Beyond the snow sculpture, the poster, the parties and the day off from classes, Winter Carnival is just a ski race.
On Friday and Saturday, the Dartmouth men will compete in the 84th Dartmouth Winter Carnival. The alpine team will try to maintain its perfect record for the season.
The Nordic squad hopes to beat St. Lawrence University and Middlebury College to match its best finish of the season and grab a strong second behind a stacked team from the University of Vermont.
Overall, the men should easily finish second to UVM as they have in the past three weeks. If both teams ski their best races, first place is not out of the question.
"We're right on them, and one of these days we're going to be right ahead of them," alpine captain Jay Nohl '94 said.
In order to win in overall scoring, the alpine squad needs to significantly outperform the Catamounts in the slalom and giant slalom so the Nordics have enough of a cushion to hold onto the lead against UVM's talented squad of top Scandinavian and American skiers.
A strong second place overall finish is the most realistic goal for the team, Ruff Patterson, Nordic coach and director of skiing, said. "UVM has two of the best classical skiers in the country right now, and this course is a tough course and the better skiers are gonna really show up."
Finnish skier Aki Partanen and Norwegian twin brothers Trond
and Knut Nystad placed first, second and third for UVM in last year's Carnival on the same 15 km classical course they will ski this year.
Cory Smith '96 is the only Nordic skier with a good chance to break into the top five. Smith placed fourth in the 10 km classical race in the first carnival of the season. He placed sixth in the other classical race this season and seventh last week in the 10 km freestyle race at UVM.
Colter Leys '96 and team captain Todd Grover '94 could also break into the top 10.
"I knew Colter would be tough this year, but I didn't think he'd be scoring as high as he has been," Patterson said. "Colter has probably worked harder than anyone who has been here in a long time."
"I'd like to be top 15 on Friday and definitely try for top 10," Leys said. Leys has finished top 15 in every carnival this season, including a personal best ninth place at the Sugarloaf carnival.
Grover started the season poorly, but is showing steady improvement as the season progresses, finishing eighth at UVM last weekend.
The Nordics may have a tough time controlling the competition at Oak Hill, but just miles away at the Skiway, the alpine team plans to continue their domination of the collegiate circuit.
"We're in the right mind set to just keep winning and destroying the other teams," J.P. Daigneault '97 said. "We might not get every individual win, but as a team we're the best."
A perfect combination of collegiate experience and youthful enthusiasm has helped lift the alpine men to a new level this year. No team has come close to defeating them in six races.
Captain Jay Nohl returns to the Skiway to defend his giant slalom title from last year. Nohl sees the Dartmouth carnival as a great opportunity for the team to improve on an already excellent season: "It's to our advantage because we get to train on the hill," Nohl said.
Nohl provides experienced leadership on a team that includes six freshmen and two sophomores. He finished second in two of the first three giant slaloms and won the other.
J.P. Daigneault only raced in two out of the first three carnivals, but he set the pace for his teammates in both of them, winning three of the four races he started and placing third in the other. Daigneault has one goal in mind for the Dartmouth carnival: "I want to win, of course," Daigneault said.
Last year's surprise performance in the Dartmouth carnival came from Andy Martin '96 who finished second in the giant slalom behind Nohl helping to earn Dartmouth a victory in that race.
This year, Martin poses a threat in both events having placed second in the last two slaloms and earning one fourth place in giant slalom earlier this season.
Ben Robinson '97 and Jeremiah Thompson '96 finish off the alpine carnival roster. Robinson already picked up two third place and one fourth place finish this season. Thompson, a former U.S. Ski Team member, returns to the slopes after sitting out the last two weeks with a knee injury.
The alpine men race at 10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Dartmouth Skiway. The Nordic men race at 10:00 a.m. on Friday and 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Oak Hill.
