Bode Miller & Cannon Mountain: A New Hampshire “Pure” Thing
From the car, Cannon Mountain seems a bit too accessible, too close to civilization, and just too normal to produce a skier that flew down a mountain in Switzerland at upwards of 60 mph last week to claim the first American skiing title in twenty-two years.
(PRWEB) March 21, 2005 -- The mountain that taught the best skier in the
world how to ski arches over Interstate 93 like a massive gate to New
Hampshire’s snow-covered North Country
But, when you turn off the exit,
drive a few hundred yards to the base lodge, and strap on your skis, you begin
to see the mountain that raised skiing’s answer to Larry Bird and Tiger
Woods.
Cannon is a skier’s mountain first. According to local legend, the
first trails from the top of the 4,186 foot high peak were carved into the
evergreens a century ago by releasing huge boulders from the summit. The
curving, bouncing paths the rocks took became trails like Upper Cannon and Upper
Ravine – natural ski runs that are marked by snow-crusted pine trees and a view
that goes all the way to Canada on a clear day.
Two decades ago, when
World Champion Bode Miller grew up on the slopes of Cannon Mountain, it wasn’t
just a skier’s mountain first. It was a skier’s mountain, period.
Today,
improved snowmaking, new lifts, and trail expansions have turned Cannon into a
place where families can ski together, with one of the widest ranges of skiing
in New England. Snowmaking now supplements New Hampshire’s winter snowfall on
158 of the mountain’s 165 acres, and the first aerial tram in North America has
been replaced by two red and yellow trams that whisk skiers to the top of the
mountain 70 at a time to keep lift lines short.
Last year the mountain
opened a new Brookside area, nine trails for beginners that combine the gentle
slope of a training trail with the tree-lined paths of the higher elevations.
But along with the new expansions, the same runs that have challenged
skiers for decades still stretch across the mountain’s east side with a
deceptively inviting smile. Standing at the top of Gary’s -- a trail that
separates the intermediate skiers from the beginners -- the view of the highway
snaking through Franconia Notch is the same as what a young world
champion-in-the-making saw when he would spend entire winters at Cannon
Mountain.
“I didn’t miss one day when the lifts were open,” Miller
recently told a London newspaper of his years growing up on the slopes. “I would
be up there when they opened and there when they closed.”
Above the ski
rental window in Cannon Mountain’s base lodge is a picture of Miller crouched
over, leaning into a right turn with the edges of his skis almost vertical to
the powdery snow. The writing scrawled on the top in silver marker is more of a
yearbook message than an endorsement. “For the boys at the Cannon Mt. rental
shop – Bode Miller USA 2002.”
The “boys” at the rental shop – along with
the ‘lifties,’ the ruggedly hansom ski patrol director, and the 74-year old
local who shovels the walkways at 4 a.m. every morning – are what make the
mountain often feel more like a big family or a summer camp than a resort.
“Families come to Cannon Mountain because they see the same people
working the lifts year after year,” explains Marketing Director Amy Bassett, who
sheepishly admits she has only worked on the mountain for twelve years. “Twelve
years is nothing here.”
The locals will tell you that becoming the best
skier in the world isn’t just about raw speed. So will the
experts.
“Harmony and balance,” explained Jean Claude Killy, the 1968
Olympic skiing legend to the LA Times last month before Miller faced the world
championships. “He has got it all together.”
Miller just calls it that
“pure” thing.
Reading his words on a white bulletin board full of
newspaper clippings posted next to the ticket window, it is easy to wonder
whether Miller is talking about his skiing or the mountain where he learned how
to ski.
And while families laugh, teenagers pant out of breath, and
couples warm their hands by a large stone fireplace after coming in off the
slopes, you realize that maybe a ‘normal’ mountain in New Hampshire isn’t such
an unlikely place to produce a world champion after all.
Cannon Mountain,
in rugged Franconia Notch State Park, NH, is operated by the Division of Parks
and Recreation of New Hampshire’s Department of Resources and Economic
Development. With nine lifts and 55 winter trails, lift tickets at Cannon begin
at $25 for teens and children and $38 for adults midweek ($38/45 weekends). For
more information on Cannon Mountain or its special deals for the February school
vacation week, visit www.cannonmt.com or call 603-823-8800.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb219812.htm