PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS FROM THE DARTMOUTH SKIWAY      

 

 Event: Slalom

 Date: February 10th                                           

 Weather: cold & gray

 Snow: icy & fast

 

The Slalom hill at the Dartmouth Skiway demanded a lot out of the Masters racers.  Between the course length, which averaged over 50 seconds, and the varied conditions and terrain, many in the crowd were checking their heart rate at the finish line.  Past members of the Big Green Ski Team raced their one time home hill and proved they still merit its respect.  Joan (Crane) Barthold had a splendid day with a 4th place finish overall.  She had another treat the day before during the Dartmouth Winter Carnival.  The power at the Skiway had gone out and no forerunners could make it to the top for their run.  Joan was spotted wearing her Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) green padded sweater (remember those) and was deemed an appropriate sub to do the job. Back at the Sise Cup Lisa (Feinberg) Densmore, also a former DOC ski team member had a stellar second run and moved into 2nd overall.  Alumni on the men’s side laid down some fast tracks as well.  Bob Hill skied into 3rd place overall with two seemingly effortless runs and left most of Class 4 in the dust.  Jason Densmore skied fast enough to make the Big Green, wife Lisa and son Parker quite proud.

 

Susanna Whitcher put down two solid runs to end up 5th overall.  More importantly she made sure husband Bill Whitcher removed his sweatshirt for his second run.  This was the first time Bill had removed his ‘safety blanket’ all year. Class 6 winner Gay Folland took some superb free skiing skills into the course and ended up 15th overall.  2001 Sise Cup Champion Carolyn Beckedorff is skiing her fastest slalom ever, yet she has been having trouble staying in the course.  Unfortunately, the Skiway was no exception as she was unable to finish either run.  Carolyn is taking chances in her Slalom skiing that most of the other racers are not and when she holds it all together it promises to be some fast skiing.  Class 2’s Deb Adams returned to the circuit after taking the previous weekends’ races off in order to celebrate the completion of her Masters Degree.  She had two clean runs to end up 4th in her class.  Margaret Zuccotti made the trip from Rutland and showed some aggressive skiing and a prowess for the new slalom style.  Class 7 racer Jen Calder took a break from writing and focused on two great runs of slalom which gained her another glass for her collection.

 

On the men’s side Chris Johnson proved once again that an ACL is an overrated commodity.  His quick feet allowed him a slight margin of victory over Class 5 phenom Chip Brettel who had second run’s fastest time.  Hans Schemmel’s fast skiing on the first run and round skiing on the second brought him silver for the Class 2’s.  Newcomer Sean Mato “got it goin’” and laid down a blistering time after some self-talk between runs.  His result was gold in Class 2 and 4th place overall.  Eric Tanner continued his fast skiing from the day before to end up 7th overall for the men.  Eric lent his friend nubine racer Greg Stefan, a pair of the NEW slalom skis, a helmet, pads and guards for his first Slalom race ever.  He had a fantastic day and promised to return.  John Hamacher of Class 6 skied some sound Slalom that brought back fond memories of the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics and the timeless style of the Mahre brothers.  Speaking of style, Peter Carter returned to the hill with his usual flair that besides his skiing included plaid pants and a pom-pom hat.

 

Steve Ouellete and Matt Aeschliman traded victories in Class 1 with Ouellete winning the SL after Aeschliman won the Sunapee GS.

John Naples continued to post sturdy results despite the gaping self-inflicted wound in his knee.  Hopefully the weekend off will allow him to heal.  Class 2’s Tony DiGangi skied two very ‘pretty’ runs but when interviewed expressed that his “dragging of a certain body part” may have slowed him down.

 

Harry Mann kept both hands driving forward throughout both runs, which gave him a well-earned 4th place finish in Class 5.  Bill Zimmerman had found speed and grace in his free skiing yet found the gates themselves to be a challenge and ended up missing gates in both runs.  Friend Lisa Dietrich missed the same gate in the second run as Bill.   Perhaps they should not inspect together again.

 

The weekend culminated with an award ceremony that included many glasses and gifts for one and all but nary a beer to be found.  Well at least Bill Brennan won some new Atomics.  Richlene Mooney walked away with a dazzling case full of FLORIAN pruning tools.  All of the winners of the weekends combined results were also given a great pair of FLORIAN pruning shears.  That’s a lot of sharp objects being handed out.  Luckily there was no beer.

 

                                                                 -Jessie McAleer

 

Jessie McAleer competes in Masters Class 2.