Ski Patrol
IN the age of the long thong and the spiral fracture, of the snow cat and twenty thousand vertical feet of skiing per day, a stretch of the imagination is required to recall the Dartmouth Ski Patrol as it was first organized, in 1938, by John Rand (then Associate Manager of the DOC) to serve in Tuckerman's Ravine to prevent recreational skiers from decimating themselves during and after the running of the Edson Memorial Race, on the Sherburne Trail.
That group, composed of DOC members, worked with CCC and Forest accidents, and second to handle them as well as humanly possible, when and if they did occur. This is the kind of job every Dartmouth patrol from then until now has tried to do; in addition to handling accidents, they act politely but firmly to protect skiers, from themselves and from each other.
Exclusively a student organization, the members are responsible throughout the skiing season for maintaining patrols at the Skiway, Oak Hill, and the Golf Course, the three Dartmouth-owned ski areas, where a patrolman may be recognized by his First Aid belt and a bright red pullover with its cross and the words "Ski Patrol."
The 1960-61 edition has been a particularly good one. Under the able and forceful direction of Charles A. Peterson '61, the Patrol began the year's work in late September with intensive Red Cross Standard and Advanced First Aid courses, taught by local doctors. As soon as the snow flew, the green apprentices found themselves out with the regular patrolmen from the previous year, learning their duties, practicing with toboggans and, most important, realizing that patrolling is not free skiing, but is packing and flagging and watchful attention which, along with an educated skiing public, are the best weapons a patrolman has with which to prevent injuries of high-speed skiing.
In years past, and even more this year, the Patrol has earned the respect of the skiing public. With its skilled and courteous handling of accidents, and competent skiing, it deserves to rank among the better professional patrols of the East.
And for all this, the real reward is not the free skiing and the privilege of cutting into that long lift line at Holt's of a Sunday; those who take this as the real reward and privilege soon leave our ranks; those who remain have found other, less tangible rewards.
THE Ski Patrol, which Buck Cass '62 has written about, comes under the wing of the Winter Sports Division of the Dartmouth Outing Club and is one of its most important and effective operations. Everything having to do with skiing at Dartmouth, in fact, is the province of the Division, and although the busiest period matches the third of the school year when the campus and surrounding countryside are covered with snow, there is a great deal to do in preparation for the winter season and also some post-season activity until the spring banquet finishes off the annual program.
Like every other extracurricular activity, the Winter Sports Division needs manpower and it therefore offers an opportunity for interested students to work up from the heeler level to the administrative level. These students must work on several ski meets during the year and be recommended by a Winter Sports Council member in order to be elected a Division member by the Council. Heelers are very much in evidence at all the ski meets, serving as gate checkers, phone men, packers, and general handymen.
The intramural ski meet, staged annually by the Division, is probably the one the heelers enjoy the most, because for the most part they are running the show. The heelers handle all four of the meet events: slalom, downhill, cross-country, and jump.
Before they arrive at this late-season point, however, there is a busy stretch of varied work to do. Activity begins in the fall when the heelers, recruited with the help of the Physical Education Department (they get rec credit), work with Division members on the College's ski equipment. This year we were fortunate enough to get the scoreboards used for the Olympics at Squaw Valley. They were installed at the jump and the cross-country course. In the fall the ski team begins to train, under Coach Al Merrill, and the ski patrol also gets into shape for the long winter season, supplementing its physical workouts with a course in first-aid.
The real work of the Division starts right after Christmas. Snow is on the ground by then and all sections of Winter Sports go into action. The ski team begins its schedule of meet-hopping, and the D.O.C. sponsors the annual Hanover Invitationals.
The freshman ski team is under the direction of Coach George Ostler, and is it also under his coaching that the ski classes begin in January. This is how most neophytes learn to ski at Dartmouth, and the classes can be taken for rec credit or just for fun. Classes begin at the golf course and gradually advance to the Skiway, where the student can progress further from the long, smooth Papoose to the short, steep Gauntlet.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and the Winter Sports Division sees to it that Jack plays now and then. Several times each year the Division sponsors a ski weekend with an outing club from a girls' college, and occasionally there is a keg party as a reward for hard work. Every spring Winter Sports upholds the tradition of losing the softball game to the more serious-minded Cabin and Trail Division. Winter Sports has an esprit decorps all its own, and a full program from fall to spring keeps the Division busy in a constructive and interesting way. The men working for Winter Sports have the opportunity to know and understand a very special part of Dartmouth.
Buck Cass '62 (left) and Jud Goldsmith '61of the Ski Patrol give aid to an injured skierwho lost control at Holt's Ledge.
A mural fifty feet lone and eight feet high, painted by Dartmouth's artist in residence, Paul Sample '20, was unveiled at the home officeof the National Life Insurance Co. in Montpelier, Vt., on March 5. It presents a panoramic sweep of Vermont life, past and present.
Shown at the unveiling ceremony are (l to r) Paul Sample '20, the artist; Deane C. Davis, president of the company; Dartmouth's President Emeritus Ernest Martin Hopkins '01, chairman of the board; and Dr. John P. Bowler '15, a member of the board of directors.
