All Down Hill

Late 1880s

The first skis are seen in Hanover.

1896

John Ash 1899 and Ralph Wilder 1899 are the first students to make their own skis. They fail to create a fad. "A few of the boys got into the act, but most preferred to stay in their warm rooms," Wilder writes years later.

1906

Students shovel snow into a big heap and create the College's first ski jump. Jumpers soar as much as 20 feet.

1913

Dartmouth students become the first to reach the summit of Mt. Washington on skis. Poles are not yet in vogue.

1914

Dartmouth hosts the first intercollegiate ski race.

1920

The potato race makes its first and last appearance as a Carnival event. Racers spear spuds with their poles.

1922

The Dartmouth Carnival Cup is introduced. It becomes the oldest rotating trophy on the collegiate skiing circuit.

1930

The ski-joring race skiers pulled by horses is dropped from Carnival Competition.

19 36

Six Dartmouth skiers compete in the 1936 Olympics.

1941

Ski Coach Walter Prager is drafted to train ski troops for the Tenth Mountain Division.

1947

Night skiing is introduced on Oak Hill.

1955

A ranking College official in search of a site for a College ski area stops by the roadside to relieve himself. He sees Holt's Ledge.

1956

The Dartmouth Skiway is built on Holt's Ledge.

1967

Snowmaking for the Skiway is first proposed.

1977

The record for the "giant slalom" down the steps of Massachusetts Hall is 16.1 seconds.

198 5

Snowmaking comes to the Skiway. The machineryuses more electricity than the entire surrounding town of Lyme.

1989

Researchers from the Thayer School take to the slopes to test materials that will make skis faster.

A leader in slope history,Dartmouth may have inventedindoor skiing.