USASJ Story Project- DEC 22 DENSMORE

Looking into the town of Lebanon, NH over the shoulder of a skier on the 20m
(the site of BIll Cantlin's jumping in the dark Story No. 29).

STORY 63

JASON DENSMORE

Age 61

Lebanon, NH (now Hanover, NH)

Lebanon Outing Club, Lebanon High School Ski Team, Dartmouth Ski Team, US Nordic Combined Team

Despite current opinions on global warming, there was no guarantee of yards deep drifts 40 years ago.  Snowing the jump was an all too regular task.  One afternoon in the early ‘70’s, the Dartmouth team was scheduled to get the in-run of our jump in shape.  Early that morning, Donnie Cutter & I went rabbit hunting. As we drove past the hill on our way back to campus, Donnie suggested that we have a little fun.  We made a quick stop and then headed to our classes.

Late that afternoon, standing near a freshly dumped basket of snow at the top of the trestle, Donnie looked over the side and excitedly said:

“Jason, is that a rabbit down there?”

“Where?”

“In those low bushes between the pines.”

“Wow, I think it is!”

“…..Think you can hit it with your rake?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

I threw my rake the 100’ or so down to the ground, managing to land it in the general vicinity of the rabbit we’d hidden there earlier. 

“Holy s---! I think you hit it!”

I should note here than Donnie and I already shared some notoriety among our teammates for our hunting deeds and misdeeds.  Even so, when I ran down the stairs and triumphantly help up the rabbit, there was an air of awe and amazement among the group.

Fittingly, our ruse was unveiled by another New Hampshire boy, John Upton (now an attorney in Portland, ME).  As everyone else looked on in wonder, John aptly noted that “it was pretty darn stiff” for a freshly harvested rabbit.