Dartmouth Ski Patrol Folklore

Introduction

  • Dartmouth Ski Patrol was formed over 60 years ago and trains its members in first aid and mountain safety to serve the growing number of winter sports participants. They serve 2 mountains including Dartmouth Skiway and are a part of a national network of ski patrollers. This organization is an extremely tight-knit group that highly values teamwork and communication. These skills are necessary for the rescue and emergency care they provide. Patrollers have developed impressive bonds in these high stress environments, which has led to rich folklore. 
  • We collected such folklore by interviewing various people on team. We interviewed current Ski Patrol members from several different class years in order to learn about how rituals and traditions change throughout one’s time on ski patrol.  We interviewed alumni to learn about graduation rituals. We interviewed newly inducted members and members who made it part-way through the process but did not ultimately make it onto the team to learn about the application process. We interviewed both males and females on the team, but did not find any significant differences in their experiences on the team. 
  • We were interested in collecting Ski Patrol folklore because they are one of the most unique groups on Dartmouth’s campus. We have learned that Ski Patrol has many different traditions, rituals, jokes, and slang terms that are passed down every year and help cultivate a tight knit community both on and off the mountain.

Presentation

Folklore Presentation

Items

Collectors

  • Rachel Mashal
  • Nisha Patel
  • Lindsay Pitt
  • MK Song

Tags/Keywords

  • Ski Patrol
  • Skiing
  • Rescue services
  • Dartmouth Skiway
  • Verbal lore
  • Customary lore