Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway is one of our nation’s most historic ski resorts. Skiing legend Hannes Schneider ran their ski school for many years, and it featured one of skiing’s most iconic lifts, the Skimobile, for decades. The resort is overshadowed by a crowded White Mountain ski market: Attitash, Bretton Woods, Cannon, Loon, Wildcat, and many others. But Cranmore has spent big over the last decade, including adding new winter and summer activities, new lifts, a new condominium complex (The Kearsarge Brook Condominiums), and snowmaking improvements. Last week, Cranmore announced the latest changes over the offseason. Some of the upgrades include:
Artist Falls Lodge: The old Artist Falls Lodge, built-in 1971, was demolished over the summer, and featured tennis courts, a gym, racquetball courts, and was the home for ticketing of their mountain adventure park. In its place is the new Artist Falls Lodge. The first level will feature a ticketing concourse for their snow tubing and mountain adventure park attractions, a fitness center for Kearsarge Brook Condominium owners, and bathrooms. The second floor will feature the 1800 square foot The Alpine Café and Bar, which will have take-out and dine-in options that overlook the tubing park. A video showing the progress on the new lodge is below:
“Take a look at the progress being made on the new Artist Falls Lodge! The Artist Falls Lodge will include a new ticketing area for the Tubing and Mountain Adventure Park, and a new restaurant and bar named The Alpine Cafe and Bar.”
Snowmaking: Over the offseason, Cranmore conducted “a snowmaking pipe upgrade that will increase water capacity for snowmaking on and near the summit. Since 2011, Cranmore has invested over $1 million in snowmaking improvements. Upgrades have allowed the resort to cut snowmaking hours by 25%, with the ability to make snow faster utilizing smaller periods of colder weather, also, reducing electric use by half.”
New Slopeside Hotel: The other replacement in the space of the old Artist Falls Lodge will be a new Fairfield Suites by Marriott. According to the Conway Daily Sun, the hotel will be four stories, feature eighty-nine rooms, an indoor pool, a fitness center, and an outdoor seating area with a fireplace. The hotel will open before the start of the 2022-23 season.
Snowmobile Express Quad: After the season ends, Cranmore will spend $1 on modernizing the high-speed chairlifts systems. This will “include Doppelmayr’s most advanced, state-of-the-art safety features, including an automated system that will control the lift speed during windy conditions, and a tower speaker system that will allow the lift operators to communicate with guests on the lift if needed.” This is similar to what occurred at partner Bromley Mountain in Vermont and aims to extend the lift of the lift that was constructed in 1995. The project will be completed by early summer 2022.
Fairbanks Lodge: The next phase of Cranmore’s $50 million base area redevelopment will involve the replacement of their main base lodge. In its place will be the Fairbanks lodge, a mix between a lodge for day skiers and a condominium complex. The first two floors will consist of “a seasonal locker room for the public, a private locker room for residents, base lodge space, restrooms, ski accessory shop, food pavilion, coffee bar, and a slope-side bar with an expansive slope-side deck.” The upper two floors will feature fifteen condominiums. Construction will likely begin next spring and will be completed by the 2023-24 ski season.
Image/Video Credits: Cranmore Mountain Resort, Conway Daily Sun
