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As Dartmouth prepares to host the 2025 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Ski Championships, Oak Hill Outdoor Center in Hanover, New Hampshire, has been transformed from a rustic trail system to one of the premier cross-country ski venues in the East. As preparations for NCAAs have ensued over the previous three years, this article sheds light on the history and evolution of the site and community as they have united behind planning for this event.
History
Oak Hill has been a cornerstone in the New England ski scene for nearly a century, drawing regional skiers to its humble slopes in the heart of Hanover. The ski area is said to have hosted one of the first J-bar lifts in the country, pioneering local skiing in Hanover since 1936. As a gathering point for the regional ski community, a ski jump was also constructed in the early 20th century, fashioning a venue fit to host “skimeister” competitions in their heyday of the mid-1900s. While the alpine ski scene moved to the modernized Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, NH as construction concluded in the 1980s, Oak Hill’s legacy in the world of skiing had only begun. Now, remnants of its past are still visible in the clearcut downhill trails that coat the hill above the main stadium.
The Venue and Community
Cross-country ski trails now meander through steep ascents, hair-raising S-curves, and host gorgeous views out over the Connecticut River Valley. The challenging terrain has earned a reputation for developing some of the most technically skilled skiers in the country who are used to gliding over ice patches, jumping over the frequent rock in the trail, and avoiding trees on the notoriously narrow trails.
Oak Hill is the home of the Ford Sayre Ski Club, one of the largest and oldest nordic ski clubs in New England, serving over 500 skiers each year from elementary children through masters. Children join the club in the Bill Koch League from kindergarten through 8th grade, and then transition onto the Junior Nordic Team (JNT) which hosts a roster of 26 competitive local high schoolers. Ford Sayre consistently graduates athletes onto collegiate rosters, where they continue their competitive career on the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) circuit.
Oak Hill is also the home venue for the Dartmouth College cross-country ski team, attracting some of the top recruits in the country each application cycle. Since the formation of the team, athletes and alumni have competed at every winter Olympic Games, and claimed hundreds of All-American titles. The team itself hails from all regions of the US and Canada, and this winter sent four athletes to compete overseas at Junior Worlds. Dartmouth’s current students and alumni constitute the second-largest group from any university on the Stifel US ski team, trailing only the University of Utah. For the 2024-2025 team, this includes Dartmouth alumni Julia Kern and Rosie Brennan (A team), as well as current students John Steel Hagenbuch (B team), Jack Lange, and Ava Thurston (Development team). Jasmine Drolet and Luke Allan also sit on the Canadian National Ski Team roster. As one of the most elite collegiate teams in the country, it seems only fitting that the team has a venue capable of hosting equal caliber competitions.
In recent years, Hanover has experienced increasingly variable snow conditions, and skiing at Oak Hill has not been taken for granted by the local community. Hanover already receives less snow than neighboring towns due to its location within the Connecticut River Valley, and has struggled to maintain a base deep enough to ensure skiing through the winter season.
Regional skiers may also be aware that Dartmouth’s annual EISA race is rarely hosted at home, with only two carnivals between 2008 and 2019 hosted at Oak Hill, otherwise relocating over two hours north to Craftsbury, VT. Aside from hosting races, snow inconsistency at Oak Hill has significantly impacted Dartmouth’s training regimen. During the 2019/2020 winter, the Dartmouth Nordic team had 35 practices planned during winter term, of which only 10 could proceed as planned at Oak Hill. Even then, the low base made classic skiing difficult without access to groomed ski tracks. For the remaining sessions, the team either drove to Dorchester, NH or Woodstock, VT—adding 1–2 hours of travel mid-week, a significant commitment for student-athletes—or switched to running.
Cami Thompson, head coach of the Dartmouth Women’s ski team, has navigated the challenging conditions at Oak Hill throughout her 35‐year tenure. Reflecting back on the winters, Thompson noted that the team “could generally plan on skiing at Oak Hill for some part of every season.” Due to the elevation difference, it was common for the trails to be skiable on the hilltop when they weren’t in the stadium. When this was the case, the team would hike in from a nearby road or hike uphill from the parking lot to get to the skiable trails. As Thompson recalled, “there were definitely days when hopping over muddy sections was a thing.” More importantly, “everyone had rock skis, and that is what we skied on most of the time at Oak Hill.”
