History of Cranmore Mountain

The History of Cranmore Mountain” is the title of a new book by writer Tom Eastman. Published by The History Press in January 2013. The 170-page, 70-photo book covers Cranmore's 75 years, from its purchase and development in 1937 by hometown financier Harvey D. Gibson (1882-1950), the building of the Skimobile, and the arrival from Austria of skimeister Hannes and Herbert Schneider and family in February 1939 after Hannes was released from Nazi captivity. It also covers early ski school and ski shop visionary Carroll P. Reed, the Eastern Slope Ski Club Junior Program, Cranmore's proud Olympic heritage, and the story of ski great Toni Matt's legendary schuss of the Tuckerman Headwall in the 1939 American Inferno on Mount Washington. The book also relates how new owners Brian and Tyler Fairbank and partner Joe O'Donnell have transformed North Conway's in-town ski resort into a year-round attraction with an infusion of $8.3 million in improvements since purchasing the area in June 2010.

Eastman, 55, of Center Conway, N.H., is an award-winning journalist and member of North American Snowsports Journalist Association/Eastern Ski Writers Association. Formerly of The Mountain Ear, which he and his late brother Steve ran, he is a reporter at The Conway Daily Sun and co-editor of The Conway Daily Sun's Valley Fun. He is a frequent lecturer on ski history. An avid skier, he takes to the cross country and alpine trails whenever he can.