This article is featured in the 2025 Winter Carnival Special Issue.
While winter in Hanover offers students the chance to embrace the cold with quintessential New England activities, few are as enchanting as ice skating. Whether on the Green, at Occom Pond or further from campus at Lake Morey, skating is the perfect sport to get outside and enjoy the season — regardless of athletic ability.
Dartmouth offers two main skating locations, according to OPO director Katie Colleran. The rink on the Green provides an easy way to skate right in the heart of campus, while students looking for more natural surroundings can head to Occom Pond. Although the Outdoor Programs Office advertises both places and offers free skates, their managerial jurisdiction differs.
“We used to [manage both rinks],” Colleran said. “But now the President’s Office runs the rink on the Green, and we manage the [Occom] pond [rink].”
The rink on the Green was first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic because the President’s Office “felt it was really important to have a permanent community skating rink,” according to Colleran. Dartmouth grounds services supervisor Greg Frost said the Green was a more accessible location for a rink than Occom Pond.
“[The Dartmouth Community] use[d] Occom Pond for skating — we still do — but [the President’s Office] wanted a location that was more central to campus and easier for people to get to, so the [Conferences and] Events Office basically started the process of putting a rink on the Green,” Frost said. “That was about five years ago.”
Skating on Occom Pond remains a popular Dartmouth tradition, although Colleran noted that warmer temperatures in recent winters have made maintaining the pond difficult. Last year, when the pond could not be opened for the duration of the winter, the OPO ran other activities including “bird bingo, tree identification walks and snowshoeing,” according to Colleran.
“The past two years, the pond barely froze, and it was tough to keep it open,” Colleran said. “This winter has been such a surprise because the ice has been so solid.”
Frost agreed, adding that compared to the last two years, temperatures this year have been “really, really good.”
“We’ve had a lot of single-digit days,” Frost said. “It’s been really cold out. The ice is great, and you’re able to maintain the surface [of the ice] much better. It just creates a really nice skating rink.”
Both the rink on the Green and on Occom Pond are beginner-friendly. At the pond, the OPO provides “little red push carts and flipped-over trash cans students can use to steady themselves while skating,” Colleran noted. For safety, there are signs that indicate when the ice is thick enough and when students are permitted to skate, she said.
“When facilities management says the ice is mushy or there’s snow [they] couldn’t clear, they flip to closed signs,” Colleran said.
For some students, even those who have skated before, ice skating in Hanover is a unique experience. Mckenzi Popper ’26, who grew up in Austin, Texas, said she prefers skating at Dartmouth to skating back home.
“I used [to skate] like once a year,” she explained. “It’s far better [here]. I guess there’s a certain mystique to skating on a pond.”
Classics professor Patrick Glauthier said he has been skating since he was six years old and still tries to go “every week, if [he] can.” He echoed the sentiment that the outdoor environment adds something new to the experience.
“I grew up in northern Virginia,” he said. “There were some lakes and stuff like that that would occasionally freeze in the winter, but mostly indoors [skating facilities]. … Occom is fantastic.”
For those looking to venture beyond campus, Lake Morey is just a 20 minute drive away and offers a plowed path stretching 3.5 miles that takes “maybe 40 minutes” to skate, according to Virginia Cobb ’28. Cobb, who had not gone ice skating since she was eight, said the experience was “really fun.”
“Skating on a real lake is so cool,” Cobb said. “You just feel like you’re out there. You can look down and see little frozen bubbles.”
Cobb also expressed interest in trying out other skating destinations this winter, such as Lake Winnipesaukee — New Hampshire’s largest lake, located at the foothills of the White Mountains, an hour and a half drive from campus. If you’re planning to skate off-campus, Cobb advised students to take advantage of the Dartmouth Outing Club’s skate rentals.
“Definitely rent skates from the DOC if you can — they’re free, and other places charge around $25,” Cobb said.
Ultimately, Colleran said the OPO’s goal is to encourage students to go outside this winter, despite the cold temperatures.
“Our winter programming isn’t just about skating,” Colleran said. “It’s about getting students excited to embrace the cold and be outside.”