Renovations
Oak Hill is nearing the culmination of a two-year upgrade that will significantly expand its facilities. The project includes adding snowmaking and lighting along a three-kilometer loop, paving the notoriously muddy parking lot, and building a new state-of-the-art homologated race course designed by Morton Trails. In addition, a new lodge is being constructed in the stadium, a new building will house trail equipment and groomers, and the rental center will soon welcome visitors with access to a large inventory of trailside equipment.
Although discussions of adding snowmaking and widening trails began in the early 1990s, early efforts struggled to secure the necessary support from Dartmouth College, The Hanover Improvement Society who owns Storrs Pond (the water supply for the snowmaking installation), and the local community. It wasn’t until 2017 that the discussions leading to the modern iteration of the project began, spearheaded by community members Matt Rightmire and Peter Milliken. Since then, a unique partnership between Dartmouth College, who previously owned the land, and the local ski community, has helped successfully pull together a plan and funding for renovations.
Working together with the College, the group began researching both the installation and maintenance costs, as well as long-term economic sustainability of the center. “It took a while to get the college and community together on how it was that we were going to fund it and how it was that the center was going to be operated once it was funded,” Rightmire shared in a discussion with FasterSkier this winter. It took nearly five years of negotiations between the college and the community before an agreement was signed in 2022 to begin the work. “Dartmouth, like it would have been for any institution of higher learning, took some time to get comfortable with partnering with the community in this way. It was a new thing for them to do,” Rightmire added, “and, it was complex because of it.”
“One advantage to having been at Dartmouth for so long is that I have developed patience when it comes to things getting done; there is an idea, it gets shot down, you present it another way, find the right people to support it, and some money and eventually, dreams do come true!” coach Thompson shared. “To me, the beauty of this project has been the community and the College working together.” Thompson reiterated the complexities of collaborating in such a way, adding that they “saw many eyes roll along the way when we talked about the College and the community working together, but there was also the gleam of hope and an understanding of how cool the project could be.”
Amid ongoing discussions between the college and the local community over possible updates to the venue, Dartmouth secured the 2025 NCAA bid. In order to host the race at home, the selection committee requires that venues have an FIS-homologated race course and preference goes to sites with snowmaking infrastructure. This high-profile event served as the catalyst for the renovations, uniting the community to meet the tight timeline over the following three years. “There were certainly ups and downs throughout the process but the enthusiasm at community meetings, and talking to smaller groups kept it moving forward, along with the bid to host the 2025 NCAA Championships looming out there,” Thompson explained.
One of the hurdles the planning committee needed to overcome was the utilization and accessibility of the venue. “We wanted to create a world-class racing venue, while at the same time building something that was accessible skiing 12 hours a day for the community.” Of course, “elite athletes want a homologated course that has amazing conditions from the first time that snow is available to the end of March,” Rightmire shared, but “the community cares about other things. They want a parking lot that isn’t a mud pit, they want terrain that is challenging but accessible whether you’re a 4-year-old on skis for the first time, or an 84-year-old who has a lifelong passion for the sport, but probably doesn’t ski as aggressively as they once did.” Given the topography surrounding Oak Hill, and the vertical requirements of a homologated venue, this was “very very hard.”
Ford Sayre head coach Hilary McNamee emphasized the challenge of crafting a trail system that meets both competitive and recreational needs. McNamee reflected, “I do think the general sentiment is that the goal was achieved. Yes, the trails are on the harder side for beginners and recreational skiers, but boy are we making some tough little BKL skiers now!”
Overall, the community has embraced these changes and the opportunities they will grant for the small venue. Yet, “change is hard.” While Oak Hill was open with often-rocky and inconsistent conditions previously, it’s not easy to see such a large change in your community. “When you go into forests and walking paths that people have made a part of their ways and alter them in a pretty significant way, they need to believe in what it will become over time,” Rightmire shared. “We had to talk the community through what this would be in two, three, or four years, and earn their trust.” Through discussions with the community, Rightmire concludes that “the project was better because of the concerns that people voiced.”
The new course opened to the public in the winter of 2024, earning enthusiastic support from local teams, and mostly positive reviews from the community. While residents were grateful for having skiing so close to town and for the consistently good snow throughout the season, feedback quickly emerged suggesting that the venue could be made more accessible. With over 370 feet of climbing on the 3.3 kilometer loop and fast descents, it was somewhat unfriendly to less experienced skiers. To address this, by 2025 a new trail was cut between the two fingers of the course, granting skiers the option to skip the most technical descent and steepest climb.
