DARTMOUTH SKI SCHOOL

New Program of Instruction Looks to the Future

I'M LEARNING to ski for the first time in my life and I love it." The statement comes from one of the College's new skiers who is participating in the Rec Skiing Program organized and operated jointly by the Department of Physical Education and the Dartmouth Outing Club. The idea of skiing for rec credit is not new to the College, but it is gradually assuming more importance in the general scheme of things and this is good.

Dartmouth College is known for many things but if there is one single thing for which it has enjoyed an unparalleled reputation it is in the field of winter sports. Its name is practically synonymous with American skiing. Just how many who come to Dartmouth are motivated originally by a wish to participate in winter sports is not known but I think we would be surprised by the number.

A great reputation can be a very transient thing, however, and there is no guarantee that Dartmouth will always be the leader in this field, unless of course it makes a definite effort to keep pace with the astonishingly rapid development of the sport itself. I think it is trying to do this, particularly in the avenue of rec skiing.

This winter, for the first time, the College has hired a total of six instructors, every one of whom is not only an accomplished skier in his own right but also an experienced instructor. This farsighted move has been sponsored by the Outing Club, the Department of Physical Education, and the Hanover Inn. It is a significant cant move too, for unless beginning skiers can have good instruction from men whose business it is to teach, they are apt to be handled poorly with the final result a negative one. The leader of what is now rightfully called the Dartmouth Ski School is Walter Prager, who is also coach of the ski team. Walter needs no introduction since his experience and reputation in the ski world are nearly as great as a man's can be. Though you will hear him complain from time to time that he is getting old, you only have to see him ski to know why he is considered America's greatest competitive racer! Walter came to the College in 1937 from Switzerland, where he had already chalked up more winnings than any one man should have. As Dartmouth coach he led his teams victoriously everywhere they went until 1941 when he was called to the Army. He became one of the original members of the Mountain Troops, and it was men like himself who made the Tenth Mountain Division, which went into action in Italy this last spring, General Mark Clark's "fightin'est outfit."

As his ski instructors Prager has a fine array of talent. There's Erling Omland from Elizabeth, N. J., who as a kid learned to ski in Norway and who taught rock climbing and skiing in the Tenth Mountain Division until it went to Italy. In Italy he was wounded, but not seriously, and he is again on his skis teaching, having just recently been released from the Army. There's Lewis Whitcher from Warren, New Hampshire, who was raised in the shadow of Moosilauke and who originally began teaching skiing at Spyglass Hill Farm in 1936. Lewis was also a Tenth Mountaineer who saw plenty of action in Italy. There's Jerry Hickson, a Miami- Norwich-Hanover boy you might say, who also began teaching at Spyglass Hill Farm in '36. Jerry is a familiar figure in Hanover as he has taught skiing for the Inn practi- cally ever since.

'42 MAN ON STAFF

From Lebanon comes Jay Densmore, a Dartmouth man of the class of '42. Jay joined the AAF and. had a long hitch of flying B-17's from England with the Bth Air Force. He is an accomplished instructor as well as a strong four-event skier. Marshall Fitzgerald is Walt's fifth instructor. He also had beginnings at Spyglass Hill Farm. From there he went to Yosemite where, under the leadership of Charlie Proctor '29, he became one of the organization's best instructors. Marshall joined the AAF and wound up first as a fighter pilot instructor. From that he went into B-17's and finally ended up as flight engineer of a B-29.

It is the feeling of the Department of Physical Education that functional fitness, a capacity for work, and finally the skill to do the work is an integral part of a liberal arts education. This is entirely as it should be, for certainly the record of the poor general fitness of American youth as brought out by selective service examinations is not only a grim warning that something should be done; it is also a challenge to those who hope they can do something. Skiing can meet that challenge as effectively as any sport, since by nature it is perhaps the poorest of all "spectator sports." By nature it is also a sport on which no single age group has a monopoly. You can do it almost as long as you live. Naturally it is a highly desirable thing to develop in all students an interest in some out-of-doors recreational activity which can be carried right through life. The rec skiing program is a concrete step in that direction.

Two HUNDRED IN PROGRAM

At present the number of college skiers participating in the program totals approximately two hundred. This includes fifty or sixty men from the Naval contingent who were enthusiastic enough to provide their equipment out of their own pockets. It is the hope of all those connected with the College skiing program that in time the majority of students who are physically able will have the opportunity and the interest to learn to ski competently and safely before leaving college. A single winter of instruction would do it in most cases. This is not beyond the realm of possibility since we know for a fact that most of the students in Hanover try a little independent skiing at some time during their college career. But they often give it up because their equipment is wrong or their clothing inadequate. Most lack any understanding of cold weather living and therefore with hands that are freezing, feet that are numb, ears that seem ready to drop off, and an overall chill, you cannot expect their enthusiasm to stay warm either. Talking to Walter Prager, I discovered that he has a program of winter orientation already under way. Realizing that an understanding of what good winter clothing and equipment is may mean the difference between enjoying winter weather and wishing you were in Palm Springs, Walter has in mind an educational program which will reach out and embrace substantially all students who come here whether they eventually become skiers or not.

And, finally, in the execution of the instruction program itself one can easily see that Walter is full of ideas. His whole purpose is to incorporate as much variety into the program as it can stand. Not only will such variety keep the student interest alive; it will also serve a stronger, more significant purpose which is to introduce to the skier all the endless facets that are so characteristic of skiing itself. Those who really become proficient will be sent to the ski squad and if they continue to develop it is not inconceivable that they will make the ski team itself. But for the majority who will not become that skillful the program will provide all kinds of varied interests from different types of competition to ski touring for sheer pleasure. In the competition end, the Schneibs-McCrillis Trophy for the best four-event skier in the College who is not connected with the ski team stands as an inspiration to those who wish to become accomplished skiers. But long before that yearly four-event meet comes off Walter has in mind many lesser competitions which will be an integral part of his program.

LACK OF EQUIPMENT A HANDICAP

Perhaps the one thing at present which prevents the program from developing to its fullest extent is the difficult matter of ski equipment. There's practically none to be had. It is hoped, however, that when the Surplus Property program gets under way, particularly in the field of winter equipment, that the deadlock will be broken. It's nip and tuck now whether private manufacturing concerns will be back in full production before the Army releases its surplus skis and boots. It will probably happen simultaneously and we'll all be submerged with ski equipment. The one bright spot in the Surplus Property program is that educational interests have a number three priority. When the freeze thaws, equipment will probably be available to the College at astonishingly low cost.

In any case, one can see that the men behind this College skiing program are endeavoring to make a concrete contribution to general liberal arts education. If it succeeds, and there is every reason to believe it will, it will do more than that: the realization of the program will be a definite contribution to skiing itself and will help to insure continued Dartmouth leadership in that field.

ON REC HILL, popular name for the slope on the Dewey estate where beginners usually begin, Erling Omland of the Dartmouth Ski School staff is shown instructing one of the small groups in the new program.

A RARE CONCENTRATION OF SKIING PROWESS is represented by the Dartmouth Ski School's staff of instructors. Shown in the Hanover Inn Ski Hut are, left to right, front row: Marshall Fitzgerald, Jay Densmore '42, Lewis Whitcher, and Jerry Hickson; standing: Walter Prager, head of the School and coach of the Dartmouth ski team, and Erling Omland. Three of the group were with the 10th Mountain Division.