Seven varsity skiers started practice yesterday in Beaver, Colorado, for the National Intercollegiate Ski Championships, which will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the Arapahoe Basin. Harvard is one of ten colleges represented in the four-event invitation meet sponsored by the Universities of Wyoming and Denver.

The Crimson team started out by automobile last Saturday to insure at least three days of practice to get used to the Colorado trails and altitude. For the last two weeks they have been running cross-country here at Cambridge in preparation for the meet.

The squad consists of six men and a spare. Captain Bill Wasserman, Captain-elect Jim Weaver, John Hart, Skid Land, Gordon Abbott, and Jerry Porter will make up the starting team, with John Houser as the extra man.

As every college must enter five men in each of the four events, much emphasis is placed upon the all-round skier who can compete in the downhill, slalom, cross-country, and jump. Except for Wasserman and Weaver, who are experienced in all four, the Crimson is a little short on good four-event skiers.

Stop-Gap Meet

The other entries in the meet are Montana State, Nevada, Western State, Dartmouth, Washington University, Colorado, and Washington State. Willy Sebaeffler, Denver coach, said the purpose of the meet is to bring together college ski teams from all winter sports sections to "fill the gap until such time" as the NCAA schedules a true national title event.

The meet opens Friday with the downhill race on Norway Mountain, and the slalom is on Saturday, with the cross-country and jump on Sunday. Many Olympic and FIS skiers will compete.

The Ski Club will also send four teams this Saturday to Thorne Mountain in Jackson, New Hampshire, to compete in a slalom meet.