The Wake

Forty or so avid student skiers and snowboarders gathered and toted pizza, pop, and stories of their most recent trip to Copper Mountain, Colo. punctuated with exclamations like “That jump was fuckin’ awesome!” or “That slope had some of the sickest turns ever!” The University of Minnesota Ski and Snowboard Club meeting had commenced.

The Ski and Snowboard Club (SSC), one of the largest student groups at the university according to club co-president David Dellanave, is, as you might expect, “a social organization that promotes skiing and snowboarding.”

Dellanave makes it clear that if one’s interest lies in tackling high-flying and dizzying plunges off the face of an extremely vertical mountain, then he or she had better “go out West, quit school and start practicing.”

But if going to Jackson Hole, Wyo. with 55 other ski lovers is your thing (bring sunscreen and layered clothing, but buy your alcohol there where it’s not likely to break due to the altitude change), and if “skiing a beautiful mountain” during the day and drinking the night away in a hot tub with your buddies is your kind of Spring Break, the SSC might be the group for you.

Dellaneve joined the SSC as a freshman, after spotting an ad on the Washington Ave. Bridge. Once he saw pictures of “people drinking and having fun,” he was sold. Today, he says that many of the club’s advantages lie in the fact that people “meet their whole group of friends from this club.”

The SSC is registered as an official student group at the university’s Student Activities Office but receives no funding from student fees, Dellaneve says. Instead, members pay a $20 fee that mainly goes toward pizza for the meetings and other costs. According to the calendar on its Web site, the SSC has two major trips throughout the winter, both of which are usually discounted for members but not included in the member fee. The group also usually receives steep discounts from local ski areas like Welch Village and businesses like The Alt in Uptown.

The club is run by two presidents or “two people who do all the work” instead of a board. According to Dellaveve, the system has “lots of advantages” that include keeping costs low as well as making sure that the organization stays “way more simple” than other student-run groups on campus.

Indeed the SSC appears to be a very casually-run student group whose members are almost as passionate about “keggers” as they are about the slopes of Colorado. Dellaneve interrupted the meeting to ask whether anyone present had a house that would be willing to host an SSC party adding, “We’ll do all the clean-up and provide the booze.”

Whether or not the group will be enduring “sick turns” now or later, Dellaneve provided a definite answer (in between deciding with friends and co-members of the group which bar to go to after the meeting) when asked about what the future has in store for the SSC. “We’re always trying to do things bigger and better than before,” he said.