Dartmouth's wild and woolly Winter Carnival, where the girls run faster and the wine flows like wine, is back again this weekend. The fraternities have dusied off their well worn bartenders, and hotels, and rooming houses report few empty beds.

The reason for all this weekend hoopla is the toughest and most famous ski meet in the East. Noine teams have been invited to compete against the defending. Big Green, and Harvard is one of them. The others are Middlebury, McGill, Syracuse, Williams, St. Lawrence, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

The competition includes the slalom and across-country races on Friday, followed by the downbill race and jump on Saturday. And although the F.I.S. World Championships in Sweden have plucked some of the best skiers from a few teams, there'll be more top-notched schussers there than you can shake a can of Faski lacquer at.

As far as the exam-wearied. Harvard students are concerned, the ski events are irrelevant to the Carnival, and the skiers are just there to keep the crowd amused in its spare moments. If you're looking for fun, the Carnival's got it.

The Hanoverian entertainment starts on Thursday with a preliminary hockey game between Dartmouth and Boston. On Friday, amongst other attractions, are a swimming meet between Dartmouth and Yale, and a basketball game between the Big Green and Princeton. A hockey game between Dartmouth and Harvard at 11 a.m. Saturday will help you pass the morning-after.

The big event on Friday is the "Outdoor Evening" where the coronation of the Carnival's Queen of Snows takes place. She will be chosen from a selection of "dates" judged by the students. In addition, there will be a concert and many jam sessions. The Carnival Ball is on Saturday. The House parties begin at nine, and go on and on.

For Non-Skiers

If you're going skiing this weekend, Hanover is the place to be, if you don't like to ski.

If you do like skiing, though, the snowy hinterlands report generally good to excellent conditions. New Hampshire is one of the most accessible areas for the Harvard skier. North Conway's Cranmore Mountain, whose trails are served more Mountain, whose trails are served by their famous skimobile, offers a variety of trails for most beginning and intermediate skiers. A few miles past North Conway, in the increasingly popular Jackson area, are Balack and thorn Mountains. At Black Mountain there is a 2500-foot Alpine lift, and at Thorn a 4000-foot chair lift supplemented by two rope tows which give access to a great number of trails for the novice and the expert.

At Cannon Mountain in Franconia there are many trails easily reached by the 2000-foot Aerial Tramway. Laconia, Intervale, Mt. Sunapee and Peterborough also offer good skiing.

For the more hardy, Vermont offers a lot of snow and a lot of trails. Topping the list is Stowe (Mount Mansfield) which reports good to excellent skiing on 21 to 40 inches of base with five inches of backed power. Stowe has the longest chair lift in the East, in addition to a T-bar lift and a whole slew of rope tows, providing many excellent trails for novice to expert. Nearby, Mad River Glen, With its mile long lift, sports a mountain almost as big as Stowe's, but with waiting lines much shorter. Big Bromley and Pico Peak always have snow and good skiing.

Although there was a recent snowstorm in the North, road conditions are reported to be good. Count on about six driving hours to Stowe, though.

Most of the large skiing areas have ski dorms, with prices ranging from $1.00 a night for a bunk, $2.50 for a room, to $5,00 a night for room and meals.