Keeping the Schneider story alive

Young ski historian promotes bond between Austria and the valley

Young ski historian Christof Thoeny of Austria has now visited Mount Washington Valley four times, and each time he has been heartened by how people here still celebrate the skiing hero of his hometown of Stuben am Arlberg, late skimeister Hannes Schneider.Thoeny, 27, was in the valley this past week to visit with friends Jeff Leich of the New England Ski Museum in Franconia and with this reporter, both of whom have written extensively about local ski history and skimeister Hannes Schneider (1890-1955). Schneider came to teach at North Conway's Cranmore Mountain in February 1939 after being released from Nazi custody.The quiet-spoken, bespectacled and dry-witted Thoeny is director of the Klosteral Museum, which is located in the valley that's on the west side of western Austria's Arlberg Pass, between Bludenz and Stuben, just west of the ski mecca of St. Anton am Arlberg. In addition to his museum duties, he is currently working as a cultural and tourism project consultant in his home region. Having grown up in Hannes Schneider's hometown, Thoeny has long been fascinated with the story of Schneider's life.The Schneider tale has all the prerequisite ingredients of a good storybook fable, as it tells how a boy Schneider works hard and grows up to be a hero with fame and fortune, only to have it taken away from him by an evil intruder, Adolph Hitler and his Nazi thugs. Imprisoned, he was released, and eventual salvation was secured by a benefactor, in this case, North Conway's Harvey Dow Gibson (1882-1950). Like all good stories, Schneider and his family settled thereafter in North Conway. It cannot be said that it was life happily ever after, as Hannes' wife, Ludwina, died from cancer six months after their arrival in February 1939 but, as Herbert Schneider says today, the Schneider family will never forget how we got a fresh start here from the people of North Conway. I think it is a great story, and worthy of being celebrated, not only here in North Conway, but in our region as well, said Thoeny, a University of Innsbruck graduate who has competed twice at Cranmore in the New England Ski Museum's annual Hannes Schneider Meister Cup over the years and who spent part of his visit here in the valley March 21-25 visiting Cranmore, as well as a ski exhibit at Bretton Woods and doing research both at the New England Ski Museum and the North Conway Library.I see that we could develop a partnership between our two regions we have a Schneider Cup ourselves every January, and maybe those winning racers could come over here for the Schneider Cup, just as the Arlberg Ski Club sent a team this year, said Thoeny over a beer and dinner with myself and Leich at Delaney's Hole-in-the-Wall Restuarant this past Monday, March 24.The topic was discussed further the following morning over a cup of coffee atop Cranmore at the Meister Cabin with Cranmore's director of marketing, Kathy Bennett. As Bennett noted, Cranmore's general manager, Ben Wilcox, and family two springs ago visited St. Anton and stayed with Herbert and son Christoph Schneider at their guest haus, and there is no question that Cranmore's leadership embraces the importance of ski history when it comes to Cranmore, as evidenced by the support for the ski museum's Schneider Cup.So, a partnership is not out of the question. I have not met Christof and I do not know any of the details of what he may have in mind, but I am always open to discussing that sort of thing, said Janice Crawford, executive director of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce this week, the day after Thoeny left to head back to Europe. The two plan to exchange e-mails. The connections between the two regions are many and personal, especially for this writer. Having visited North Conway the previous year, Thoeny in April 2005 invited myself, Leich and Dr. E. John B. Allen to attend and speak at an international symposium marking the 50th anniversary of Schneider's death in North Conway in 1955.As part of the symposium, participants toured an exhibit on Schneider at the St. Anton museum, as well as an exhibit on Arlberg history at Thoeny's Klosteral Museum. Herbert Schneider and son Christoph with Thoeny led a tour of the Arlberg Pass region, including of Hannes Schneider's boyhood home in Stuben. We saw the slope behind the house where young Hannes used to cruise down before he couldski well, barely making his way on his wooden skis and makeshift bidnings. Herbert related how his father used to ski into the barn, where he would