A Bode Miller speed suit. Mogul skis from Hannah Kearney. A 2014 Olympic jacket worn by Leanne Smith. John Carleton’s U.S. Ski Team jacket from 1972. Penny Pitou’s two 1960 Olympic silver medals.
All of that and loads of vintage skis, snowboards, photographs, clothing, gear, books, medals and more are on display at the new Eastern Slope Branch of the New England Ski Museum in North Conway, N.H.
The facility opened last month and augments the main branch of the ski museum in Franconia Notch State Park at the base of Cannon Mountain.
Housed in a former community center in the heart of North Conway village, next to the train station where famed Austrian ski instructor Hannes Schneider disembarked to live and teach in North Conway, the museum showcases the development of New England skiing while also shining the light on the Mount Washington Valley (formerly called the eastern slope of Mount Washington) and Tuckerman Ravine.
According to New England Ski Museum executive director Jeff Leich, the new museum is roughly the same size as its Franconia sibling. In 2003, the museum built a 4,600-square foot collection building.
“We finally have enough museum pieces to have two different buildings to display our collections,” said Leich. “We get a lot of traffic in Franconia in summer, but it’s quiet in winter. We think being here will expose us to more people.”
A capital campaign raised $1.8 million for the museum, allowing for a reserve fund to be used in both facilities.
With its high wooden rafters, the museum maintains the feel of a classic ski lodge. A refurbished, red Cranmore skimobile is in the entrance. Once inside, visitors are taken on a historical journey through regional skiing. A huge black-and-white photograph of Tuckerman Ravine shows the massiveness of Mount Washington’s glacial cirque, so important to the region’s skiing heritage, and also contains a display showing its steepness. Visitors can take two steps onto the exhibit to feel its magnitude. Safety is stressed, with rescue and avalanche warnings on display.
An exhibit shows the importance to the economy of ski towns, not just in terms of tourism, but also manufacturing by showing items produced in the communities like clothing and boots.
A quad chair allows people to sit and watch a video containing clips from the legendary ski trains to formr Lyme resident Mikaela Shiffrin racing in a World Cup event held at Killington, Vt.
Throughout the museum, there are five screens with videos pertinent to their exhibits, including a clip of Tyler Palmer and Spider Sabich racing in an old Pro Ski Tour competition.
The 10th Mountain Division, the U.S. skiing troops, is honored with a display of uniforms and medals.
A ski wall of about 45 skis shows the evolution of skis from wooden ones common to Asia years ago to ski-area architect Sel Hannah’s first ski, a Toni Matt signature ski, prototype metal Head ski, cutting edge Nordic skis and today’s shaped skis.
A handsome library contains walls of books and magazines. Under glass are two books from 1555 and 1674 showing drawings about skiing. An old Bell and Howell camera said to be used by ski film maker Warren Miller sits on a shelf within sight of items like a microscope and portable desk used by Tuckerman Ravine namesake Edward Tuckerman, a non-skiing botanist.
Cranmore casts its historic shadow on the branch. North Conway native and businessman Harvey Dow Gibson founded Cranmore in 1937. He brought Schneider over to teach skiing with his then innovative techniques. Gibson’s family also donated the recreation center to the town, which is now the ski museum. From a museum window, gaze upon the train station where Schneider arrived.
The Upper Valley and Dartmouth College are well-presented, too. Leich himself is a 1971 Dartmouth graduate. There are items from Big Green legends like John Porter Carleton, Charley Proctor, Ralph Miller — the wooden skis he used to record the unofficial world speed record of 109 mph in 1955 in Portillo, Chile — John Caldwell, and more.
“We tried to pull the complex history of skiing into this one place,” said branch manager Brian Fowler.
There’s also a long list of New England Olympians.
“There’s been a New Hampshire skier in every Winter Olympics games since 1924,” Leich said.
The museum is open daily from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is by donation.
Fittingly, the funds go into an old Toni Matt trophy from his 1939 Inferno schuss.
Marty Basch can be reached at marty.basch@gmail.com.