Coach Halsey's ski team gets a crack at competition in its own league when it treks west to the Williams Carnival this weekend.

Amherst, Williams, Norwich, Yale, Rensselaer, Polytechnic, and Syracuse will came as a welcome change to the hard-pressed skiers, who have barely recovered from their drubbing in the Dartmouth Carnival at the hands of ten top northern combos.

Team members still aren't optimistic about the weekend, however. In the first place, both Coach Hasley and Jumping ace Laurie Griffin will be at Laconia, riding over the 70 meter jump for the eastern championship laurels.

Furtherfore, the squad has had little practice on the hickories during the past ten days because of unseasonal thaws in the Hub area.

Crimson Seeks Second Place

In spite of the double handicap, Captain Graham Taylor looks forward to a possible second place in the weekend's seven-team competition. Amherst, on paper at least, makes the biggest bid for first place.

The Carnival gets off to a gruelling start Friday afternoon with a six mile cross-country trek. On Saturday, slalom and jumping specialists will take the field in what may be the deciding events for the Crimson. Downhill races will be run off Sunday morning on the Thunderbolt trail, Mt. Greylock, to conclude the meet.