Snowboard Club hits the slopes early

Portland State has over 20 student-run recreation clubs to choose from, all of which bring something unique to the table. The Snowboard Club just happens to bring free gear, food and great times to its table.

For poor college students that love outdoor recreation, this seems like the making of a pretty sweet deal.

It may feel a little early in the year to be talking about snowboarding, but the club presidents beg to differ. Meetings and events are already underway, and club leaders are hard at work finding as many great deals for members as possible.

Club presidents Micah Cruver, Chris Light and David LaValley are serious about the group. Behind the free snowboard gear and “Shred-flick Nights,” there is a lot of hard work that keeps the club running.

“We always try to keep the energy up and offer free things for the members,” Cruver said. “Keeping people interested is important, but we also have to put in a lot of work behind the scenes to make it possible.”

Since it is only October, the club is limited to simply getting people excited for the season to come. Club organizers are holding events such as movie nights that include snowboard videos, free pizza and whatever else they can get at the time. These events are great ways to become familiar with other members.

The first club meeting gave prospective members a good idea of what they would be getting out of the club, and introduced the group to what is known as “The Grease Bus.” 

The name doesn’t sound appealing, but believe it or not, this bus gives grease a good name. The Grease Bus runs off recycled vegetable oil and provides club members a smooth and environmentally friendly ride up to Mount Hood Meadows every weekend.

The trip is full of freebies. With enough energy drinks and Clif Bars on board to feed a family through a natural disaster, most club members have consumed their quota of food and caffeine for the weekend by the time they step off the bus.

The Snowboard Club has recently gained popularity on campus by using social media portals such as Facebook and Twitter. These social media outlets offer a good way to meet members and get the inside scoop on what kinds of deals are being offered to the club. They are also used to plan small, just-for-fun side events with members.

The Snowboard Club caters to all who are interested in visiting the mountain, regardless of their skill level or preference for skis, and it is large enough that members can splinter according to comfort level and still have company on their runs. Overall, the club offers a connection with like-minded winter-sports-types through a weekend at the mountain with fellow students.

A typical Saturday for the club starts early in the morning with waking up, eating breakfast with the group and then catching The Grease Bus to the mountain. Typically, the bus riders vote on which movie to watch during the ride and then sit back to enjoy the perfect distraction from the two-hour drive.

After spending a day on the slopes, members load back onto the bus and nap their way home. Before the napping can begin, however, there is often a raffle for free gear from the club sponsors. This gear ranges from beanies to goggles to snowboards—not a bad way to close a long day at the mountain.

The club’s name has created one of the more interesting points of contention among the group. While the title is specifically the Snowboard Club, which might give the impression that it is not skier-friendly, club leaders maintain that the group is open to both skiers and snowboarders. Club leaders do add, though, that some friendly competition between skiers and snowboarders is always sure to be part of the trip.

“Snowboarding is definitely cooler than skiing, hence the name of the club,” joked club coordinator LaValley. “[Skiers] are welcome in the club, though.”

The club also has overnight trips planned for this season, including treks to Mount Bachelor and some resorts in Washington. Club leaders say there are also secret overnight trips in the works. Regardless of the destination locale, all of the trips will of course be taken in the comfort of the Grease Bus.

When people are hesitant to join a club, it is generally because of the time commitment and what it takes to sign up. But according to Cruver and Light, the time it takes to sign up for their club is about one minute. How do they know this? By proving it with a stopwatch, which they used while watching a new member sign up recently. Cruver and Light say that this is a great piece of information for all the students out there who say they don’t have the time for such a task.

Light describes the group as “shredtastically amazing,” and while his word choice might not be found in the lexicon of most, it is an accurate summation. The Snowboard Club offers fun times and camaraderie for the mountain junkie who is looking to ditch his car and head to the slopes. ?