Cliff jumping and crashing for kicks
Escaping college stress means more to the 200 members of Crash of the Week than simply moseying through a day’s worth of work and school. Cliff jumping, wake boarding and building giant Slip n’ Slides is more their style.
“It’s a way to get away and have fun, and it’s a great way to meet other Utah State students,” said Jon Price, a junior in marketing, and the founder and videographer of Crash of the Week.
The weekly events — called crashes — began two months ago, when Price said he noticed a tag on YouTube, named “Crash of the Week.”
“I thought to myself, ‘How cool would that be to put together events that people come together for, that are not just dances or board games?'” Price said. “I wanted students to do something fun, and if they were not doing it, they would still have fun watching.”
Price’s idea for a weekly get together came to reality when the first Crash of the Week event was held at the Logan Aquatic Center, he said.
“It was a smaller group that showed up, but it was still fun, and I was still impressed with the turnout,” Price said. “We were trying to land triple back flips into the water off the diving boards.”
Price said since crashing at the local swimming pool, there have been five Crash of the Week events, including Salt Lake City’s Alpine bike jump, the Bloomington rope swing in Idaho, wake boarding and cliff jumping at Porcupine and a giant, hand-made Slip n’ Slide into the Newton Dam.
“The Slip n’ Slide was definitely my favorite,” said Carver Shaw, Crash of the Week member, videographer and junior in technical writing. “Because we had to put so much work into it, and so many people showed up — around 40, or so. That was the coolest part.”
According to Price, the Slip n’ Slide cost around $200, plus seven hours of hard labor, but was worth the work.
“The group that comes out gets progressively bigger,” Price said. “We have a bunch of people from Salt Lake following us now, after the Alpine bike jump, and they come up to Logan once in awhile for the events.”
“There are always new people to meet, and it is a guaranteed good time,” Shaw said. “It’s never awkward. Crash of the Week is a completely social event.”
There are three vidographers at each of event, who record the crashes. Price uses the footage to create video montages for “Crash of the Week” and posts them on YouTube.
“I showed up to the Porcupine cliff jump, because I watched all the videos and wanted to be a part of it,” said member Amy Shields. “It’s so fun. All the roommates and members get together to watch the new videos, because Jon does such a good job.”
To view Crash of the Week Youtube videos, search Jonnyp128.
Price said the events will last for as long as students are willing to participate.
“We are definitely nowhere near being done with Crash of the Week,” he said.
Price said he anticipates an upcoming trip to Ogden’s Flo Rider, and a potential drive to California to surf and skim board.
“I might be letting my imagination run too wild on this one,” Price said, in a recent Crash of the Week Facebook post about the upcoming California trip, “so everybody remember this event in your prayers tonight.”
As of Oct. 3, there are 203 official members on the Crash of the Week Facebook page, and, according to Price, around 25 percent of the members show up to the weekly events.
“If you’re not going to Crash of the Week, you are missing out on one of the best parts of Utah State,” Shields said.
– s.marcure@aggiemail.usu.edu