By Jonathan RosenblattContributing Writer
Exactly 940 students will replace their sneakers with skis and tighten their scarves for one week this Winter Break as they hit the slopes on NU’s annual ski trip.
NU’s Ski and Snowboard Club is sponsoring the nation’s largest organized ski trip, which will take place in Big Sky, Mont., on Dec. 9-15.
This year’s trip will consist of students with a wide range of skiing experience – some who have never skied before and others who are seasoned experts.
The Ski and Snowboard Club organizes one trip during Winter Break and another during Spring Break. According to the group’s Web site, the club’s goal is “to provide fun, social and adventurous vacations to Northwestern students.” In the past the club has taken trips to such premier Colorado skiing venues as Aspen and Breckenridge, as well as Park City, Utah.
The trips started in the late 1990s but became more popular after 2001, said club President Ian Hillis, a Weinberg senior. Since then, the trip has grown from about 500 participants to just under 1,000.
“One out of every eight students (at NU) is going on this trip. It’s mindboggling,” Hillis said. “You’re bound to see someone out there you know. It’s great being around those people in a different setting than usual.”
Hillis first attended the ski trip in fall 2003, during his freshman year. By that spring, he was already deeply involved with the club, flyering and working on the Web site.
He said the trip participation is boosted by classes ending a week before most other universities.
“We get to go out and ski instead of laying around at home for a week,” Hillis said. “It’s like spring break on ice.”
For $345, participants will receive lodging and a lift ticket for four of the seven days of the trip. The fee does not include transportation and food.
Even with minimal flyering and other forms of advertising, the trip sold out in one and a half weeks.
“We knew we were going to sell out; it was just a matter of when,” Hillis said.
While skiing is the main focus of the trip, there are other activities available to students. There will be two dances, one on the first night of the trip and one on the last night, in a lodge on top of the mountain. Students can also explore the city’s bar scene.
SESP senior Jamie Bagliebter went on the trip to Breckenridge her sophomore year and plans on attending this year’s trip to Big Sky. She said there’s more to the ski trip than just skiing. Participants can also walk around the city, shop, visit pubs, go snowshoeing or relax at the bottom of the slopes.
“I like drinking hot chocolate in the lodge and pretending like I’ve been skiing all day, ” she said.
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