Skiers Reach End of Slope As 1967 Budget Runs Out

The ski team cannot afford to send its members to the rest of the season's races, Coach Charles Gibson said last week.

After March 1, Gibson said, most of the Harvard skiers will have to race without the financial support of the team. And by March 15, the funds will be completely gone, he added.

This means that the team may not send men to either of the two big spring events--the Sugarloaf Schuss or the famous Stowe Sugar Slalom.

Gibson began paring down the number of skiers sent to races three weeks ago, when he sent fewer than he had originally planned to the Fisk Trophy Race.

Although the ski team has a smaller budget than Dartmouth, Middlebury, or St. Lawrence, this is the first year that money has been a serious problem, Gibson said.

Last year, the squad was able to meet its budget exactly, and the year before it had money left over when there was so little snow in New England that skiing was sharply curtailed.

But this year, the team enlarged itself slightly, bought new equipment and ran an extended training camp at Cannon Mountain, N.H., during Christmas vacation. Its $4000 budget will not be enough to pay these expenses and send a full squad to all the races, Gibson said.

Transportation costs--much higher for Harvard than for teams in ski country--consume at least half of the yearly budget. About a quarter is used for equipment, and the rest goes for coaches expenses and entry fees.

Varsity Coach Gibson. J.V. coach Dick Abromeit, and freshman coach Dick Friedman are volunteers who work full time at other jobs.

Half of the team's $4000 a year is paid by the Harvard Athletic Association; the other half comes from an endowment established by "The Friends of Harvard Skiing," -- more than 300 alumni who skied while at Harvard.