“In year two, the broader community understands and appreciates the value of [Oak Hill] as a community resource,” McNamee commented. Locals are appreciating not only the easy access to reliable skiing near town, but also the lights that enable skiing after dark during the shortest days of the year, the mudless parking lot, and the brand new rental equipment available to season pass holders. These upgrades have contributed to a 44% increase in ticket sales from the 2023/4 to the 2024/5 winter season so far, with further increases expected through the end of the season.
For leadership of the Ford Sayre ski club, the reliable ski conditions grant coaches and coordinators time that had previously gone toward planning logistics for practices. “I can’t even begin to quantify how many hours went into determining where and how to host safe and fun ski practices for 300+/- kids, week in and week out, let alone events,” McNamee shared.” The extra time has also given the club leadership capacity to provide programming outside of the Bill Koch League. ”We had kind of given up on masters programming because we were all so exhausted from trying to figure out logistics for the kids.” Over the past two years, Ford Sayre’s masters program has grown to over 60 participants.
Similarly for Dartmouth, Thompson is excited about the flexibility that comes with having reliable conditions close to campus. “Now we can plan workouts in advance and know we will have groomed tracks in certain areas to run specific workouts,” Thompson shared. “Previously, we were often guessing which stretches of the trail would work, and then we would have to adjust if there weren’t tracks that day, or there were more rocks in certain areas. It was like trying to plan a basketball workout on a warped floor.”
Aside from the consistent conditions that snowmaking has ensured, the number of skiable days has lengthened as well. The trails have been able to open both earlier in the season the past two years, and remained open through April last year, expected to increase the season length from an average of 70 to 120 days per season. Historically, the center’s average opening and closing dates were around December 22nd and around March 19th, respectively. After the first winter of snowmaking last year, Oak Hill remained open until April 7th—the latest it has been open in recent years and extending the season almost a month longer into the spring. Furthermore, the assurance of steady mid-winter conditions enabled Ford Sayre to host the Silver Fox Trot, its annual ski race, at home last year for the first time in five years, as well as the Dartmouth Carnival EISA race.
Beyond the expanded access to skiing for the local community, race results from the local club have highlighted the impact of consistent snow conditions and improved training loops. In 2024, JNT skier Lea Perrard was Ford Sayre’s first national champion since 1995 and in 2025, JNT skier Annelies Hanna was the first skier in decades from Ford Sayre to represent team USA on the U18 Scando trip in Norway this February.
Improvements won’t end here, but are ongoing as the new venue is tested. “We need to figure out warm up tracks and testing areas as well as parking and shuttling,” Thompson explained as they continue to experiment with the new trail arrangement and figuring out how to host competitions at the venue. During the summer, plans are also in place to improve the mountain bike singletrack trail system, expanding year-round access to the trail system.
NCAA Competition
As renovations are concluding, preparations to host NCAAs at Oak Hill are in full swing. The competition will take place March 5–8th, drawing the fastest collegiate racers in the country to Hanover, NH. With an expected attendance of 2,000 to 4,000 spectators—and featuring live music and local food trucks—NCAA’s promises excitement and fun for fans of all ages.
This year’s NCAA National Championships will kick off with an opening ceremony on Tuesday, March 4th. Alpine and nordic events will alternate on the proceeding days, with a 7.5 kilometer freestyle individual start on Thursday, March 6th, and a 20 kilometer classic mass start on Saturday, March 8th.
The team for the event has not yet been named as the qualification circuit for New England is set to conclude on February 22nd. Local skier Keelan Durham – Ford Sayre alum, Williams College senior, and Corinth VT native – is among athletes vying for these positions. Durham is currently ranked 10th in the East with one weekend to go, out of 17 athletes who will represent the region at NCAAs.
On their home course, you can also expect to see several Dartmouth athletes in green and white. Luke Allan, John Steel Hagenbuch, and Aidan Jacobus are currently ranked 1st, 2nd, and 6th on the EISA circuit, respectively. On the women’s side, Ava Thurston, Amelia Tucker, and Evelyn Walton hold rankings of 2nd, 9th, and 13th. With all three top Dartmouth racers ranked within the top 17, Dartmouth is expected to qualify a full roster for the NCAAs—limited to three athletes per gender from a single team.
Thompson, who has been working to prepare for NCAAs in Hanover over the past few years, is excited for the event to finally arrive next month. “I am looking forward to showing off Oak Hill at its best, and I am looking forward to seeing so many people who are excited about the event and are planning to be here to celebrate it, from locals to alumni and families from across the country.”
Kennedy Lange
Kennedy is a lifelong skier who competed on the Williams College ski team while earning a degree in Geosciences.
