History: An organized skiing team or club at Carleton has existed since at least 1939. To our knowledge this team was only alpine skiing. The team produced highly skilled racers who went on to compete successfully on national and international levels. In 1970 the team was cut from varsity to club status. The current coach, (a Math Prof named Ramaley) awarded varsity letters to the entire team as his last act as a varsity coach.
Nordic skiing existed as an informal type of recreation at Carleton since at least the early 40s. The first actual organization of a competitive team was made by Shuan Koos ('75) and Dave Pangelly in 1972 when they got a Carleton car and went to the NCAA qualifers in Michigan. Some alpine racers came too and together they placed second among the teams present but could not attend nationals because it fell during finals week. Koos later skied on the US Biathalon Team in '78 and '79 and was the 1st placed American at the Vassaloppet (His son Torin made the 2002 US Olympic Team). After transferring from Carleton Duncan Mclain raced on the US National team, got top 10 in the American Birke and 17th in the Norwegian Birke. Koos had the fledgling team ready to ski for the first Mora Vassaloppet in 1973. Carleton also hosted the first Minnesotan college nordic race in the arb in 1973 in which a few colleges and many good high school skiers competed. The arb prohibited snowmobiles so laying track meant skiing a 1K loop around the hill of 3 oaks to practice. The nordic team seperated from the alpine team in 1979.
FACT: In the 1940s the Carleton College Women's Society had a log cabin that they ran xc ski outings from.
FACT: The apline team in the late 60's-early 70's had the designations DNS, "Did Not Start", DNF "Did Not Finish" and DFL "Dead Fucking Last".
FACT: Shaun Koos often skied distances of 30K around the track until he got hip problems and had to switch directions.
FACT: In 1979 Carl Blondin and John Hankins were the first skiers to streak the library, a tradition that survived at least until 1987.
The women's team was very small up until the late 70's when under captain Beth Hudson '81 the women became a very strong team by the 80s. Nordic skiing was a varsity sport at least since 1982, competing very successfully in the NCSA (National College Ski Association). In the early 80's the team had a snowmobile and a set of bed springs that were used for grooming. In the 1984-1985 season Peter Frizell and another team memberhad to groom the trails.
In the 80's, 90's and today the Carleton women have had more depth and skied more competitively than the Carleton men. In 1982 and in 1985 the women's team got second at the NCSA championships beating large universities like U-MN and U-Mich. Andy Ferguson got 5th at the NCSA nationals in 1982.
Our best year: 1984 the women got 1st and the men got 2nd at the NCSA nationals in Steamboat Springs CO. Of note, Ellen Anderson won nationals that year. The team was coached by Andy Ferguson ('82) and Philo prof David Spifle.
For the season of 1986 Paul Fawcett returned from his Watson Fellowship in Norway studying nordic training and became the first fulltime paid coach of the nordic team (Before that they had had a faculty sponsor/coach).
In 1988 the women were 4th in nationals, 6th in 1990, 5th in 1991. In the 90s Carleton usually finished 2nd or 3rd out of a field of six schools with nordic teams in region. In 1999 the women won the USCSA nationals in Mammoth Lakes, California and the men got 3rd!
Nordic skiing was added to the MIAC conference starting in the 99-00 season. More recently, Owen Hanley won the MIAC 15K classic championship in 2000. He and Peter Abraham are currently racing professionally and looking at olympic bids.
2001-2002 The administration decided to cut the team without informing its coach or members before-hand. In that same year plans were unveiled to build a new art gallery. Several skiers transferred away from Carleton and potential students interested in racing withdrew their applications. The team survived as a club the next year, organized almost entirely thanks to the work of Nate Scott with help from a few of the former members.
2002-2003 saw 7 Carleton skiers attending mostly citizens races like the Pepsi Challenge, City of Lakes Loppet, and Birkebeiner. A lack of snow hurt the season but skiers still got up early to train.
2003-2004 saw 10 new racers join the team to make a whopping 14. We skied in 7 different races, saw some impressive results, logged a lot of hours on the road AND HAD SNOW! We are planning fundraiser for new unis, made this website, and organized a race at Carleton that drew in skiers from the cities.
2004-2005 saw 4 new racers, including a freshman who had never skied before. Everyone had an awesome year, although the snow was thin in places (to say the least). Again, lots of hours on the road, and lots of racing (even with the City of Lakes cancelled), and Mark Dyson and Dave Holman were featured on the Mora Vasaloppet homepage. There was also some night-skiing and night-practices. The organized race almost happened, but turned into a snowball/slushball fight on skis. Also, at the end of the season the website was handed off to Bill Mitchell.