Third of a series of excerpts from Gerry Miller’s book “Crotched Mountain Ski Area in Francestown, New Hampshire,” a history/biography about the original Crotched Mountain Ski Area in Francestown, developed by William C. (Bill) MacAdam and syndicate. Miller grew up in Francestown. Much of the material for the book was from the Monadnock Ledger or Peterborough Transcript.
I was 12 years old when Crotched Mountain Ski Area opened for its second season, 1964/65, which is when it really got going. The brand new “modern” concrete, wood and glass lodge was finally finished and open for business. It had three levels and five fireplaces in an off-center chimney that accommodated four-foot long logs. Benches faced the fireplaces where we could sit and get warm or change into our ski boots. The roof sloped in four directions and wood shingles covered the roof and any vertical surfaces that weren’t glass or concrete.
The ski area welcomed skiers for the first time on January 1, 1964 with just two trails, a single T-Bar lift and a makeshift base of operations at the Winslow House (The Inn at Crotched Mountain) with shuttle buses.
The very modern lodge with its unique shape was ready for the following year, the 1964/65 season.
A double chair, and lower and upper T-bars moved skiers up the mountain. The trails were numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 until eight years later when the next owners came along and named each trail. The lower T-bar slopes were fitted out with lights for night skiing. Night skiing eventually made it to the upper mountain, which allowed for a ski school program to be set up with area elementary schools for the 1965-66 season.
The program was promoted as physical education, so were got out of school around 1:30 and were transported to the mountain by parent volunteers to participate in the “Learn to Ski” program. I was lucky my family had season passes, so we would ski for another hour or two after our lessons before going home, having dinner and passing out in the food from exercise and fresh air poisoning.
Trail No. 1 was a broad slope split in the middle by a grove of trees and an intermittent stream that went down the center. The left side, No. 1A, was slightly steeper, and used for some of the fun race courses held around Easter for the kids.We had to ski through the course carrying an Easter egg on a spoon.
The adult beer keg race was held there, too. Racers carried two cups of beer, trying not to spill one while drinking the other. The person with the fastest time and the most beer left in their cup was the winner.
When my older brother, John, became a ski instructor, I took advantage by tagging along when he and his fellow instructors free-skied, and occasionally during a lesson. All this time on the snow with expert skiers helped me hone my own skills and hold my own when skiing with John. We were able to do synchronized skiing down the whole mountain, sometimes with an arm around each other’s waist. I was in my early teens when Canadian ski legend and trick skier Wayne Wong came on the scene and we began building jumps at Crotched Mountain.
My brother made the paper, after a jump he made.
This Week at Francestown
Somersault by Johnny Miller Thrills Skiers
An Added treat for skiers at Crotched Mt. Last weekend was a series of spectacular jumps with a complete mid-air somersault performed by Johnny Miller.
John is a graduate of PCS, worked at NHBB this summer and is currently a student at UNH. He is also a weekend instructor at the Crotched Mt. Ski School.
Bill MacAdam took some pictures this weekend and Ozzie Sweet is planning to take photographs of the event for national publication.
There are also some very exciting architectural plans for future Crotched Mt. expansion posted upstairs in the lodge.
Just about half an hour before the appointed time, announcements were made on the P.A. system, which is when our parents found out about it and were not too pleased or excited that John was going to be doing this performance. My mother was so upset that she decided that she couldn’t watch because she was scared he was going to end up breaking his neck. My father tried to stop him, but relented once he found out that John had been successfully performing the trick the day before without his knowledge.
When the time came, Johnny performed the somersault without a hitch and it was spectacular.
John’s exhibition pretty much sealed the local boy prowess on the mountain that stood out above any other demonstration on skis, maybe in the entire history of the Crotched Mountain Ski Area. The only thing that came close was when he and I introduced freestyle skiing with the ultimate being synchronized skiing doing the Royal 360s. That’s rotating 360 degrees on one ski, body bent at the waist with the other ski up and behind and parallel with our bent bodies and then repeating the same on the other ski in the other direction. Repeating this the whole way down the trail.
This was the very beginning of “Freestyle Skiing” at Crotched Mountain Ski Area.
The Peterborough Transcript noted the beginning and end of the ski area’s season
1963 ended in a “deep freeze”, and ‘64 arrived with what appeared to be a major snowstorm, only to subside into a quick two-inch “blizzard” and subsequent ice storm. The snow cover on January 1, was eight inches.
Crotched Mountain ski area in Francestown opened on the first day of the year with a reasonably good crowd considering the limited amount of snow available. There were two slopes in good condition and the T-bar lift was able to handle the crowd with a no waiting status.
Francestown: Crotched Mountain Ski Area closed Saturday evening with a cocktail party and dinner on the ground floor of the base lodge. All who had worked, or helped, plus husbands and wives were present. The piece de resistance was rolled roast beef, which was charcoal broiled by the members of the ski patrol. A most successful ending to the first season of a very new venture in Francestown.