Dartmouth Alpine Skiing opened their season on Jan. 16-17 with a win at the Colby Carnival. With 456 points, they beat second-place University of New Hampshire by 74.5 points. Skiers competed in slalom and giant slalom races, stacking wins against the best Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association teams to bring victory home.
The Big Green pushed through treacherous weather conditions both days to secure the win, fighting just to finish the day. With wind chill, it was about minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit and visibility was low due to intense snow. The race course was a tricky mixture of thick snow and ice, causing a combined 235 Did Not Finishes between all runs and races.
Only five of those were Dartmouth students. West Coast skiers such as Riley Grosdidier ’26, who were used to thick snow, dealt with the conditions better. In better weather, Oscar Zimmer ’26 said they hope to perform better and widen their margin of victory.
“Once we get to a carnival with even better conditions I think we’ll shine even more,” Zimmer said.
Even in rough conditions, Dartmouth finished the carnival with eight top-five results. Zimmer finished second in Saturday’s slalom followed by walk-on teammate Louis De Pourtales ’27, who finished his first collegiate ski race in third. Carly Elsinger ’26 secured the only top five finish for the women in the slalom.
On Sunday, Dan Gillis ’26 and Heming Sola ’27 finished second and third, rounding out a majority Dartmouth podium for the giant slalom. Grosdidier secured an individual win in the GS by just 0.19 seconds.
“All the guys are skiing fast,” Zimmer said. “I think the team as a whole is really fast and each and every one can win races or get podiums.”
The team credits some of their victory to their training camp in Sweden over winterim. The alpine team took a few weeks abroad to focus on a dedicated training hill tucked deep into the woods, according to Zimmer.
“We really amped up the intensity this year and it helped a ton,” Grosdidier added. “We got really good early season training in Sweden which was awesome because we had really consistent training in good snow.”
Beyond the podium finishes, multiple athletes had their best finishes ever. Emma Reynolds ’27 and Sammi Trudeau ’26 posted a top five and top ten result, respectively.
According to the women’s team head coach John Dwyer, the goal for the team is to consistently secure podium finishes and end the weekend with all seven athletes in the top 15. Dwyer said the team is working towards being the best in the East, relying on their depth and attitude to get them there.
“We want to be league champions this year and continue our undefeated streak,” Dwyer said. “That’s obviously one of our goals. The biggest one of all is the NCAA championships, we always want to be top step there.”
The team will race the St. Lawrence Carnival in Lake Placid on Jan. 22-23. The following weekend, on Jan. 30-31, the team will come home to compete at the Dartmouth Carnival.
