Despite the injury of one of their best men and the retirement of another. Harvard's slopemen have made Bill McCollom's debut as the Crimson's first full-time skiing coach both pleasant and exciting.

The skiers have finished high in each of a series of highly competitive events which began Dec. 19. although it has been without the services of top slalom man Jay O'Rear and jumper Rollie Hazard.

"O'Rear broke a few of his vertebrae in sledding accident, but the injury is not as serious as it sounds. Hopefully, he'll be skiing for us again in about three weeks," McCollom said. "Hazard quit because he-had other things to do," he added.

McCollom, himself, set the stage for his team's string of high finishes. On Dec. 19, at the Pat Hardy Memorial Slalom in Waterville Valley. McCollom sprinted to a fourth-place finish in the elimination event.

Competing against a top national field a day later, Larry Carter, Harvard's Alpine captain, and Alan Watson sped down a difficult slalom course to grab 19th and 23rd, respectively, in the Holiday Classic at Crystal Mountain, Washington.

Lyndonville

The following weekend, at the Lyndonville Invitational, Steve Hinkle, captain of the Nordie team, captured tenth place and John Boyle 20th in the cross country race. "This was an excellent race for Steve, and John's performance was not bad for the first time out." said McCollom. Jon Chaffee, who skied for Harvard from 1962 to 1966, took second place.

In the jumping division, Chris Ferner leaped to a victory in the "B" competition by a substantial margin, and, as a result, was invited to the national training camp, held at Lake Placid. N.Y.

On Jan. 4, the Crimson skiers hosted the Harvard Challenge McCollom thought the meet was a great success.

Although it had to be moved to Interville Mountain-a "rinky-dink" place in McCollom's opinion-from Loon Mountain because of a dearth of snow. 85 "A" rated slalom men made the competition fierce.

Sheldon Perry of Dartmouth won the race, and Harvard's Carter snatched tenth place. Team totals were not recorded.

This past weekend, the Crimson slopemen kept up their pace. Carter finished in the top ten in the Louise Orvis meet in Bromley, Vt. where the best two of a skier's three runs count. Willie Draper, one of the stars of last year's squad, also finished in the top ten.

At the Hanover invitational Relays, also held last weekend. "Hinkle and Boyle both skied well." McCollom said. "I'm not sure where they finished, exactly-because I haven't gotten the results yet. I think they were in the top ten. however" the coach added.

Unless They Fall

McCollom is still pessimistic, however, about his team's chances of dethroning Dartmouth as the top team in the East. "They'll really be hard to beat, and unless a couple of their skiers fall down, I don't think we'll beat them." McCollom said. "Dartmouth might well win the NCAA meet," he added.

A varsity meet is scheduled at New Hampshire this weekend, but McCollom doubts that many Harvard skiers will enter because of exams.

A week from this Saturday. McCollom expects to enter a full Harvard team in the National Madonna, which offers both slalom and downhill competition.

The freshmen ski Andover this weekend at Andover.