by Ted Ryan

Generally, any discussion of college skiing in Vermont revolves around the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) since it's on that Winter Carnival circuit that such schools as the University of Vermont, Middlebury College, and Dartmouth College compete. Yet there is a lesser known confederation of colleges and universities that field alpine, Nordic, freestyle, even snowboard teams under the U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA) banner, and that's where Hugh Kirkpatrick of Shelburne and Boston College will be competing for a national championship this weekend. Kirkpatrick, a senior at BC, will ski in the slalom and giant slalom at the USCSA national championships in Sunday River, Maine. "I've been skiing pretty fast all year," said Kirkpatrick, a graduate of Champlain Valley who spent his winters at the Mount Mansfield ski academy. "I haven't had any races where I've had two full runs. Consistency is kind of an issue. "Pretty much anything can happen," he said. "I'd love to end up being an All-American."

To do that, Kirkpatrick must finish in the top 10 of the slalom and/or giant slalom. During the Eastern Regionals at Waterville Valley, N.H., where the Eagles placed fourth, Kirkpatrick failed to finish the GS, but placed 16th in the slalom. Since Boston College qualified as a team, he will have the opportunity to compete in both disciplines. "They take the top six teams from Regionals and then they count the top three of five skiers," said Kirkpatrick, whose sisters, Kelly ('09) and Katie ('12), have skied for Williams College on the EISA circuit. "We came into the year to try to win a national championship," Kirkpatrick said. "Going to a five-person format with three counting helps our team. "We're going to be pretty much going all-out and not holding back and we'll see if we end up on top," he said.

Kirkpatrick, who played soccer and was the tennis captain at CVU, selected Boston College because it offered the perfect combination of academics, athletics, and location. He studies finance and accounting in the Carroll School of Management. "When I started looking around at the ski schools, most were either five or six small liberal arts colleges in the East or big state schools on the West coast," he said. "BC was unique. It had skiing and lots of other sports, football, hockey, basketball, and it has a business school. It was a pretty easy choice; it was pretty much the only school with that combination." Though the USCSA is less heralded than the EISA, whose members can compete for an NCAA championship, Kirkpatrick said, "The biggest difference is the back of the talent pool."

He explained, "We might have a lot of kids who never skied or skied a little bit. The level at the back is really low, but the top level is not far off from the EISA. It's more a question of depth. The EISA has really great skiers all the way through the race." The challenges of skiing for a Boston school can be daunting, especially when it comes to practice. "We usually do a two-week camp at Wildcat in New Hampshire right after New Year's," he said. "Once we're back to BC, we're pretty constrained by the travel and classes. Usually we go to Pat's Peak (Southern N.H.) or Blue Hills."

The team usually has a tight window each morning to train, taking into consideration travel time, especially when the weather wreaks havoc with more local conditions. "It's gone pretty well, but we've had a lot of trouble training because of the weather," he said. Now, Kirkpatrick will be on the slopes this weekend for his final time as a BC Eagle.