For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Jeff Leich

New England Ski Museum

(800) 639-4181

jeff@skimuseum.org

New England Ski Museum Announces 2008 Cal Conniff Grants

Franconia Notch, NH (March 11, 2008)—Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, VT, Poland (ME) Regional High School/Bruce Whittier Middle School, and Northeast Slopes of East Corinth, VT are the 2008 recipients of the 2008 Cal Conniff Grants, awarded each year since 2001 in conjunction with the Museum’s Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race. Bo Adams, President of the ski museum, made the announcements at the March 7 event kickoff party, which also featured introductions of a team of Austrian skiers from Hannes Schneider’s Arlberg region, and of the four military ski teams from Fort Drum, NY and Jericho, VT that took part.

All three grant recipients aim to further community involvement in skiing on an affordable basis at their respective locations. The two Vermont ski areas are both local non-profit organizations with deep roots in the history of skiing, and the Maine high school seeks to expand student opportunities for Nordic skiing in conjunction with its Wellness program. While skiing is widely regarded as an expensive pursuit, these three groups provide evidence that committed skiers in New England continue to find ways to involve local youths in the sport, as they have since the 1930s.

Cochran’s Ski Area, which will receive a $1000 grant to support its community after-school programs, is the brainchild of Mickey Cochran, paterfamilias of a family that is well known for multiple triumphs by Marilyn, Barbara Ann, Bobby, and Lindy in international ski competition. “Cochran’s is proud to be the only ski area in Vermont with a gold medallist teaching its ski lessons,” noted a board member in the application process.

Located within five miles of two touring centers, Bruce Whittier Middle School and Poland Regional High School in Poland Maine have lacked funding for Nordic ski equipment that could be put to use by students who had cross-country skiing programs in elementary school. $1000 from the ski museum will provide partial funding for Nordic equipment for the two schools.

Northeast Slopes, which has operated a rope tow area in East Corinth continuously since 1936, is run by volunteers as a non-profit operation, and consequently can offer a $12 daily lift ticket. Acknowledging that the rope tow presents difficulties that are unfamiliar to today’s skiers, the board of directors is seeking to install a T-bar lift taken down from a Massachusetts at Northeast Slopes. The ski museum’s $500 grant will cover only a portion of the cost of the T-bar, but represents the hopes of the museum that other funders will become aware of the project and support it to completion.