NORTH CONWAY, NH – There is a bit of black magic going down in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. With some timely, last-second prestidigitation, a once beloved mom and pop ski resort has been saved from being relegated to the “No Longer Exists” file. It’s another victory for the Indy Pass crowd, who have teamed up with developers and PR company Entibani Systems – really Doug Fish and Erik Mogensen to purchase New Hampshire’s Black Mountain in Jackson, rescuing it from potential bankruptcy. It proves once again that with a little TLC, thinking outside the box, and hustle, Mom and Pop ski areas can compete in the age of digitization, consolidation, and globalization. As such, a large part of the Granite State is loudly and proudly celebrating the well-timed rescue mission of a local favorite that’s been in existence since the dawn of eastern skiing.
OL’ BLACK MAGIC
“The great story about Black Mountain is that we were one of the earliest ski areas founded in America,” states Tom Eastman, longtime columnist for the local Conway Daily Sun. “We predate Sun Valley and Bellknap!” he gushed eagerly, and he’s right.
Whitney’s Hill, the earliest incarnation of Black, was originally called Moody’s Slope and Moody’s Farm. The Whitneys – Bill and Betty – purchased it in the fall of 1936 with big plans…plans they effectuated with remarkable speed and precision. Yes, they had a stellar, homegrown team to build the mountain’s infrastructure, but they also convinced the Boston Railroad to run snow trains into the White Mountains, guaranteeing a broader customer base than ever before in the Whites. They hired fabled European instructors whose progeny paid immediate dividends, drawing skiers through name recognition and sterling reputation. Their soon to be nationally-renowned skis school was up and running in a mere three week’s time. And they wisely used Depression Era conservation programs to cut trails on what would ultimately become Black Mountain.
The work was so well-received, the same team reunited soon after to help out at Cannon.
And who was this stellar team of DIYers? Start with Phil Robertson and George Morton – an engineer and mechanic respectively who, as it happened, also both loved skiing and skiing history. It was Morton who designed the famous “Cranmore Skimobile” a zany bobsled looking contraption that – for years!!! – provided uphill transport at nearby Cranmore Mountain.
Well at Black, Morton proved the old Hollywood adage true: You don’t do the same gag over again, you do the next gag. This time the crafty, resourceful Morton designed a cable car. Roberston knew electric power, and so the pair put up and overhead cable lift with roped cables, an enormous evolutionary step in winter sports transport. Robertson also rigged flood lights for night skiing. A lodge was erected slopeside, and Black was in business.
Next came the iconic ski school started by Caroll Reed, featuring a bevy of European stars. Benno Rybizka and Franz Kessler were first. They taught the Hannes Schneider ski technique, the namesake of the great Austrian champion persecuted and then imprisoned by the Nazis.
The first lessons on Whitney Hill were given on December 19, 1936 to eight students from England and five from the USA, including Ukranian immigrant and Harvard University professor George Kistiakowsky, who went on to work on the Manhattan project.
“It was 1936. Carol was a local legend by then, and she opened the school with a bunch of mostly hockey players as students,” explains Eastman. There was no snow that first winter of 1936-37, “So they had to ski on frozen sheep manure and apple cores until then!” he finished, laughing.
That seemingly quiet start did nothing to curb the energy and success of the European teachers and after just one year those hockey player students of theirs passed teaching and instruction examinations in Austria. And at least two of those men ended up serving during World War II in the fabled 10th Mountain Division. Sadly, Franz Koessler died during a training accident in 1944. A plaque dedicated to him is on the mountain.
“So World War II ends, everyone returns, and where they decide to put up a rope tow on Whitney’s Hill. This was the winter of ‘46-‘47,” muses Eastman. “They used shovel handles for people to grab, and the cables pulled them up,” Eastman states excitedly. “Now, we have the Shovel Handle lift and the Shovel Handle Pub!”
The name “Black Mountain” would become the new name of the resort in 1948-49. It was, after all, the historical name of the mountain above Whitney’s Hill. And all during the next few decades, it would hold a long-lasting, well-deserved niche as a mid-sized family mountain. With a sunny southern exposure, accessible trails for all skiers, and an easy jaunt from Boston. Black was a beloved addition to the New Hampshire winter scene.
The Whitneys sold Black in the winter if 1969-70 to a group of investors led by Don and Cathy Murray. After 13 excellent years of their management, the mountain saw various ups and down through the ‘80s and ‘90s. But it wasn’t until the arrival of Indy Pass that the mountain’s fortunes would finally buoy. Meanwhile Betty Whitney lived to a plucky 102 years young. She taught a local college course on critical thinking at age 90.
