The Big Green scored 801.5 total points at the carnival, which was held in Stowe, Vt. The University of New Hampshire finished third with 783 points.
With roughly a month left before the NCAA Championships in March, Dartmouth is looking for a way to knock the impressive Catamounts off their first-place pedestal.
"UVM is stacked like Iceland was in [D2: The Mighty Ducks' (1994)]," alpine racer Trevor Leafe '12 said. "They actually lost one of their top guys to an injury in December, believe it or not, but they've essentially got five guys who can win on any given day. Two of their top guys are ex-National Team members 22 and 25-year-old freshmen."
If UVM resembles the tenacious Icelandic juniors from "D2: The Mighty Ducks," then no doubt its Gunner Stahl is freshman Jonathan Nordbotten a five-year member of the Norwegian National Team who placed first in the slalom event at the Norwegian National Championships in 2010.
Nordbotten took first place in the men's slalom and giant slalom competitions, leading a Catamount squad that landed four top-10 finishers in both events.
As Dartmouth looks to find an answer for UVM's barrage of top individual alpine skiers, Leafe has been a bright spot. He paced the Big Green over the weekend with an eleventh place finish in the giant slalom and a ninth place effort in the slalom. Captain Luke McLaughry '12 followed close behind in 14th place.
"Personally I feel my strongest event has been slalom this year," Leafe said. "But for me personally I was very disappointed with the weekend I was sitting in sixth after both first runs with plenty of room to move up into the top five, but a mixture of poor skiing and rough conditions in the second run resulted in pretty disappointing overall finishes."
On the women's alpine side, Dartmouth was buoyed by strong slalom performances from Annie Rendall '13, Sabrina Chiasson '12 and Erin Fucigna '12, who finished ninth, 17th, and 24th, respectively. Courtney Hammond '11 landed a fourth-place finish in the giant slalom event with a time of 2:06.86.
Dartmouth's greatest success over the weekend came on the Nordic side, with the trio of Eric Packer '12, Sam Tarling '13 and Nils Koons '11 leading the way for the Big Green men.
At the Trapp Family Lodge course in Stowe, Dartmouth's top men's Nordic skiers finished in second, third and fourth place in the 20-kilometer freestyle. They fell short only to UVM junior Franz Bernstein, who won the event at the 2010 NCAA Championships.
"Vermont is looking like the best all-around team in the country right now," Tarling said. "We are really lucky to have such a strong team in the East to compete with. We've been in the hunt every weekend though - I have no doubt that individual victories will come our way soon."
In the 110-kilometer freestyle, Tarling, Koons and Packer again finished close together in second, third and fifth place, respectively. They fell short to UVM freshman Nordic racer Scott Patterson.
"Nils, Eric and I have been so close in every race this year," Tarling said. "We've been able to push each other and work well as a team. Having some of the other Dartmouth guys up in the top 10 is also great to see. It keeps us on our toes."
On the women's side, Rosie Brennan '11 and Erika Flowers '12 held their own against a fierce UVM trio that swept the top three spots in the 15-kilometer classic and the top-two spots in the five-kilometer freestyle. Brennan came in fourth in the classic with a time of 54:04.3 and Flowers trailed close behind.
Tarling said the weekend's snowfall did not affect racing for the Nordic competitors.
"There were perfect conditions," he said. "There's always excellent skiing at Trapps. The grooming was superb both days, which allowed for very fair races."
The carnival gave the Big Green a glimpse at the venue where the NCAA Championships will be held next month. The Nordic team will race at Trapp and the alpine team will compete at Mount Mansfield, both in Stowe.
"We will take every opportunity we have to prepare for NCAA's on that hill," McLaughry said. "The snow conditions were pretty good this weekend so we were able to get a good feel for the hill and its tactical challenges."
The Championships' eastern venue will give teams like Dartmouth a considerable advantage over traditional western powerhouses, Leafe said.
The Big Green races next weekend at home for the Dartmouth Winter Carnival.
