Mount Cranmore Ski Resort in North Conway, New Hampshire had a very unique way to get skiers and sightseers to the top of the mountain that looked like an amusement park ride.

The Skimobile

According to an article in the Conway Daily Sun from 2018, the skimobile opened at Mount Cranmore for the 1938 ski season. At this point, chairlifts had only been around for two years, so Mount Cranmore sought out a person with the skill to create something that could easily and conveniently carry skiers to the top of the mountain.

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"Mechanical Genius" Invents the Skimobile

George Morton of Bartlett, New Hampshire was chosen to design a lift for the mountain, and when he created was pure genius.

It looked like a kiddie ride you'd find at an amusement park, pulling the small cars attached to a cable slowly up the mountain. Several skiers and riders called the mountain "Kiddie-Kar Hill." They weren't wrong.

Gone But Not Forgotten

The skimobile brought skiers to the top of the mountain for 60 years before closing and being dismantled in 1990. A restored skimobile car sits in front of Zip's Pub for people to see as they get ready to head up the mountain on modern chair lifts.

One person commented about the skimobile on a Facebook post on the Mount Cranmore page:

The attraction that was the original reason we first visited North Conway in 1974. Rode it every vacation in North Conway thereafter until it was taken out of service. Always a great experience. This historic lift really should have been preserved.

I agree. Even though I don't ski, this would be a fun way to get up the mountain in the summer too.

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