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Published April 19, 2004; Category: STUDENTS
Dartmouth teams compete against colleges with forestry majors, serious 'woodsmen'
Coaches and collegiate invitational: most students across the country may associate these words with football, tennis or hockey. But at Dartmouth, which has a tradition of being green, some people are practicing building fires, chopping wood, and climbing wooden poles as fast as they can. They are the woodsmen's team, gearing for an upcoming intercollegiate competition.
Caroline Pott '02 competes in the 2002 Woodsmen's Weekend pole climb, Unity College, Unity, Maine. (photo by Eleanor Alexander '04)
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The Cabin and Trail division of the Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) will host the Woodsmen's Weekend at Dartmouth on Friday, April 23, and Saturday, April 24. The two-day forestry meet consists of nearly 20 competitions reflecting the traditional skills of lumberjacks.
Events will take place at Oak Hill, about three miles north of Dartmouth, on Friday, and on the Green on Saturday.
Eight colleges in the Northeast will participate in the event, including the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire and Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Each school is sending a number of six-person teams. Dartmouth has three student teams: one each for the men and women and one mixed, called the "Jack and Jill" team.
According to Ben Honig '05, the meet director for the 2004 event and captain of the Woodsmen's Team at Dartmouth, most of the competitions simulate the process of how one harvests timber from a standing tree. The vertical chop simulates felling a tree, the horizontal chop and sawing simulate cutting the tree into usable lengths, and the scoot load, where wood is rolled onto a low deck, simulates loading logs onto a horse sled.
"The meet is something Dartmouth and the Outing Club are proud of," Honig said. "It's where Dartmouth comes from, and where Dartmouth traditions are tied to."
The annual event was founded in 1947 by Ross McKenney, a Maine logger whom the College hired as an advisor to the DOC, and who was also the builder of the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Dartmouth has been hosting the Woodsmen's Weekend every three years since 1974. Dartmouth also maintains tradition by being the only school to exclude the chainsaw competition, which is a regular event at other colleges, replacing it with a fly cast competition.
Max Young '06 and Andy Hunter '04 compete in the 2003 team crosscut saw at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. (photo by Vicki Allen '06)
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"When we host at Dartmouth, we don't use any power tools," Honig said. "We try to preserve traditional skills because such tools weren't around back when the meet was founded."
In addition to the three student teams, two alumni teams from Dartmouth will compete. Alumni are a part in making the weekend a reality: Rory Gawler '05, a Woodsmen's Team member who finds and prepares the wood used in the event, noted the contribution of Douglas Britton '73, owner of Britton Lumber Company in Fairlee, Vt.
"Every time we've had a meet at Dartmouth, he's donated thousands of dollars worth of lumber," Gawler said. "His company buys white pine logs, saws them into cants [squared logs] used for the chopping and sawing competitions, and he just gives them to us."
Other alumni participating in the event include David Hooke '84, an advisor to the meet who is also the former assistant director of Outdoor Programs; Kevin Peterson '82, the master of ceremonies; and James Taylor '74, the head judge who used to compete professionally.
Honig said that some of the participating schools offer degrees in forestry and natural resources conservation, and are exceptionally strong in the competitions.
"For them, this is their football team . . . a varsity sport with full-time coaches," Honig said. "But we're more about having fun. Before the competition, while the others are in a circle stretching, we just arrive and dance the Salty Dog Rag."
By SHIORI OKAZAKI '04
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