On-line Contribution1965 Vail Mini-Reunion; March 1-3, 2013 in Vail, Colorado
The Class of 1965 held its 14th Class Mini-Reunion in Vail with 200+ participants in Dartmouth’s largest annual alumni gathering, Dartmouth Winter CarniVAIL. Messieurs. Campbell, Durrance, Griffiths, Hansen, Lobitz and Waterhouse gathered with wives and many friends to enjoy the festivities of lunches, dinners, cocktails, skiing and the 2nd sold out showing of the Class of ’65’s project managed documentary film, Passion for Snow.
Friday
The weekend started with a limited gathering of early birds at the new Vail Village Gondola lift for a first photo op as the main highway was closed due to a snow storm.
After skiing on wonderful powder day, the group gathered for cocktails in the Swiss Chalet Restaurant of the Sonnenalp Hotel and then dinner in the Bully Pub.
Saturday
More great snow and skiing interrupted by lunch at Sarge’s Shelter, named after, Sarge Bill Brown, the same person who hassled any Army ROTC alumni in our Class and left Hanover shortly after we departed in 1965 to take over development of Vail for the next 25 years. Sarge’s imprint is still seen around Vail, and the old timers speak fondly of him.
The group gathered for the 2nd public showing of the Passion for Snow film with standing room only. The film has been given rave reviews by many individuals, including the President of the International Ski History Association who has called it one of the best documentaries on the history of skiing ever, and a totally professional film.
Some key players in the production of Passion for Snow:
Myhren ’58, Miller ’55, Griffiths ’65, Hansen ’65, Washing ’63,
Waterhouse ’65, Kelton ’61, Corcoran ’54, Brown ’57, Durrance ’65
Dinner was held at the Sonnenalp function rooms. Ski industry guests included some of Dartmouth’s greatest skiers like Tom Corcoran ’54 (over 10 national championships in 4 countries; 2 times Olympian; founding owner of The Waterville Valley Ski Area in NH); Pete Kirby ’54 (a skier racer who turned to the bobsled to win an Olympic Gold Medal for Canada); Ralph Miller ’55 (The fastest man on skis for about 20 years after being the first to exceed 100 mph in 1955 at Portillo, Chile); Roger Brown ’57 (recognized as one the greatest ever makers of ski films, a Field Producer on the Passion film, and the Producer of the recently released Vail 50th Anniversary film); Tryg Myhren ’58 T’59 (leader of the 2006 Paralympic team at the Torino Olympics); Art Kelton ’61 (an on screen expert commenting on the contributions of Dartmouth folks in building the ski resort towns that now support the mountain resorts of today); Tom Washing ’63 (another Field Producer on the Passion film project, author of a chapter in the book, and one of the earliest individuals involved with me in the project research); our own Dick Durrance II ’65 (Skimeister at Carnivals in our college years; author of a chapter in the book, and an on screen commentator in the film); and Jim Griffiths ’65 (the former owner of a Hanover area ski mountain, Whaleback).
Sunday
We gathered for an early morning ski day, called Dawnbusters, up the mountain as day was breaking and skiing for an hour with just a few of us on the mountain…. A great experience! This was followed by “brunch” at the famous Game Creek Club, the only private club and restaurant actually built on Vail Mountain. Later on some of us gathered for an end of the weekend dinner at Pepi’s, owned and run by Pepi and Sheika Gramshammer. Pepi was one of the great ski racers of the 50s-60s, and Sheika is a woman of great personality.
All in all, another great Mini for the Class of 1965!
Best to all, Steve and Linda Waterhouse
Steve and Linda Waterhouse