In case you were wondering, Douglas Tompkins and Kenneth Klopp established The North Face brand in the 1960’s. For the first 10 years or so, the company only made tents, backpacks and mountain-climbing gear. It then branched out into high-performance outerwear designed to withstand the freezing temperatures on Mount Everest. All of this makes me wonder how exactly Dartmouth students kept themselves warm and stylish before North Face introduced the iconic Denali polar fleece jacket.
Since Polar fleece, Gore-Tex and other miraculous, water-repellent and insulating fabrics weren’t invented until the latter half of the 20th century, I am deeply impressed with the first Dartmouth students for braving the harsh winters back in 1769. They lived in a world without snowplows, central heating or waterproof anything. Even though we are the beneficiaries of thousands of years of human progress designed to keep us warm, beginning with the discovery of fire and culminating in those microwaveable lavender-scented slippers, I feel no qualms whatsoever about complaining about the weather. This is not because I am particularly sensitive to the cold but rather because I like to complain.
March is finally upon us, and spring is slated to arrive in two weeks. It’s been somewhat amusing watching the rest of the country panic over the “polar vortex.” It’s what we in Hanover call “winter.” My brother goes to school in North Carolina and had two days of class cancelled after 2 inches of snow. Hanover gets a foot and a half in 36 hours, and students slog through the snow to class as usual.
I’ve spent several columns keeping track of my “last ever” moments, and my last winter in Hanover is probably the only one I feel little sorrow for. Winter Carnival is fun — I went (and failed at) ice skating once, and I like the idea of the Dartmouth Skiway even though I only skied during my freshman winter. I have never gone sledding on the golf course at night, but I survived the Polar Bear Swim and will certainly continue to bring that up in casual conversation to show how cool and adventurous I am. But all in all, I have no regrets about my last Hanover winter coming to a close.
Winter might have been marginally less irritating if I didn’t have to hike to the Life Sciences Center twice a day every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Someone decided to place my graphic novel class there, and I have an hour and a half between my 10 and my 12. Without food or, more importantly, coffee in the Life Sciences Center, I must walk the full seven minutes to Novack to make up for the fact that getting breakfast before a 10 is impossible. I have to walk there one more time, for my final, and then hopefully never again.
One of the things that gets me through winter, besides the promise of a spring break Caribbean cruise, is my hideous brown knee-length North Face jacket, which my mother bought me in October 2010 when my parents visited for Homecoming and my birthday. The jacket makes me feel sleek and well-insulated, like a walrus or a fur seal. It’s definitely one of the sexiest pieces of clothing I own. I barely wore it all freshman year, choosing instead to don my grandfather’s old peacoat from the Navy. Now that I am old and above caring how hip I look, the hideous brown jacket comes out whenever the temperature drops below 20 degrees. Even though approximately 37 percent of campus owns that exact same ugly jacket, you can’t miss me in the winter — I always augment my winter apparel with fashionable animal-themed headwear.
I have outgrown my youthful vanity and have accepted sacrificing stylishness for warmth. Cute lace-up boots with the half-inch heel? Nope, I’m wearing Uggs. Little short skirts with sheer black tights? No way, because then my legs are both freezing and itchy. I’m still curious as to how some guys keep their feet dry in winter, because I swear there are those who wear sneakers even when there’s 6 inches of snow on the ground. Also, I’ve never seen a guy in a knee-length coat or wearing a cheerful animal hat. Are Dartmouth guys just so manly that their legs and ears don’t get cold? This is a question that a future columnist must work to answer. That and where all the lost frackets go.
I’ve always enjoyed the gradual approach of spring, when the snow recedes and things turn green again. This spring will be particularly strange — as the weather gets nicer, I’ll be closer and closer to leaving. Dartmouth, I love you, but I shall not miss your winters. Maybe when this column returns in two weeks, the snow will be gone and the sun will come back. Frankly, I doubt it, but that’s okay. You really can’t appreciate how beautiful spring and summer are unless you put up with winter.
