Though the skiing and snowboarding season is over, Alpine Club is looking forward to its off-snow adventures for the rest of spring quarter at great prices for students.
Alpine Club is planning a number of weekend trips with backpacking, mountain biking, climbing and hiking, all offered at great deals.
Even though the club’s trips change a little every year, certain trips have a long running history, like the Kathryne Ellington Beginner Ski Trip, which is offered twice a year.
Andrew Silverman, vice-president of the Alpine Club, helped mentor the new Alpine Club officers who coordinated the last Ellington Trip two weeks ago.
“It’s always great. A lot of beginners are able to go up on the mountain, learn how to ski and snowboard,” said Silverman.
Alpine Club has planned several on-campus events for the rest of spring quarter, like a visit from the Protecting Greater Canyonlands organization, which is working to convince President Obama to sign a bill that would protect the Greater Canyonlands area and its scenic landscape in Utah by turning it into a national monument.
Another special treat the Alpine Club has for students this quarter is the sale of Epic Local Passes, which allow unlimited skiing at Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin with limited restrictions at Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood as well as 10 restricted days at Vail or Beaver Creek for next season. These sales will start in the upcoming weeks at the club’s weekly Wednesday night meeting in Lindsey Auditorium and at random times during the week on Driscoll Bridge or on Driscoll Green.
Joining the May Days celebrations, the club will host its second annual Adventure Film Festival with the screening of several independent outdoors movies on May 23 in Lindsey Auditorium.
Future off-campus trips will include two multi-sport weekends in Moab, Utah, and New Mexico as well as day or overnight trips of backpacking, mountain biking, climbing and hiking.
“There is either an overnight or day trip for every weekend this spring quarter, except for the very end during finals week,” said Cody Bohonnon, newly elected president of the Alpine Club.
The DU Alpine Club is not only one of the oldest student clubs, over 80 years old, but also one of the largest, with over 300 student members. These two facts ensure the Alpine Club a lot of financial support from the school.
The beneficiaries of this good relationship among the club and the school and the club’s good-sized budget are the students who can join the Alpine Club on trips for less than half the price they would normally have to pay on their own.
“We use the budget we get from USG to pay for half of the trips; the other half is the amount the students have to pay,” said Cody Bohonnon.
The club has worked with several companies and resorts over the years that contribute to the club’s great deals.
“We tend to bring such large groups that they really want to keep our business,” said Silverman.
Bohonnon also said that the club tries to bring in big groups to ensure better rates per person, though some limitations on group size do have to be enforced.
As the new president of the club, Bohonnon plans to continue communicating with the school and figuring out ways to get more money in the budget to be able to offer more trips.
The club wants to progress to a point where they don’t have to raffle out spots for trips. They also hope to start offering more than one trip per weekend, according to Bohonnon.
“We want to continue to get people outside, continue to promote the greater outdoors, getting kids off campus,” Bohonnon said. “Keeping the good old things but also adding new things and trying to keep doing it a little better each time.”
