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Every year during the first weekend of March, we celebrate the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race, honoring the life of the renowned Austrian skimeister whose pioneering ski teaching brought excitement and prosperity to North Conway, NH and St. Anton, Austria and the world of skiing at large.Hannes Schneider was a mountain soldier on the alpine front in World War I, and his son Herbert and several of his instructors, including Friedl Pfeifer, Toni Matt, Otto Lang, and Luggi Foeger, served in the 10th Mountain Division in World War II. The race pays tribute to several generations of America’s mountain troops, and features the color guard and mountain instructors of the Army Mountain Warfare School of Jericho, Vermont.
If you can turn around a few gates on intermediate terrain on alpine or telemark skis or a snowboard, you are invited to participate in the race…and win! The fastest male and female finishers in ten age groups take home unique awards, as do the fastest telemark, snowboard, and junior racers. Teams of five racers compete for the Meister Cup Trophy, with winners’ names engraved on the award which is on display in the New England Ski Museum.
Competition is intense at the highest level, but for most racers the event is a simple fun run down a gentle racecourse on a day of slopeside pageantry and social events. Past racers have ranged in age from 4 to 95.
But the Meister Cup weekend is more than a race—it is a spectator event as well and features a full slate of weekend social activities including a welcome reception with dinner buffet and live music by the Bavarian Brothers Band, an amazing opening ceremony with Color Guard, the popular vintage ski fashion show, the awards ceremony, a silent auction with awesome ski-related prizes, and a Sunday morning presentation of ski history with renowned ski historians. Whether you race it or watch it, the Meister Cup has something for everyone.
There are many ways to be involved! Come and be a racer, spectator, patron, or sponsor.
The Hannes Schneider Meister Cup is the biggest fundraiser for the New England Ski Museum.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Cranmore Mountain Resort, Tesla, 239 Skimobile Rd, North Conway, NH 03860, United States
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
