It was a weekend that many alumni will never forget, a welcome break from studies for some, a cherished celebration of winter's wonders for others.
The memories of Winter Carnival live on among those who have left Dartmouth behind, whether they spent it in fraternity basements or on the ski slopes, with alum after alum describing the big winter weekend as "magical" and "celebratory."
Alumnae also marveled at the student body's ability to make the best of the long, cold New Hampshire winter.
"The fact that people could make a celebration out of the snow and the ice and the cold was just astounding to me," said Debbie Wesselmann '79, who came to Dartmouth from warmer climes.
"What I remember being important was that tradition of enjoying a harsh season. People might do things by themselves or in small groups, but the idea that you'd be celebrating it as a whole community was just a lot of fun," Kathy Blaisdell '79 said.
Some of the best remembered Carnival features were the ice sculptures that dotted campus, created not only in the center of the Green but also on fraternity lawns and in front of dormitories.
Blaisdell said the sculptures were, for her, the "definitive" aspect of carnival.
"Some of them were rude, some of them were big and impressive just because they were so large and some of them were very clever," she said, recalling some of her favorite sculptures, including a gigantic riverboat. "It was always fun to go out and see what people came up with."
"The thing that most impressed me about Winter Carnival was the ice sculptures, especially the Moby Dick one," Paula Miller '85 wrote in a BlitzMail message to The Dartmouth.
"I remember I was up early one morning, walking up from the River Cluster to the Hop. There weren't very many people around yet, and the whale rising out of the snow-covered Green was just breath-taking," Miller added.
"Some were really works of art," Geoffrey Farnum '49 said, remembering the sculptures. For him, just touring around Hanover and viewing all the ice sculptures was one of the highlights of the weekend, he continued.
Winter Carnival used to receive quite a bit of national media attention, Farnum said. News reels often featured shots of Webster Avenue, lined on both sides by fraternities and the ice sculptures they built.
Budd Schulberg '36's "Winter Carnival" movie, based on the special weekend, also helped the College gain media attention, Farnum added.
People from across the country converged on Dartmouth for the weekend, Farnum said, sometimes to the point where "the little town of Hanover" could barely hold everyone.
Wesselmann, though, remembered her freshman Winter Carnival -- when a blizzard cut the College off from the outside world -- in glowing terms, despite the disappointment caused when her guests for the weekend were unable to get to the campus.
"It was remarkable how the Dartmouth community came together. It was probably the only Winter Carnival where we were a completely enclosed community ... It was just wonderful," she said.
Prior to coeducation, though, when the weekend's most important event was the arrival of women from other colleges by the carload, busload and trainload, a Carnival cut off from the outside world would probably have been a major disappointment.
Even in the early 1980s, when the male to female ratio at the College was three to one, the arrival of extra women for the men to socialize with was a big deal for many.
When his girlfriend came up for the weekend, Peter Folger '82 noted the accolades he received because she was accompanied by her friend from home. "I was a hero to my roommates for supplying one more woman," he said.
Male alumni who graduated before coeducation remembered the anticipation of the arrival of those rare creatures -- women -- and the excitement of a weekend spent in their company.
Hal Deane '62 recalled busy times at the train station in White River Junction, where College men would stand out on the platform in the cold awaiting their female visitors. Sometimes, groups would even begin singing as the Snow Trains rolled in, he said.
And once the trains arrived, the weekend had officially begun. "Girls were on campus and the parties were rolling," Kim Krostue '71 said.
His first Winter Carnival supplied Krostue with a story that he said he still enjoys telling.
Krostue and his friends had managed to secure blind dates from Wellesley; there was one who stood out from the group.
"A stunningly beautiful girl," Krostue recalled, saying he hoped when he saw her that she was not supposed to be his date for the weekend. And, of course, she was.
"Here's this hick from northwestern Minnesota with this girl who'd grown up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and she was the kind of girl who turned heads all over campus," Krostue said. "I would still tell you to this day that she thinks I'm the worst blind date she ever had. It was an apples and oranges situation."
Many other alumni recalled a humorous anecdote or two from Winter Carnival as well.
William King '63, chairman of the Board of Trustees, also recalled an incident involving his date freshman year. That year, his date came up for Carnival weekend from his native state of Virginia.
The girl, King said, had no experience in the snow at all and did not bring any winter weather clothing at all. "She didn't bring any boots up, no coat ... we had to buy it all."
"As a freshman, having a date like that ... sure did make it a different kind of a carnival," King said. He learned his lesson, though. "The rule is, make sure your date from the South has a good pair of boots and a warm jacket."
Deane harkened back to one party at his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, that took place towards the end of the weekend. "I can recall an ice cream punch being stirred with ski polls. It was a guy thing."
He wasn't the only one to have strange things in his drink. "Freshman winter all I remember was that it was really, really cold, I went to watch the ski jumping and drank peppermint schnapps in beer for the first and last time in my life," wrote Lisa Reynolds'85 in an e-mail.
Some alumni, though, have memories of Carnival that are not so positive, mentioning in particular the intimate association between the winter weekend and alcohol consumption.
"In a lot of ways, it just seemed like one more weekend where people got together in smelly fraternity basements and drank a lot," Miller '85 wrote in her e-mail message.
"I didn't like all the drinking. I didn't like that at all," Liza Veto '93 said, a sentiment echoed by several other alumni who spoke with The Dartmouth.
"I thought it was definitely not Dartmouth putting its best foot forward," Veto added of the way in which Winter Carnival was promoted off campus as one of the biggest parties in the country. But she recalled with fondness the drag balls put on by DaGLO " the Dartmouth Gay and Lesbian Organization, now known as the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance.
"It was interesting to see the difference in the alternative ways of celebrating Carnival," she said.
Many of the traditions and events that alumni who spoke with The Dartmouth remembered are no longer a part of Winter Carnival. But despite all the changes that have taken place over the years, this weekend's Winter Carnival might not really be all that different from the event that students enjoyed 20, 30 or even 50 years ago.
When he went to Dartmouth, said Folger, the point of the carnival was to "basically do as many fun things in as short a time as possible, try not to freeze and completely forget about doing any kind of homework."
And that's an approach to Carnival that few current students would disagree with.
