After four Fridays of 57 minute bus rides to and from Swiss Valley filled with the chatter of peers; scored with U-93 playing pop music softly in the background, Ski Club has officially come to a close.

Ski Club for me started the same way for me every Friday. I walked across Twyckenham, went to the gas station to get a water and two containers of orange Tic Tacs. Then I hopped on the bus with my friends, sit and converse with them for an hour. I got off, rushed to the counter to get my Lift Ticket, put on my snowgear, then went to go get my rental board and boots. Then, finally, it would be time to get on the runs. 

 This was my first time ever going to a ski slope. And, while I had never snowboarded before (cooler than skiing by the way), with each bus ride, with every 3 hour session on the slope, I got better. Granted this is in part due to the teaching staff at Swiss Valley, shout out to my instructor, Sarah. I ended up taking three lessons, and just “going for it” on the fourth and final trip. While I started ski club not sure whether I wanted to do Skiing or Snowboarding, I quickly found out how much fun it is to snowboard. Don’t get me wrong, I was the slowest learner in my class for three lessons. Sarah held my hands all the way down the hill multiple times. Not to mention, I fell when I got off the ski lift every time during my first three visits.  However, when it finally clicked, and I was able to go down the hill (and get off the ski lift) without falling, it was by far one of the best feelings in the world. 

There is a $200 price tag, but in my opinion it is a small price to pay for all the fun that will be had once you get out and get going. A big part of my enjoyment of Ski Club came from spending time with the people I spent it with. A lot of my friends did it with me, and I think this made all the difference. I wanted to get an idea of what my friends took away from  Ski Club now that it has ended. They all shared similar experiences to myself. 

I asked Katie Hensell, 3 sport varsity athlete, IB diploma candidate, and most importantly my cousin about her experience in Ski Club. She had a similar experience, “I looked forward to ski club every week, every Friday felt a bit more exciting knowing I would be shredding the slopes under the lights with my best friends later that night. I even ended up sending a jump on the terrain park and it is definitely one of my favorite memories from high school so far! And I only had to run into the ski lift operators building full speed face first once to figure it out!”.

While I unfortunately missed this event. I will say that I remember the aftermath and hearing about it. Gossip travels fast in High School, but news of people’s falls travel even faster on the slopes. 

I also asked another fellow comrade and snowboarder, junior Lexi Lawill, “Snowboard was a great experience and I definitely recommend learning how to do it! I had so much fun doing it.”.

 I agree especially with what Lexi said about learning how to do it. While they take an hour out of time that you would spend going on runs, it turns out that hour, without the lesson, would be spent wiping out and being humbled on the slopes, an unnamed ski club member knows this all to well. She knows herself. 

Another friend, senior Grace Collins also had a positive experience and specifically she talked to me about how she wants to continue to ski. She says,”[Ski Club] showed me that skiing is something I’d want to do outside of the club too.” You actually get an extra punch on your punch pass in Ski Club, so you can visit again after. I know that many members of Ski Club are going to use the extra punch to plan trips with their friends. 

After the slopes, I would go back to the cafeteria and order chicken tenders. For about thirty to forty-five minutes before the bus would come. I would board the bus, talk with my friends for another hour on the way home. Then when we would arrive, I would get out to get in my car and drive home. 

 If hearing this is not enough to make you want to do Ski Club, please do it to beef up the number of snowboarders. It is called Ski Club, and there were only about six snowboarders out of over thirty members. Go and learn how to snowboard, and make fun of the skiers for choosing the easier winter sport.