The Harvard ski team, weakened by the absence of Nordic captain Chris Ferner, faltered to a last place finish in the Dart-mouth Winter Carnival last weekend.

Both Middlebury and the University of New Hampshire outdistanced defending champion Dartmouth in the overall standings, as a steady rain on Saturday made conditions treacherous.

The Crimson got off to a good start Friday, placing fifth in the slalom, but the exam layoff took its toll in the cross country event.

Alpine captain Alan Watson finished fifth in the slalom, while senior Jay O'Rear was 12th and Brot Coburn wound up in 20th position. Robbie Ploiti of St. Lawrence paced the Larries to firsts in the Alpine events by winning both the slalom and giant slalom.

In the cross country, John Rikert in 17th place and John Boyle in 25th were the highest Harvard finishers, with Peter Descoulias of UNH leading the field. "Since we just got through exams," coach Bill McCollom said, "no one has been able to do much running and we just weren't in shape."

Saturday was a disaster for the Crimson. Watson fell on his first run of the giant slalom, and O'Rear was the only Harvard skier to complete two runs, finishing tenth.

O'Rear's performance was remarkable, however, in light of the fact that Friday was the first time he had been on skis since re-injuring his back on January 10.

In the jumping Saturday afternoon, Harvard failed to place in the top 25. Without Ferner-who quit the team last week along with number two jumper Jim Platz-the best Crimson performance was turned in by Coburn, who only began jumping on skis this season.