SAM Magazine-Franconia Notch, N.H., Nov. 3, 2008-SE Group received the New England Ski Museum's Spirit of Skiing Award at the Museum's 31st annual meeting Oct. 25 at the Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods. The 50-year-old SE Group, originally named Sno-engineering, was founded in Franconia, N.H, home of the Ski Museum. But there's more to the award than that.

The Spirit of Skiing Award recognizes a person or group whose work exemplifies the memorable adage that "skiing is not just a sport, it is a way of life," and enables others to benefit from the sport. In its earliest days, Sno-engineering's Sel Hannah and Joe Cushing promoted concepts of sound design and construction techniques, such as erosion control, at a time when there was little knowledge about what constituted a proper ski area. Company execs Ted Farwell and Jim Branch introduced formal economic studies to a field that had been intuitive at best. It isn't much of an exaggeration to say that the company invented the profession of ski resort planning.

This was the first time the Ski Museum presented the award to a group rather than an individual. Tom Corcoran of Waterville Valley and Stein Eriksen are the two previous honorees. \