A new firm, Resort Development Corporation of Mt. Washington Valley, was the vehicle, financed by the nickels and dimes of many small stockholders. It raised enough dollars to help Mt. Cranmore install its first snowmaking system.
While too late to save the winter of 1970, the knowledge had been acquired that it could be done. That with cold enough temperatures, nothing more was needed from the heavens. Snowmaking grew at Cranmore, Attitash Bear Peak, Black Mountain and Wildcat ski areas. New and better systems were installed, and every year improvements were added. The Valley had responded. And at no time was it more obvious than a winter 40 years later when the snow went south, yet guests and customers streamed north to Mt. Washington Valley, confident of some of the finest skiing and riding snow anywhere, with 100% of its Alpine slopes and trails covered.
