Students wary of the winter chill will be hard-pressed to find a reason not to go outside this Winter Carnival, thanks to this year's efforts by Dartmouth Outing Club to highlight outdoor activities.
"[Winter Carnival] is a celebration of the outdoors," Brian Dye, assistant director of Collis Center and student activities, said.
The Dartmouth Outing Club will play a large role in this year's festivities, particularly because the 2009 Carnival theme, "Summiting a Century: 100 years of the DOC," honors the organization's centennial.
The unseasonable weather has put a dent in some plans, however.
One new activity planned this year had been the inclusion of an ice luge set up behind the Bema, according to Ellen Ludlow '10, who is helping to organize the luge. Students would have been able to raft down a long, winding groove in the snow, starting near Robert Frost's statue and ending at the bottom of the hill, Ludlow said. But the luge was cancelled Thursday, according to a campus-wide email.
Another new DOC event at this year's carnival is "snowyaking," in which students will ride kayaks, sleds and canoes through the snow. Other DOC-sponsored events include skiing, skating and snowshoeing lessons, according to Ludlow.
Ice-climbing has also been cancelled, and decisions on other events will generally be made on the morning they are supposed to occur, Dye said.
Carnival still features three traditional outdoor activities -- the Human Dog Sled Race, the Polar Bear Swim and the Carni Classic.
In the Human Dog Sled Race teams of four people competed in a sled race, in which three team mumbers pulled at forth, according to Alannah Phelan '12, Human Dog Sled Race committee co-chair.
Prizes for the race's winners have been donated from local businesses in the Hanover area, Elizabeth Wai '09, Human Dog Sled Race committee co-chair, said. The committee does not charge students to watch or enter the event, she added.
The races once featured real dog-pulled sleds, Phelan said.
The race, which was part of Thursday afternoon's festivities, is "just a great way to start the week," Wai said. She noted that 15-20 teams were expected to compete, and that "flair" will likely be worn by the majority of participants.
"It's representative of [Winter Carnival] as a whole," Phelan said.
The Polar Bear Swim involves a brief foray into the wintry waters of Occum Pond, according to Simone Stone '10, Polar Bear Swim committee co-chair.
In preparation for the event, Facilities, Operations and Management cuts a rectangular hole in the ice over Occum Pond. Those who dare to leap into the frigid water are attached to a rope at the waist, and EMS services are on call as a precaution, Elizabeth Teague '09, Polar Bear Swim committee co-chair, said.
Teague noted that there has never been an accident in the history of the event, which dates back to the mid-1990s.
The fact that the swim carries such a high novelty factor boosts its popularity, Stone said.
"It's kind of like a thrill," Stone said, adding later, "When I tell people I'm [co-chair of the Polar Bear Swim committee], people are like, 'Really? I need to do that before I graduate.'"
Approximately 300 participants took part in the event last year,and the senior class had the highest representation among the swimmers, according to Stone.
"It's one of the more visible events of the Carnival," Teague said.
The Carni Classic is a three kilometer ski race open to all members of the Dartmouth community, according to the Carnival web site. The race was the first activity of the Carnival Weekend, occuring early afternoon on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Dye said the outdoor activities are the center of Winter Carnival, and they are "all ways to celebrate where we live, and work and play."
"They are the Carnival," he said. "We wouldn't exist if it were just the indoor activities."