ram into hay bales to stop himself before he was able to master the art of turning. Even then, young Hannes knew that speed was the draw for skiing, a sport which he referred to as flight without wings.Father always said that speed was skiing's allure, not safety; and that he could teach people how to ski with speed and safely, Herbert said there at the barn, as skiers passed by, holding their skis over their shoulders, headed for the lifts and seemingly unaware of the historical significance of the slope and barn that they were passing.Using the papers from the various speakers at the symposium, Thoeny in 2005 produced a scholarly journal which he provided to all the presenters. He also makes a point of handing out the journals every year to young pupils at the elementary school in Stuben similar to how local fourth graders at John Fuller Elementary School in North Conway learn about Cranmore ski history every year with guest talks by Cranmore skimeister Herbert Schneider, now 87, and other local ski personalities.I like to keep the flame going, he said on his recent trip to North Conway.Thoeny did not visit with Herbert Schneider during his visit this time, as he plans to meet up with the former Cranmore general manager in two weeks when the latter returns to St. Anton for his annual spring visit. But he did meet several local residents with a connection to the Schneider story, including with bartender/ski insturctor Ian Meserve, whom he met at Horsefeathers last Friday evening upon his arrival totown. He is going to st. Anton this week we are to meet in St. Anton this Friday, said Thoeny, adding, It just seems that everywhere we have gone these past few days, everyone has a connection to Hannes Schneider, or St. Anton, or Cranmore and skiing. While over there it is not as much, it is still there, said Thoeny. As is covered in both the 1957 Gerald Fairlie book, Flight Without Wings, and the 1989 book by this author, Flight Without Wings: A Celebration of Hannes Schneider and Fifty Years of Skiing at Mt. Cranmore, Schneider had become intrigued with skiing in 1898, when a German visitor named Victor Sohm had taught the then 8-year-old how to ski on a visit to Stuben. Sohm had returned to the tiny village in 1902, and was impressed with the youngster's skiing prowess. He skied fast, but it was Sohm who taught him how to turn those skis.He began entering races, and with impressive results. Eventually, his fame spread, and in 1907, he was offered a job by the Alrberg Ski Club, teaching skiing at the Hotel Post in nearby St. Anton as a way to establish the region as a winter resort. Schneider's method of teaching in those days largely consisted of a do-as-I-do technique, but as his experience increased, his teaching methods improved. His ski business grew over the next season, and in 1909-10, the Hannes Schneider Ski School truly became established, as St. Anton became a major ski destination. Schneider ultimately developed his stem christiana turn in 1910, word of which was quickly spread by the press. A noted mountaineer, his service as an instructor for the Austrian mountain troops in World War I allowed him to further develop his methods of instruction, which he put to good use upon his return to St. Anton after the war. By 1925, the Hotel Post in St. Anton had become winter quarters for the sports-minded royalty of Europe, all because of Hannes' renown as a skimeister and his system of instruction and technique, which became known as the Arlberg.His system changed the whole concept of skiing technique abd systemized the sport so it could be easily taught. Each of the technique's basic steps had to mastered before skiers could progress to the parallel turn. You started out with the snowplow turn, said Hannes and Ludwina's son Herbert, now 87, of North Conway and St. Anton, and then progressed to the stem turn and then stem christiana before you learned how to parallel turn.Schneider brought the skier down down low, where he could work with the skis, Ezra Bowen wrote in The Book of American Skiing. As Bowen noted, Schneider's technique required skiers to bend their knees and hips, and to bring their shoulders forward so the skier looked like a man sitting in a chair, leaning forward to hear better.Schneider's basic turn was built on the snowplow, and the half snowplow or stem. In a turn to the left, Bowen wrote, the tail of the ski was pushed out first, as a kind of speed check, and body wind-up. At the same time, the skier crouched even lower, cranked back his right shoulder, and started stemming the right ski. Then, Bowen continued, he straightened