Tag Archive for: Mittersill Alpine Resort

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: From The Air

/10 Comments/in /by

What Are We Looking At?

Thanks to a friendly aviator, we have this magnificent, recent (last week) view of a most formidable mountain resort.  How’s your pattern recognition?  Can tell us where it is? Major hint: That wide trail to the right is used for racing team practice.

Last Week

Yes, Lucille Ball visiting the Mittersill Alpine Resort in Franconia, NH, probably in the early-mid 60s. The man on the left is Gary Morton, her second husband, not her “I Love Lucy” husband-partner Desi Arnaz.

She and Desi can be credited with creating the sitcom format. Among her many other achievements was becoming the first female head of a major television-film production company, Desilu Productions. Her biography doesn’t reveal her attraction to snow country, however.

We can only guess she was a guest of Baron Hubert von Pantz, Mittersill’s founder and aristocratic host.

Desi, Jr., down in front looks like he could use a hot chocolate.

This photo is currently on display in the lobby of the Mittersill Alpine Resort along with other momentos of the hotel’s history.  Among those is a page from the hotel registry featuring the signature of Princess Elizabeth, soon to be Queen, on a stop over trip during her tour of Canada.

 

 

 

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Trackless World Of Snow

/2 Comments/in /by

Alpine Universe

Now here’s an amazing picture from the Alf Engen Museum, Park City, UT.  What are we looking at? What’s the place? And, more importantly, who took the picture?  No, not Ansel Adams, but close.

Last Week

Yes, indeed, the Very Special Guest was Princess Elizabeth who visited the Mittersill Alpine Resort near Cannon Mt., NH, in 1951, probably in connection with her trip to Canada that year.

Why would the future Queen of the Realm stay at a then-remote ski resort in Northern New Hampshire?

We infer that she was visiting a member of the Hapsburg royal family, Mittersill’s founder Baron Hubert von Pantz, a wealthy Austrian sportsman and hotelier. His Tyrolean-themed Mittersill Club in Austria—a mecca for royalty from all over Europe—came to a sudden end in 1938 when the Nazis invaded.  He resettled in New Hampshire and in 1945 opened the Mittersill Alpine Resort, which consisted of an Inn and number of unique, mountain-themed cottages, reflecting the Austrian style.

From the Mittersill Inn.

We visited the Mittersill Alpine Resort last February, checked out some of the original chalets, and found a collection of unusual illustrations posted on the walls of the Inn.  These charming pictures reflect another time, a Tyrol where horses and sleighs carried sports people dressed in “ski costume” around the mountains. We asked the Inn’s staff what the history of these magnificent pictures was but no one knew. We strongly suspect the Baron brought them with him from his club in Austria.

 

And here’s a poster from the Mittersill Mountain Club’s early days.  Cozy, eh?