Ski Team Plans to Erase Debt Through New Equipment Sale

In an effort to erase a $7000 debt, the Harvard Ski Team will hold a large ski sale in Briggs Cage the weekend after Thanksgiving, Eric P. Nordell '80, men's cross-country ski captain, said yesterday.

"The sale will help defray a deficit which has accumulated over several years," Andronike E. Janus, assistant director of Athletics, said yesterday.

Most of the pieces of equipment will come from two major companies in the Boston area, Nordell said. Nordell would not disclose which companies were supplying the merchandise. Janus said that although the ski team began work to eliminate a $20,000 debt three years ago, it has never undertaken a commercial venture on this scale before. She added the office of Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, approved the sale about ten days ago.

Nordell said the merchandise will include both last year's models priced at a discount, and this year's equipment at full price.

"We hope to make somewhere between $5000 and $8000 with 7000 pieces of equipment," he added.

Janus said the Harvard ski team is a level II varsity sport, and only receives partial funding from the Department of Athletics. An endowment from Friends of Harvard Skiing, an alumni group, gives the team about $4000 a year, she said.

"The ski team does a lot of its own legwork," she added.