USU Snow Club creates a community for snow sports
Utah State University’s Snow Club primarily focuses on skiing and snowboarding and is working on including other snow sports as well. Formerly known as the Snowboard and Ski Club, this is the club’s second year after a post-pandemic revamp.
“Our mission statement is that we are an organization at USU that’s all about making a community that’s inclusive but also affordable for skiing, snowboarding, and essentially all snow sports,” said Jackson North, the current club president.
North has been skiing for most of his life. He transferred to USU at the start of the fall 2021 semester and wanted to get involved and make friends.
North heard of the Snow Club at Day on the Quad. At the time, it was called the Snowboard and Ski Club. North got in contact with the club adviser, Sean Michael, who was looking for new club officers.
Michael is a professor in the outdoor product design department at USU. He said he has loved snowboarding ever since the ’80s.
He has served as the club’s advisor since 2018 after he was approached by former USU student Bowman Caldwell about starting a club for skiing and snowboarding.
“The funny thing is, you know, a club like this, there’s probably been seven or something over the years. They often come and go,” Michael said. “But Bowman was pretty committed to it, and he got some other officers going.”
Caldwell got the club off the ground but graduated shortly after. Then the pandemic hit, pushing the Snowboard and Ski Club underground.
As the pandemic slowed down and the fall 2021 semester started, Michael was looking for a way to get the club off the ground and going again.
“We basically had zero officers, and nobody was wanting to return,” Michael said. “And so when the Day on the Quad was coming up, I asked the person who oversees the clubs if we could get a table. I just made up flyers and signup sheets and basically acted like the club was still going full speed. And we had 200 and some students signed up for information that day.”
The sign-up sheet included an option for students to choose if they were willing to be an officer.
North became president of the club that semester. He and the first round of officers rebuilt the club from the ground up.
Katie Creglow, a junior and the current club activities coordinator, served as an officer last year. Creglow is from Alaska, and she has been skiing for most of her life.
“It was really hard because we didn’t really have a lot of guidance,” Creglow said. “We had to wing it for a bit and just figure it out along the way, but then this year, it’s a lot smoother since we had the experience of last year.”
The name of the club was shortened from the Snowboard and Ski Club to the Snow Club, which served as part of the club’s resurrection.
Among the changes was the inclusion of other snow sports, such as backcountry and cross country skiing and pow surfing.
“The current officers, they’ve also grown it to where there are, I think, 500+ students already on the mailing list, and they are on track to set a new record for number of paying members,” Michael said.
This is North’s second year as president, and he works with eight other officers to run the club.
The other officers include Creglow, vice president Ryker Schenck, treasurer Davis Sineath, social media specialist Sydney Higginson, membership service coordinator Noah Cartwright, sponsorship outreach officer Sean Moran, utility officer Pierce Callister and events committee member Trail Carroll.
The Snow Club offers different activities and events to its members to socialize with one another and create a community.
“We do ride nights, where people can come and ski together at night skiing,” Creglow said. “We organized that last year, and we had hot chocolate and it was really fun.”
The club also holds rail jams in the winter. They set up a rail on Old Main Hill for people to bring their boards and skis and ride.
Both North and Creglow said their most successful event held so far was a wax night at Directive skate shop in Logan.
“Directive downtown sponsored this wax night and people came into their shop, and they set up a bunch of wax stations, and people got to wax for free, which is really amazing,” Creglow said. “That was a big hit. And then we also contributed a little bit to Directive because we brought people in, and then we gave them some money for hosting us.”
Even though snow sports happen during the winter, the club runs all school year, hosting a variety of activities.
At the beginning of the fall semester, they held a bonfire in Green Canyon, and a barbeque for the members and anyone else who wanted to join.
The club has a chat on Discord for the members where they announce events and other club information. Members can also use the chat to connect with one another, coordinate carpooling up to the resort, or plan activities together.
It costs $25 to become a member of the Snow Club, and sign ups can be done online at ususnowclub.com. More information on the club and its officers is also available on the website.
Paying the membership fee gives members access to the different deals the club has through sponsorships.
Snow Club members get $25 off a season pass to Beaver Mountain Ski Resort. There are other benefits as well, such as a discount code for the Ikon pass, and discounts at companies such as Toko and Weston.
The Snow Club also has sponsorship deals with local businesses like Lucky Slice and Prodigy Brewing, who support club activities.
If interested, anyone can join the clubs’ email list or group chat without paying the membership fee.
The Snow Club’s purpose is to help people get out on the mountain, enjoy the winter and take part in winter sports.
“I want people to know that the USU Snow Club is here on campus,” North said. “We’re not leaving anytime soon. Come meet some of us, have fun with us, and you know, just enjoy the environment. Enjoy this weather that we have upon us.”
Submitted Photo from USU Snow Club.