Title: Pond Skim Tradition

General Information about item:

• Customary Lore, End-of-season Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Anonymous
• Date Collected: 11-14-19

Informant Data:

• The informant would like to remain anonymous, but has shared that he is 19 years old and was born and raised in Concord, Massachusetts. He grew up skiing because his dad was an avid skier. He started to ski at the young age of 4 years old. He is heavily involved in Ski Patrol as he is one of the ‘apprenti liaisons’ who train the new members of Ski Patrol. He shared that he really loves Ski Patrol.

Contextual Data:

• This tradition comes once a year as it comes at the end of the ski season. This is not particularly exclusive to the Ski Patrol group; however, they are the ones who created it and host it every year. 

Item:

• Pond skim tradition is a tradition that started a few years ago. It allows the Dartmouth students and other ski goers to close out the ski season with skimming on a pond that the Ski Patrol dug out. Pond is around 80 feet long and 20 feet wide. Some successfully skim over the pond while others wipe out.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

• Informant would like to remain anonymous; therefore, the audio will not be attached to ensure the anonymity of the informant.

Transcript:

•  “So this is actually a pretty new tradition for Ski Patrol. In the past few years, we started to host pond skim at the Skiway. Basically the idea of the pond skim is that at the end of the season, a week after the mountain closes, we dig out this hole. We line it up with tarps and fill it with water at the bottom of one of the runs. People can come and they pay to ski down and skim across the pond. And all the proceeds that we get from the pond skim go to the Special Olympics, which is a program that we partner with during the rest of the year. Or earlier in the season. It is a pretty cool tradition. A lot of other mountains host a pond skim so we are not like inventing anything crazy but it is a pretty fun event. I think this past year, I think over 500 Dartmouth students came out to it. It is open to students but also the public. There are families there too. Some people also dress up in wacky costumes and there is a prize for best wipeout. And people go across in pairs and stuff like that. It is a very fun day. It is the last organized thing we have for the season. So it is kind of like a capstone event for the Ski Patrol Season. This past spring, I guess, was the third pond skim. And it is a tradition that we intend to keep going on for awhile. I am not sure who started it but I can guess that the seniors now would have been freshman the first year it happened. And it has continued all this year. I assume that the board three years ago was the one who started the tradition. 

Informant’s Comments:

• Informant’s interpretation: “For me, the pond skim is somewhat of a send off. In the spring, there are a few commitments, but for the most part, there are not many more official ski patrol duties. The pond skim is on one of the last weekends of the season and acts as a sort of book end of the season. On top of that, it’s a super fun way to get people out to the skiway and to give back. We get patrollers, but we also get other students and people from the surrounding community. And at the end of the day, it raises money for a good cause, which makes it even better.”

Collector’s Comments:

• Collector’s interpretation: Ski Patrol is a very close and exclusive group as it requires an immense amount of skill in skiing to rescue people and act in an emergency situation. At the same time, it is filled with many people who love to have fun and help others have fun at the skiway. Pond skimming is one of the ways that they could help others have fun. Because it is open to everyone, pond skimming is a great way for those who comes by the skiway to have fun and enjoy the last bit of ski season. This tradition really shows that the members of the ski patrol cares about other skiers who come by the skiway. Additionally, this is a great way for the ski patrol group to bring everyone together who is feeling the same bittersweetness of the season ending. In looking at this tradition through the lens of rite of passage, this could be seen as the rite of transition for the ski patrol members. After this tradition, the ski patrol members would return to being a regular Dartmouth student who doesn’t have to think about rescuing or saving people on the skiway. 

Collector’s Name: MK Song

Tags/Keywords:

• End-of-season tradition
• Tradition
• Pond Skim
• Ski Patrol

Title: Specific Rule: Buckle Your Hipstrap

General Information about item:

• Verbal Lore, Specific Rule
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Nolan Sankey
• Date Collected: 11-7-19

Informant Data: 

• Nolan Sankey is a 19 year-old junior at Dartmouth College. He was born and grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Nolan still lives in Colorado. He joined ski patrol as a freshman when he arrived at Dartmouth College. He joined the team because he has a strong passion for skiing. He is the president and founder of Dartmouth College Biathlon Club, which is part of the Dartmouth Outing Club. Additionally, he is always excited to learn more about various aspects of life. 

Contextual Data: 

• Though the informant did not explicitly provide us with specific context that this rule could be used in, it is reasonable to assume that this rule would be used in the beginning of every shift and when the ski patrols go on the ski lift. Additionally, this would be told to every new member regularly as they would be unfamiliar with the rules of Ski Patrol.

Item: 

• “Buckle Your Hipstrap” is a rule that is told to every Ski Patrol member. While buckling the hipstrap is not necessary to carry the weight of the pack, buckling became necessary when the hipstraps kept getting caught by the ski lift and not letting the patrols go. Now it is told very regularly to ensure that no one gets caught by the ski lift.

