A Hyperborean Race

1834

Recognizing that winter classes in Hanover are expensive for the College and hard on the student psyche, the trustees add a three-month winter break to the academic calendar.

1839

In a bit of self-laudatory prose, The Dartmouth boasts, "We have an austere climate. We are a hyperborean race; vigorous, patient and happy."

1866

Reacting to comments that the long winter vacation coupled with a sixweek winter term makes Dartmouth less academically rigorous than other colleges, the trustees establish a trimester system.

1867

College spin doctors dub the term starting January 11 "Spring Term."

1888

The Cardigan Club forms. In March the entire membership of four students takes the train to Canaan and climbs Mt. Cardigan. Only one climber has snowshoes.

1896

John Ash '99 fabricates his own skis but fails to start a campus fad. He later recalls, "A few of the boys got into the act, but most preferred to stay in their warm rooms."

1906

Early ski jumpers hone their skills by building snow piles and skiing off them On a good day they sail 20 feet.

1907

Fred Harris '11, future founder of the Outing Club, observes that 95 percent of Dartmouth students grumble about the long winter.

1913

Dartmouth Out O'Doors, the yearbook for the Outing Club, admonishes beginning skiers, "Do not avoid hillclimbing. Almost anybody can get down hill after a fashion, but it takes an expert to surmount a hill in easy style."

1920

National Geographic prints an article on New Hampshire skiing by Fred Harris. Applications for admission suddenly increase from 825 to 2,625. The College adopts a policy of selective admissions.

These nineteenth-century outdoorsmenhad the lonely task of forging Dartmouth'swoodsy image. Most of their classmates,however, probably would have chosenWinter Haven over Winter Carnival.