Origins of a Species

Winter exuberances at Dartmouth evolved into modern skiing.

Late1880s

1906

Skiers build Dartmouth's first ski jump by shoveling snow into a mound. The best jumpers soar a distance of 20 feet.

1914

Dartmouth's best skier attempts to increase his speed by secretly inventing a special wax. His concoction is a total bust, and he finishes dead last in a time trial.

1915

The first intercollegiate ski meet is held in Hanover. Three crews film the event for the newsreels.

1920National Geographic prints a 14-page article entided "Skiing Over the New Hampshire Hills" written by Outing

Club founder Fred Harris '11. Harris claims faculty statistics demonstrate that academic performance is improved by skiing. Applications to Dartmouth jump from 825 to 2,625—and the College becomes the first in the country to use "selective admissions."

1921

Dartmouth builds the largest ski jump on the East Coast.

Writes the Boston Herald, "Dartmouth is apt to find a scarcity of entrants as only the best jumpers are expected to risk the hazard of the long leap."

1933

The first national downhill race is held at Mt. Moosilauke.

1946

Skiing enjoys a post-war surge. Three hundred-fifty students enroll in ski classes on Oak Hill.

1964

place at Hanover's golf course.

1965

Dartmouth ski coach A1 Merrill advises his team to take part in active sports all year, noting that track, tennis, swimming, cross-country, and weight training are all good. "But gymnastics is probably the best conditioner for the skier."

1993

The ski jump is demolished, a victim of a 1980 NCAA vote that eliminated ski jumping as a recognized sport. This magazine eulogizes, "Farewell then to Carnival jumping, the heart of winter exuberances at Dartmouth. Something local and precious."

Helped along by what look more like broomsticks than ski poles, Dartmouth and McGill students race in the nation's first intercollegiate ski meet.