Despite the obvious signs that spring has come, the annual Harvard-Dartmouth slalom takes place tomorrow. Only a snow avalanche, and there was one a few years ago, can stop about 70 skiers from completing the Eastern ski season with an unusual meet that one long-time participant described as, "a lot of fun, because it is not taken too seriously by the competitors, but it has just enough interest and keenness of competition."
Alfred Sise '32 will keep up his record of never missing this event when he goes down the Hillman Highway course at Mount Washington. Former Olympians Alexander Bright '19 and Robert Livermore '32 are also among the frequent alumni competitors, but neither can match Sise's record.
Faculty, undergraduates, administrative officers, and alumni--in short, all skiers ever connected with Harvard or Dartmouth--are eligible to take part, and each school tries to get as many out for the meet as possible. The meet is scored on the total time of the top finishers for each team, but the number taken varies from year to year. It is always arranged so that the school with the fewest participants must count almost all of them, clearly a disadvantage because not all can make good times.
The Mount Washington event was first held in the early thirties, but no one seems to know exactly when. The Crimson, unable to match the Big Green's ski teams in orthodox events, has more than held its own in this competition by entering more men.
Crimson Won Last Year
Last year the Crimson's 39 skiers included 16 undergraduates, 17 alumni, four graduate students, and two faculty members, including ski coach Graham Taylor '49.
They combined to win the meet, 876.9 seconds to 1049.4, though the Green's Brooks Dodge finished first and Dartmouth took seven out of the first ten places.
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Marching Dimes