Every winter, two groups of dedicated Conn skiers travel to mountains in northern New England with different goals in mind. One group, Ski Team, hopes to best other college teams from all over the Northeast in friendly competitions. The other group, Ski Club, seeks to enjoy the sport in a more leisurely manner.
Many students on campus have heard about Ski Team, often because of their wildly popular Harvestfest flannel shirts. Last year, Alex Marcus ’10 helped make this fundraising idea a reality by contacting an embroiderer in Middleboro, Massachusetts about the shirt design and purchase. The flannels have sold extremely well over the past two years; the team has had to put several customers on a waiting list both years.
With all of this successful fundraising, the team seems to be in a good position financially. A lot of this money will go towards renting houses near the mountains the team visits during training weeks and competition weekends.
The team has already begun their preseason preparations. According to captain Matt Smith ’11, the team has to do “a lot of organizing to get houses for training week and getting our race schedule…and then we try to get the team together for team-building exercises.” These exercises often include “dry land training,” which includes running or playing ultimate frisbee.
The training that involves actual skiing begins in the first week of January, when the team heads up to either Vermont or New Hampshire (this year’s mountain has yet to be confirmed). The first race will be in Maine at the end of training week, and races occur on a weekly basis thereafter.
Conn races in the giant slalom (GS) and slalom events against several schools, including BU, Trinity, Tufts, Amherst, and WPI.
Apparently, WPI—who Smith described as our “unofficial rival”—is a lot more serious about their preparation and presentation than any of the other teams, which often annoys other, less intense teams. Smith explained that the WPI skiers “go up and set up a tent at the top of the mountain and they have an expensive drill system for waxing their skis. They sharpen up their edges right before they go, and we’re like ‘come on guys, just get in line and run your race; do the best you can.’” Conn’s team certainly isn’t lazy or careless about their preparation, but they do just as well without such intricate preparations.
Ski Club is the other skiing group on campus, but they invite snowboarders to join them as well. According to member Maggie Shea ’11, “a lot of kids on ski club used to ski competitively, but now they want a different outlet to enjoy the sport.” The club’s main goal is to maximize the amount of skiing/snowboarding time they have during each of the five weekends they visit Sugarbush Mountain in Warren, Vermont.
Like Ski Team, Ski Club must also rent houses for their lodging during the weekend. The money they earn through fundraising goes toward this expense.
Although Ski Club has had a bad reputation in past years as a rowdy group, Shea says this year’s members are “a great group of skiers and snowboarders who want to change the club’s perception on campus.”
Both skiing groups on campus look forward to hitting the slopes and are no doubt awaiting news of the first snowstorm in New England this winter. •
