North Conway, NH – Bo Adams, President of the New England Ski Museum in Franconia, N.H., announced the 2011 recipients of the group’s Cal Conniff Grant program at the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup opening reception in North Conway on Friday evening.nThe museum has designated a portion of the proceeds of the fundraising event to its grants program for the past 11 years. The program is named for Cal Conniff, a former president of the ski museum who spent his career in the ski business, serving as general manager of Mount Tom ski area in Massachusetts and then as executive director of the National Ski Areas Association for 17 years. Conniff was in the audience at Mount Cranmore Resort in North Conway as the grants bearing his name were announced.
Bretton Woods Adaptive Sports and Recreation Program in New Hampshire received $1,000 to support their mission of providing adaptive ski lessons for local students with physical and developmental disabilities from the north country of New Hampshire and neighboring Vermont. The program enlists and trains volunteer instructors, and at present includes ski instructors, special educators, a nurse, and speech, physical and occupational therapists.
The non-profit Cochran’s Ski Area, a community ski area in Richmond, Vt., will receive $1,000 to support its overhead costs for snowmaking and lighting. The ski area was built by Mickey Cochran in 1960, and became an Olympic incubator as Cochran’s children Barbara, Marilyn and Bob all represented the US in the 1972 Winter Games, while Lindy skied in the 1976 Games. Barbara won a gold medal in slalom, Bob turned and 8th-place finish in downhill, and Lindy was 6th in slalom. This year is the 50th anniversary of the area.
The Ford Sayre Memorial Ski Council of Hanover, N.H. will use their $1,000 in Cal Conniff grants to purchase Jalas ski jumping boots for their junior and high school jumpers. Ski jumping has remained a vibrant sport in the Upper Valley area while it has declined in most other areas of the country in the wake of the NCAA decision to drop the sport at the collegiate level. Seven Olympic ski jumpers have come out of the Ford Sayre program: Walter Malmquist, Mike Holland, Chris Hastings, Joe Holland, Tim Tetreault, Jim Holland and Jeff Hastings, who placed fourth in the large hill event in 1984, the highest place American result since 1924.
The Cal Conniff Grant Program is open to individuals, organizations and educational institutions with an interest in winter sports, such as alpine and nordic skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing. Anyone who can demonstrate the need for funding for the purposes of education, preservation of skiing history, encouraging winter sports participation, or other involvement in snow sports is eligible. Details on the application process for the 2012 Cal Conniff grants program will be announced by the New England Ski Museum near the end of 2011.