Don Cutter '73 Ronnie Balch

Manager and Assistant Manager;Dartmouth Skiway

I'VE GOTTEN BETTER at clearing tables, but I keep having to go back for the salt and pepper," says Dartmouth Skiway manager Don Cutter '73. Running a small ski area is not a glamorous job. He looks at assistant manager Ronnie Balch and sums up their responsibilities. "From the lifts to the bathrooms, we pretty much take care of everything."

"My father was here from the start," says Ronnie, "cutting trails with two of my uncles." Thirty-six years ago when Ronnie started at the Skiway, Don was one of the ten-year-olds goofing around in the lodge and tearing up the slopes. "I was raised on skiing and in the ski industry since before I could walk," says Don, whose father Donald De Jongh Cutter '45 also managed the Skiway one year. In 1983-84 the younger Cutter took over as manager and ushered the Skiway into the modern era of snow making. Much of the managers' time now is dedicated to that strange modern alchemy which combines high-tech equipment and a shamanistic mix of air, water, and electricity in an attempt to bend Mother Nature. The Skiway, though, one of only two college-owned ski areas in the country, remains an intimate, family-feeling place. More than a third of Dartmouth's students ski there, much of its faculty, and community members of all ages—including people, like Don and Ronnie, whose ties span generations.

Don (left) and Ron put the snow down and get the skiers up.