New England Ski Industry Biographies
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Minnie Dole Biography
Early Years
Charles Minot Dole was born in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, the son of a Harvard graduate who worked for a paper-manufacturing business. His mother was "an outdoor woman to the very core" who would take he and his sister via horse carriage and train on summer trips to the White Mountains to stay at the Mountain View House in Randolph and cabins in the Northern Presidentials. Growing up in Andover and attending Phillips Academy, Dole described winter as "the most exciting season of the year for me" in his autobiography, "Adventures in Skiing." Dole initially took to snowshoeing as his winter sport before being introduced to skiing with the Boy Scouts. He described the Boy Scout outings as "long ski hikes. Uphill and downhill were all one, as far as technique went. You slid them up and you slid them down, with a good rousing fall at the bottom of each pitch if you got going too fast." While at Phillips Academy, Dole frequently skied with future Olympian John Carleton.
As World War I escalated, Dole attempted to join a volunteer ambulance unit heading to France, but was stopped just before shipping out when his parents discovered his plans. After turning 18, Dole enlisted, but arrived at Officer's Training on the day of the armistice. While at training, a sergeant made sport of his youthful, smooth-cheeked appearance by referring to him as "Minnie Dole." Dole remarked in his autobiography, "So help me, I've been stuck with Minnie for almost fifty years. Right now I would hate to lose it, because Minnie Dole has entertaining friends coast to coast, wherever skiers get together, and Charles Minot Dole is somebody no one has ever heard of."
Like many of his Phillips Academy classmates, Dole attended Yale. Due the distance from the White Mountains ("No one had cut a single Vermont tree to make a ski trail at that time") and his weekend obligations with the Yale University Glee Club and the Whiffenpoofs singing group, Dole seldom skied. He did not return to the sport until years later while working in the insurance business and seeking "adventure without the complete sacrifice of stability."
After graduating from Yale in 1923, Dole worked in the wool industry for a few years before being recruited for a European position by a friend named Bill Brown. At one point, Dole and Brown formed the Intercontinent Capital Corporation after meeting with Benito Mussolini for a proposed housing development, but backed out due to concerns about fraud. Tiring of the unplanned international travel of the work arrangement, Dole was recruited into the insurance industry by Thayer Shedd. Dole later married Thayer's wife's sister, Jane Ely, in 1931, residing in Greenwich, Connecticut. The couple had a son, Charles Minot Dole Jr. and a daughter, Susan Armstrong.
Return to Skiing
Dole starting skiing again in 1933 when he was invited to a weekend trip at Lake Placid. The following winter, Dole introduced Jane to skiing by taking her to Peckett's in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, where they learned the Arlberg technique from Sig Buchmayr. Dole then joined Roland Palmedo's Amateur Ski Club of New York. Soon thereafter, the ski club determined that Stowe was an ideal place to focus skiing activities, particularly with the development of the Nose Dive ski trail. According to Dole, it was at best an 8 hour drive from Greenwich to Stowe, with a 2 AM to 4 AM Saturday arrival at the Green Mountain Inn.
For New Years 1936, Dole and his friend Franklin Edson took their wives up to Stowe. While skiing the Toll Road in the rain, Dole fell and broke his ankle. It took some time to get help and rig up a way to pull him down the mountain on a tin sheet. The injury was severe enough that Dole had to be transported to Connecticut by train to have it set, with the doctor warning him his chances of ever walking normally were not good.
Two months later, Frank Edson crashed into a tree during the Quandranglular Race on the Ghost Trail in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In addition to a broken arm, Edson suffered multiple broken ribs, which resulted in a punctured lung and fatal hemorrhage 27 hours after the crash. Edson was 28 and left behind a wife and daughter. At a subsequent Amateur Ski Club meeting about the tragedy, Roland Palmedo, who had organized a small ski patrol at Stowe three years prior, declared, "the time had come for a general study of safety in skiing" and asked Dole to chair a study committee.
Dole, John Morgan, and Borden Helmer put out a large survey to skiers asking for causes and responses to ski accidents. The effort was not universally well-received, as one respondent referred to the surveyors as "Sissies, spoilsports, and frighteners of mothers."
Start of the National Ski Patrol
In March 1938, the United States downhill and slalom championships were hosted on the Nose Drive trail at Stowe, drawing famous skiers from around the world. Ulrich Beutter of Germany won the combined race, which included Dick Durrance, Walter Prager, Charlie Proctor, Howard Chivers, Sepp Ruschp, Don Fraser, Robert Livermore, and Alex Bright. To patrol the race, Dole recruited a "super-patrol" from various New England operations. While at the race, National Ski Association president Roger Langeley complemented Dole's ski patrol and requested that he organize such patrols nationally. The result was the National Ski Patrol Committee.
Langeley was able to make introductions for Dole as he laid out the national leadership structure. Prominent racer Robert Livermore served as his first head of the Eastern Division, giving the organization credibility. Though the volunteer group would evolve to include paid patrollers, a founding principle that Dole took pride in was that patrollers would not require payment from victims for their services.
Tenth Mountain Division
Dole's National Ski Patrol Committee became the National Ski Patrol System in 1940. That summer, Dole began contacting the United States military about creating ski troops from volunteer ski patrollers. Remaining a civilian, Dole was able to secure a meeting with General George Marshall in late 1940, after which the War Department agreed to pilot a defense plan involving ski troops, designating the 87th Infantry Mountain Regiment for the task. After training on the west coast, Camp Hale was developed in Colorado for the ski troops who would become known as the 10th Mountain Division. The 10th Mountain Division deployed in Europe starting in late 1944, catching the German military by surprise with a nighttime ascent of the cliffs of Riva Ridge in February 1945. The 10th Mountain Division continued to catch the Axis powers by surprise with its quick progress on difficult terrain in Northern Italy, pressuring the German surrender months later. 992 members of the 10th Mountain Division were killed in action in just a few months time. The 10th Mountain Division was preparing to deploy for the invasion of Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped, ending the war.
Post-War Years
Following the war, Dole helped raise capital for the Aspen ski development and was an early shareholder.
In 1947, the National Ski Areas Association voted to allow the National Ski Patrol System to become its own non-profit entity so that it could better solicit funds. Needing to focus on his insurance business, Dole stepped down as director of the National Ski Patrol in May 1950, handing over the reigns to Edward Taylor.
Minnie Dole and Arthur Parker
Dole was inducted into the United States Ski Hall of Fame in 1958.
In 1960, Dole served as a director for the new Alpine Meadows ski development in California. Meanwhile, he consulted for and was a shareholder in the 1961 Thunder Mountain development in Massachusetts, led by fellow nutmeg state resident Art Parker. A trail was named in Dole's honor during Parker's ownership tenure and was rededicated when Roy Schaefer took over Berkshire East.
Dole retired from Fordyce & Dole in 1964 and released his autobiography, Adventures in Skiing, one year later.
Charles Minot Dole died of cancer on March 14, 1976 at the age of 76.
Minnie Dole Related Resources on NewEnglandSkiHistory.com:
Berkshire East
Minnie Dole External Links:
Charles Minot Dole - Wikipedia
10th Mountain Division - Wikipedia
Last updated: January 7, 2025
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