Cardigan On Snow

By Chris Adams, Director of Communications and Marketing

With the School’s average annual snowfall of over six feet, on a hilltop location surrounded by miles of trails, skiing––in all of its forms––was destined to play a significant role in the winter lives of Cardigan boys. Indeed, it was one of the School’s original athletic programs, and one of only three sports, along with ice hockey and baseball, in which Cardigan has participated for all of the School’s 75 years.

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Cardigan founder Harold “Hap” Hinman wrote in a 1953 letter that “as we make skiing a must, something which we can do with our present layout, we are going to send forth young boys to other schools who will be very proficient in the art––considerably beyond their years––and consequently, increasingly welcomed by the higher schools who will come to know them as ‘Cardigan trained.’”

In the early days, Cardigan skiers trained on campus with the aid of the rope tow on Clancy Mountain, and by 1955 were competing against other schools, including Holderness School, Kimball Union Academy, and Proctor Academy. Our friendly rivals at Eaglebrook School first visited Cardigan for a ski meet in 1958 (though Cardigan was victorious in the downhill, Eaglebrook won the slalom and took the overall meet on points, 192-189). The School also provided ski lessons for less experienced skiers and often hosted visits with expert ski instructors who taught the boys and the faculty the latest techniques. This program evolved into the Recreational Skiing Program, sometimes jokingly referred to as “Wreck Skiing” in the student newspapers of the 1960s.

A 15-meter Nordic ski jump was built in 1958, and in 1964 the School purchased and developed the Pinnacle, a small local ski area on Canaan Street. Cardigan even owned a Sno-Cat for a time in the 1970s––a welcome addition, as it eliminated the need for the boys to pack the snow on the trails manually! Unfortunately, the Pinnacle closed in the mid-1980s and jumping faded into history a few years later. The vacancy created by the loss of ski jumping, however, was filled with the then-new snow sport of snowboarding in the early 1990s.

While many of Cardigan’s early ski meets included jumping, cross-country, and alpine races in the same event, today’s on-snow student-athletes choose from competitive programs in alpine racing, Nordic racing, or freestyle snowboarding; students who prefer learning to ski and ride without the pressure of competition can still participate in the popular recreational ski and snowboard programs. While the rope tow still pulls Cardigan boys to the top of Clancy Hill (as it is now known), the alpine and snowboard teams capitalize on the modern training venues available at nearby ski areas (including Ragged Mountain, Mount Sunapee, and Whaleback). The Nordic skiers, however, continue to train on campus, enjoying over four miles of trails right here on The Point and another five miles on the lake! The Cardigan of today remains an ideal location for snow sports and for making boys “very proficient in the art” of all things snow-related.