The Dartmouth ski team competed at home on Jan. 30-31, finishing second behind the University of Vermont. Skiers competed in alpine and nordic races spread between the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme Center, N.H., and Oak Hill in Hanover, N.H. This marked the end of a nine-carnival Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association winning streak for the Nordic team.
Alpine racing started with the slalom. The men put on a good show for the Dartmouth fans, coming in first and second. Calum Langmuir ’28 won, finishing in 1:39:44, and Oscar Zimmer ’26 came in shortly after with 1:40:13. Heming Sola ’27 rounded out the top ten for Dartmouth, finishing eighth.
For the women, Zoe Zimmerman ’25 claimed victory with a 1:44:48 finish. Her first run was the fastest of the day for women, at 49:21. Carly Elsinger ’25 and Emma Resnick ’26 finished around the top ten, placing 9th and 11th, respectively. According to Zimmerman, this was the first time in her time in the woods that all seven Dartmouth women have finished inside the top 15, a feat for the Big Green.
“Everyone is skiing so well, which is great competition when we are training,” Zimmerman said. “It was my best result this season in GS so far … and the slalom was also my best result so far this season.”
At Oak Hill, Dartmouth Nordic competed in the 7.5 km individual classic. For the men, Dartmouth's best finishers were Aaron Power ’27 and Cooper Camp ’26, who finished 11th and 12th, respectively. Six of the individual classic top ten were UVM racers, who dominated the weekend in Alpine and Nordic events.
Ava Thurston ’26 brought home gold for women again this weekend, beating second place by only 6.8 seconds. Thurston said that her experience on the course worked to her advantage, letting her plan better for the course’s final hill.
“I feel like I really had the home course advantage in knowing where to push over the hills and how to ski it smart,” Thurston said.
Jan. 31 marked the start for the grand slalom races for Dartmouth alpine. Zimmer again claimed second place, finishing less than a second behind the winner. Sawyer Reed ’29 grabbed a fourth place to cap off the top 5.
Resnick made the podium for Dartmouth women, finishing third on the day. Elsinger, Zimmerman, and Emma Reynolds ’27 finished fourth, sixth and eighth on the day.
Camp was again one of Dartmouth’s top male finishers with a fifth place on the day. Skiing “in a pack” with Dartmouth supporters all around created a positive environment, according to Camp.
“It was really fun … just skiing with everyone in a pack, all the teammates, and then a lot of friends and family came out to cheer for that race, which was wonderful,” Camp said.
For the women, Thurston nabbed second, up from fourth at the same event last year. Walton was the Big Green’s only other finisher in the top 10 in the mass start races.
“[I was] super excited to have performed while in front of people at home, and the team did really well this weekend as well,” Thurston said.
Racing at home has advantages and disadvantages, according to Camp. Family members and classmates cheer on the Big Green, but with that enthusiasm comes extra pressure to perform. It’s up to each racer to manage their stress and expectations, Camp said.
“It’s really nice every lap getting to have everyone cheer you on, but it can also be pretty stressful.” Camp said. “It doesn’t necessarily feel like a race day if you’re going to [the Class of 1953 Commons] at 7:30 in the morning and everyone else is moving in and out of classes.”
Skiing continued for this Big Green this past weekend at the University of Vermont. They once again fell to the University of Vermont which took gold again, and the Big Green took second.