up, unwound and, as the skis swung around through the turn, sank back into his crouch again.Schneider's fame and influence spread further when he and German filmmaker Dr. Arnold Fanck produced several ski films, along with a ski book in 1925 based on still photos from that film. He made an historic trip to Japan in 1930 at the request of the Japanese government to teach his technique. Gibson's interest in skiing had been sparked when he accompanied his step-daughter on a visit to Whitneys' in Jackson, where she took ski lessons from Carroll Reed's then fledgling ski school.Reed had obtained the services of Benno Rybizka, an instructor from the Hannes Schneider Ski School in St. Anton, Austria, to come and direct the schools American branch. Despite a poor snow year, Reeds gamble was a success, with more than 6,000 ski lessons given that first winter of 1936-37.Seeing sking as a way to spark the slumbering winter economy of the region, Gibson quietly bought a portion of Cranmore Mountain in January 1937. He then bought the former Hotel Randall in summer 1937, announcing that it would be renamed the Eastern Slope Inn and that it would be open year-round. Renovations began in earnest, and the inn re-opened in December 1937.Shortly after purchasing the inn and a large part of Mount Cranmore, Gibson consulted with his friend and fellow ski area developer, Averell Harriman. Harriman was busily transforming Sun Valley, Idaho, into a world-class ski resort, and he suggested that Gibson build the most modern tramway possible. Gibson hired local mechanic and inventor George Morton to come up with a lift. The result was the Skimobile, a nearly unique conveyance in which cars were pulled under a track by a cable. (A second Skimobile was constructed at the Homestead in Virginia somewhat later.) Hence, Cranmore became christened by skiers as Kiddie Car Hill, with the Lower Skimobile opening in December 1938.In March 1938, the skiing world was shocked when Hannes Schneider was arrested by the Nazis after Germany had annexed Austria during the Anschluss. Schneider, who had taught the world the Arlberg technique how to ski with speed and style was placed under house arrest in Garmisch, Germany.Gibson, as president of Manufacturers Trust Company, had sat on Germanys board of creditors from World War I. Discussing Schneiders plight with Rybizka, he set to win Schneiders release, working through emissaries.Meanwhile, as part of the plan, Gibson purchased Reeds two ski schools in the summer of 1938 the operation in Jackson managed by Austrian Franz Koessler, and the school at Cranmore, with Rybizka managing both schools. Gibson rented retail space for Reed's ski shop business at the inn.In February 1939, Gibsons efforts paid off, and the Schneider family Hannes, Ludwina, Herbert and Herta arrived in North Conway, where townspeople greeted them the morning of Feb. 11, 1939, with children from the Eastern Slope Ski Club forming an arch in front of the station with their outstretched ski poles, under which the Gibsons, the Schneiders and Rybizka passed.The arrival of Hannes Schneider seemed to tie everything together, and Mount Cranmore and North Conway began to boom. Schneider led the development of Cranmore, urging Gibson to expand to the summit.The Upper Skimobile opened in August 1939, along with new trails off the summit. While other regions suffered during World War II, the late Kay Reed once said that Cranmore flourished, because it was located so close to the North Conway's train station. Whereas gas rationing led to the wartime closings at such places as Whitneys' in Jackson, G.I.'s could travel to North Conway easily by rail and then head over to Cranmore.Herbert Schneider took over the ski school following his father's death in 1955, and bought the resort from Mrs. Helen Gibson in 1963 with partners. They sold it in August 1984 to Ed Mank, on the final day of the last of the nine Volvo International Tennis Tournaments played there. That ownership removed the Skimobile in 1990, the year after the resort had hosted its Flight Without Wings 50th anniversary celebration of the Schneider family's arrival in February 1939. It was later acquired by ski mogul Les Otten for a year, who was forced to sell it in the mid-1990s by the Department of Justice due to anti-trust concerns. It was acquired by Booth Creek Resorts, the owners today.The resort in its 70th year remains an area that is popular with families who thirst for togetherness and the ourdoors at Cranmore's sunny slopes and with ski historians, young and old alike, who cherish its place in American and Austrian ski history.