Transcript:

• “When I first joined ski patrol, I remember showing up on my first day of shift. And the patrol supervisor of the day was giving the morning briefing. And one of the things that he mentioned was to ‘buckle your hip strap on the pack.’ I didn’t see why that was important. I had hiked before and when you are hiking you want to buckle your hip strap because it helps support your pack. But our pack wasn’t heavy or anything. I didn’t think anything of it but I did it and did it as I was told. The next time he said it again. And the third time it happened again. And after that one, I finally was just curious and I started asking about it later on shift. And they said, ‘oh you wanna buckle your pack strap because you don’t wanna ride the bowl wheel.’ And I then.. I felt like an idiot because I didn’t know what the bowl wheel was. So I had to ask ‘what is the bowl wheel?’ They had to explain to me that the big rotating disk at the top of the ski lift that brings sort of the chairs that are going uphill and puts them going downhill is called the bowl wheel. And I was like ‘how.. If I don’t buckle my hip strap then why am I gonna start going downhill on the ski lift. And they had to explain if you leave the hip strap unbuckled, when you bring the bar from the ski lift up and over it will catch on your pack strap or on your hip strap and then it will lock you in and secure to the lift. And the moment that you try to get off, you will realize that you wanna get off the ski lift and ski away but at that point, you are attached to the ski lift. And the moment you realize it, it’s already too late. And you are swinging around the chair already on the way downhill.” 

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Informant’s Comments:

• Informant’s interpretation: “I think it started when someone did not buckle their hip strap and they got stuck to the lift. So to prevent that they probably started saying this. At this point no one really questions it. And this is basically told from the older patrols almost religiously.”

Collector’s Comments: 

• Collector’s interpretation: Like the informant speculated, this tradition probably have started when someone did not buckle their hip strap and got caught by the ski lift and flung around. After that moment, the rule was not questioned. However, as Nolan mentioned in his interview, he questioned what this really meant, and I would have done the same if I were joining the group as a new Ski Patrol member because this really doesn’t mean anything if you are not familiar with the terms and the situations that the ski patrols face. This is a great example that makes the Ski Patrol a folk group because they have this rule that only the members of the group will understand. Additionally, fully understanding this rule could be seen as the rite of incorporation. After doing the initiation ritual and being inducted as the Dartmouth Ski Patrol, the new members still don’t have a full understanding of the group yet. However, if they understand the slang and the rules that exist within the group, then it would really mean that they are part of the group. 

Collector’s Name: MK Song

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Ski Patrol
• Skiing
• Safety
• Rule

Title: Where is Ivo?

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Joke
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Blake Daugherty
• Date Collected: 11-14-19

Informant Data:

• Blake Daugherty is a 20 year old Dartmouth College Student. He was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and he still resides in Dallas. He is currently a sophomore who recently joined a greek fraternity Alpha Chi Alpha. He shared that he absolutely loves skiing and Ski Patrol was a big selling point for him to attend Dartmouth. 

Contextual Data:

• This joke would be used when people don’t show up to events. However, it wouldn’t be used for those who missed the event but is a consistent shower. Instead, it would be used towards those who don’t show up regularly. 

Item:

• This is a joke that goes around the Ski Patrol that applies to those who do not show up events regularly. The joke is very versatile as the name “Ivo” could be replaced with anyone’s name in the group.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

• “This is a title that is given in ski patrol. It is like “Where is Ivo?” Ivo is a kid who, I guess, notoriously did not come to stuff. So each class chose their own person. So for us, there is Grace. I forgot who the ‘21 person is. And that kind of led to this whole theory that there is an anti-board to the ski patrol board that does underground… like trying to slight the board and like trying to ruin all of our events and stuff. So we have a theoretical anti-board head and it’s a whole conspiracy theory that has been passed down for as long as I have been there.”

Informant’s Comments:

• Informant’s interpretation: “I think it’s because ski patrol is a very big time commitment. And there is always some people who don’t really want to do that for the full years. So they kind of start dropping out. But also it is a pretty close friend group. So they take notice. And that’s when the whole story and inside jokes starts.” 

Collector’s Comments:

• Collector’s interpretation: The joke seems to revolve around the fact that the ski patrol group is a very tight-knitted community. This joke seems to originate from the fact that the members of Ski Patrol want all members to be involved in the program. In order to encourage people to do so, they are kind of making fun of the people who do not participate in the events. However, they are not doing it in a way that would make those who don’t participate feel bad. Rather, they are almost including those who don’t participate in to the group verbally as they would talk about this joke when they are not there (and when they are there). I think this illustrates their culture well. While everyone wants everyone else to be around, they understand that some people can’t and that is ok with them, but they would just make a little fun of those who don’t show up. Additionally, it shows that they are a really fun group to be a part of as they make the best out of the situation where people don’t show up by coming up with ‘conspiracy theory’ like the anti-board.

Collector’s Name: MK Song

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Jokes
• Where is Ivo
• Ski Patrol
• Conspiracy Theory