With the Outing Club
THE POST-CARNIVAL period in the Outing Club is never a particularly exciting or rushing season, especially when the skiing trails of Hanover and vicinity lack any signs of snow, and the D. O. C. activities seem to fade into the background on the important goings-on around campus. Nevertheless, in spite of adverse weather conditions, big things have been taking place in 23 Robinson, where have originated plans for the recent I. O. C. A. get-together at Spy Glass Hill, for the various excursions taken by the varsity and freshman ski teams, for the annual Senior Mount Washington trip over Town Election Day, and most important of all for the rapidly progressing plans that the Dartmouth-at-Moosilauke Committee have formulated for the construction of the new Ravine Camp in Jobildunk Ravine at the foot of the Dartmouth Mountain.
Any time after the middle of January one could have journeyed up seven miles from Warren to Jobildunk Ravine and packed through the snow for a mile from the newly built C. C. C. road and seen two seemingly flimsy cabins from whose chimneys hospitable smoke poured forth, giving evidence of warm interiors, as compared to the sub-zero atmosphere on the outside. One also could have seen, after hiking up the trail a ways, eight typical old loggers felling the virgin spruce and getting instructions from Foreman Natt Libbey, with D. O. C. Chief Woodsman Ross McKenny helping out at the camp between his sporting shows in New York and Boston and points west. And then one would hear the crackling and rustling as one of the towering spruces crashed to earth. Old Charley would have been there, too, with his hand bandaged up from some recent minor casualty and with his white whiskers covered with ice and frost, riding behind a team of pack horses down the logging road, hauling a giant spruce to the site of the camp. And inside the mess cabin would be Chief Cook and Bottlewasher Don preparing hot stew for the crew's lunch.
All 80 of the logs have been brought down the sled road now and are to be peeled in the spring. Most of the necessary lumber and the sand for the basement have likewise been taken in and, as soon as the weather permits, actual construction will begin. When the spring thaw has removed all the ice and snow from the trail some sort of trucking road will be laid down over which to haul the heavier supplies and materials that cannot be taken in on packs.
When Ross McKenny winds up his sporting shows he will have charge of the work at the camp, except for some specialized jobs which contractors will supervise. Under Ross will be a small professional crew, and, during the summer, a crew of undergraduates working on the camp on the same arrangement as the old crews under Ford and Peggy Sayre. There will also be a separate crew, working in shifts with the gang on construction, to improve the trails and terrain for use next fall and winter. Applications for this work have already started coming in.
With almost no let-up since Carnival, Manager Bob Mussey '38 has had his varsity ski team "on the ski" at various national and international meets over the countryside. In their second trip of the season to Sun Valley, Dick Durrance '39 and Coach Walter Prager skied to first and second places in the International Open Ski Tournament on March 12. Ed Meservey '38, acclaimed National Slalom Champion after winning that event on the Nose Dive Trail on Mount Mansfield, captured the Hochgebirge Challenge Trophy on Wildcat Trail March 13, taking first place in the slalom and fifth in the downhill. Captain Dave Bradley '38 was in second place, finishing a few seconds behind Meservey in the slalom and seventh in the downhill. Eddie Wells '39 won the AMC event with his combined time for two runs down Wildcat. At the Mansfield meet the Big Green skiers got five of the first six places in the downhill and five of the first seven places in the slalom. Howard Chivers '39 was fifth in his class at the' National Jumping Championships at Brattleboro, February 20.
Bob Fletcher '40, competing for the Ski. Club Carcajou, led the Dartmouth undergraduate skiers in the downhill and slalom races on Moose Mountain in the Schniebs McCrillis College Championships, which were held March 2nd and 3rd. Due to the unfavorable weather conditions the langlauf and jumping have been postponed indefinitely.
Thirty-odd seniors spent the week-end over town elections up at Joe Dodge's Pinkham Notch huts on the annual Senior Mount Washington Trip under the leadership of Alex Jones '38 and Gene King '39 Besides "schussing" down the Sherburne and Wildcat Trails and Tuckerman Ravine and climbing the mountain, the seniors listened to Hutmaster Joe Dodge's stories, played blackjack and bridge.
Over 125 students from Vassar, Pine Manor, Amherst and other colleges gathered at Mount Moosilauke February 25th and 26th for an I. O. C. A. winter weekend of skiing, singing, and as a climax the Barn Dance. PETER GLENN '41.
Ross MCKENNY, WOODSMAN ADVISER OF THE OUTING CLUB, AT THE MOOSILAUKE SITE OF THE NEW RAVINE CAMP TO BE BUILT THIS SUMMER, WITH HELL'S HIGHWAY IN BACK- GROUND AND (RIGHT) "OLD CHARLIE," MOUNTAIN TEAMSTER, DRAGS IN LOGS FOR CABIN CONSTRUCTION
Ross MCKENNY, WOODSMAN ADVISER OF THE OUTING CLUB, AT THE MOOSILAUKE SITE OF THE NEW RAVINE CAMP TO BE BUILT THIS SUMMER, WITH HELL'S HIGHWAY IN BACK- GROUND AND (RIGHT) "OLD CHARLIE," MOUNTAIN TEAMSTER, DRAGS IN LOGS FOR CABIN CONSTRUCTION
