photo credit: Savanna Smith
As the winter months approach and the temperatures start to drop, new winter activities become popular. Some of these hobbies include skiing and snowboarding, which the Olentangy district has its very own club for.
The club is called the Olentangy Ski and Board Club, and it welcomes any student in grades 6-12. There are two parts to the club this year: Olentangy Ski and Board East, where students will ski at Snow Trails, and Olentangy Ski and Board West, where students will ski at Mad River Mountain.
“Essentially, it is a club where we transport 300 students to Snow Trails Ski resort for four and a half hours of winter outside activities,” Club Advisor Deb Yacovone said. She has been running the club for 23 years.
Snow Trails is near Mansfield, Ohio and is about an hour’s drive away from the school. Mad River is near Bellefontaine, Ohio, and is also around an hour away. Mad River has a 2.7-star rating on Yelp.com, whereas Snow Trails has a four-star rating on the same site.
“I’ve always skied at Snow Trails in Mansfield, Ohio, and I love it there. For a while, I rented my skis and poles from them, which could get a little pricey, but it was so worth all the fun I had during the season,” junior Emily Campbell said.
While the ski resorts where the club takes place are normally open for around four months, Olentangy’s Ski and Board Club runs for five weekends, from Jan.7 through Feb.4. It is important to note that the dates are the same for both East and West parts of the club.
“I’ve been in the club for three years and it seems to get more popular every year. Kids love it and it is a great way to get outside and have some fun with your friends,” Campbell said.
The main reason this club is so popular within the district is because it provides charter bus transportation each week to students who signed up. The transportation fee is $95 for Snowtrails and $80 for Mad River.
“The bus was one of my favorite parts of the club when I couldn’t drive myself. It was so fun to ride it every week and become friends with kids who don’t go to your school because then you get to ski with them all day,” Campbell said.
As great as the transportation is, the club has strict deadlines and a limit to the number of students allowed in each group. According to the Ski and Board Schoology page, there is a hard cap of 300 students for the East side and a cap of 350 students for the West side.
The need for these hard caps is because, “we had to cut our numbers down so we could separate the kids on the bus more. We left the top vents open for the airflow. We did everything the Board of Health told us to do. After Covid, skiing exploded because it can be done outside in the winter,” Yacovone said when asked how the club changed due to COVID-19.
Since then, the club has exploded with both parts of the club filling up almost immediately. The sign-ups for the 2023-2024 season have ended, but the leaders and other members would love to see new faces next year.
“My favorite part about running the club is the kids and the chaperones. I also love to be outside in the winter. I love getting to put it together so the kids can enjoy it,” Yacovone said. “New kids should join to get exercise in the winter, learn to be responsible and hang out with their friends.”
The Olentangy Ski and Board Club is just one of the many where kids can learn responsibility, make new friends, and have a good time. But it is the only one where they can do all this while having a blast skiing or snowboarding.
