Dartmouth's ski team is known and admired by the ski-racing community as one of the top programs in the nation. Year after year, Dartmouth's alpine and nordic racers bring home EISA Carnival, NCAA and even national victories, rarely failing to earn All-American honors in the process. Anyone unfamiliar with the Big Green Ski Team's illustrious history, which continues to unfold into the 21st century, should go take a look at the Wall of Fame proudly on display in the entrance to the McLane family lodge at the Dartmouth Skiway.
An integral aspect of the ski team that often goes unrecognized, however, is the Development program. In fact, this facet of Dartmouth Skiing helps define and implement the mission of the ski team, which is in part "to provide programs whereby Dartmouth student athletes can develop as individuals and achieve excellence in ski racing."
The D-Team consists of 10-20 (more nordic than alpine) athletes who train alongside Dartmouth's varsity racers through fall dryland training and into the winter months on snow.
Instead of competing at an inter-collegiate level as the Carnival teams do, D-Team racers travel in groups to represent Dartmouth on a variety of levels, from open USSA races around New Hampshire and Vermont, to FIS races in Canada and out West, to the Junior Olympics. Dartmouth is unique among elite ski racing schools for its special focus on developing racers who may be less experienced but just as driven to compete and succeed as their Varsity counterparts.
The development program has improved drastically over the last few years, thanks to great coaching and increasing numbers of experienced racers. As Junior Jess Smith-Blockley said, "The cross-country ski team is incredibly strong, and incredibly deep," so "the D-Team serves as a stepping stone for skiers hoping to make the carnival team, as well as a place for skiers who wish to continue skiing even though making the carnival team may not be in their sights."
Both the nordic and alpine D-Teams are co-ed, and they train and race in the winter under the guidance of D-Team-specific coaches: Vince Gross has been the Alpine D-Team coach for seven years, and Erik McEwan arrived this year to lead the nordic D-Team.
Dartmouth racers set examples for some of the younger skiers on the New England race circuit, often dominating race series and, as Smith-Blockley notes, "taking home a large proportion of prizes."
Some members of the D-Team join with little race experience, while others have been racing for several years. Whatever level these athletes enter on, it takes lots of dedication to keep up with the program, which includes training four days a week and one or two races each weekend. All the hard work pays off, however, when the impressive results Dartmouth's D-Team is known for start to roll in. Just this past weekend, sophomore alpine D-Team members Sam Damon and Zach Erbe traveled to the Junior Olympics at Whiteface in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Carnival team members Emily Copeland '04 and Erik Kankainen '05.
Freshman nordic skiers Jess Philip, Eben Sargent and Chrissy May, who turned out to be a carnival standout this season, traveled to Junior Nationals in Idaho. Junior Jan Wellford and Damon will spend Spring Break, accompanied of course by Vince, racing in a FIS series at Vail, which could set a new precedent for D-Team dedication to ski racing.
In addition to their impressive records on snow, the D-Team could be seen as a driving force behind ski team socializing, ever ready with the reminder that ski racing is, if nothing else, one of the most fun sports there is.
