Keene State College’s Ski and Snowboard Club brings students to various ski resorts, such as: Mount Snow, Dover, VT, Attitash Mountain Resort, Bartlett, NH, Crotched Mountain Resort, Francestown, NH, Hunter Mountain, Hunter, NY, Jack Frost Ski Resort, White Haven, PA and Big Boulder Ski Resort, Lake Harmony, PA and Wildcat Mountain Ski Area, Pinkham’s Grant, NH. For many students this makes skiing much more accessible.

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The Coordinator of the Student Activities and Organizations Britany Gallagher, said organizations such as the Ski and Board Club are a big part of college life. Gallagher said that she would estimate around half of the student body at KSC is part of a student organization in one form or another. Students could be involved through student government, being the president or treasurer of an organization, or joining a fraternity/sorority, to name a few of the options. Gallagher said that her job is to be the first point of contact between student organizations and the college. She said she helps to “get all the student organizations off on the right foot for the year.”

Gallagher said this can include aiding the student officers with funding, planning trips and events on campus, filing the right paperwork on time and recruitment, among a host of other things.

She said that the Ski and Board Club starts getting busy around Christmas break because ski resorts begin opening, and continue throughout the beginning of the spring semester. Gallagher also said that students who aren’t signed up for the club can still enjoy some of the discounts offered.

McHale Burgess, a club member, said that so far the Ski and Board Club has had five or six meetings this year. He said the meetings are usually relaxed and everyone is friendly. Burgess said that the club has not yet planned a specific time for their first trip but have picked the mountains they plan on heading to: Mount Snow in Dover, Vermont, and Attitash Mountain Resort in Bartlett, New Hampshire.

Burgess said that to join the club and get the pass that is offered is around $400. While this seems like a large amount, that figure pays for buses and trips, as well as passes to seven different mountains around New England and New York said Burgess.

Another club member, Bryce Howland, a first-year student, said that he first joined the Ski and Board Club because he wanted to “meet some rad people and shred the gnar.”

He said that he is excited to get back to snowboarding again and was impressed by the discounts the club could offer. Howland said that a pass at Wachusett Ski Resort, where he used to board,  was around $700. Which when he compared to the pass offered by the KSC Ski and Board Club, which gives access to seven different mountains for only four-hundred, he knew he had to take advantage of the savings.

Howland said the club meets every Sunday at 9 p.m. in room 101 of the Putnam Science Center, and each meeting is open to everyone. Both Burgess and Howland said the club members are all very welcoming and try to get as many people as possible to go on their trips. Burgess and Howland also said that skiing and snowboarding gives them freedom and helps to take their minds off their busy lives.

Simon Burch can be contacted at sburch@kscequinox.com