Snowboarders may have the world in the movies, but that’s not exactly the aim of the DU Snowboard Club.
The club is led by three DU students: President Nick Schafer, Vice President Seth Wytrwal, and Treasurer/ Webmaster/ Presidential Consultant Paul Farning.
According to Schafer, the club has about 40 members, and more are joining all the time. Most of the members are undergraduates, but there are a few graduate students, too. Snowboard Club members are passionate about snowboarding, and with good reason, according to Schafer.
“With the growing understanding of the role that EXTREME SPORTS can play in fighting against terror and in ensuring national security (as seen in recent films such as Extreme Ops and XXX),” he said. “It would be in the best interest of all the citizens of this great country to invest in programs like the DU Snowboard Club, which promises a safer and happier future for all of us.”
In addition to receiving a budget from DU, the club is sponsored by Brother’s Boards, a skate/snowboard shop on Evans. Like other outdoor clubs, the Snowboard Club goes on weekend trips to the mountains. This quarter, they have already taken a weekend trip to Summit County, riding Breckenridge and Copper. In January, the club’s competition team went to Vail to compete in a freestyle event sponsored by the Snowboard Outreach Society (a charity for at-risk kids). The club has plans for at least one more weekend trip, more competitions, a Snow Cat trip in March and a spring break trip to Beaver Creek.
Despite the sometime rivalry between skiers and snowboarders, the snowboard and ski club do not have any problems with one another.
“There isn’t any rivalry with the ski club,” Schafer said. “They focus a lot more on the actual racing aspect of skiing, while we focus on the freeriding and freestyle aspects of snowboarding. It’s just two different ways of getting up to the mountains and enjoying yourself.”
The club will hold elections in the spring. More officer-type positions will be opened so that there will be more of a division of responsibilities next year. The current officers hope that there will be more diversity in activities once new officers are elected.
The snowboard club holds meetings twice a month, and is always interested in getting new members. For more information and the club’s trip schedules, visit www.du.edu/orgs/snowboard.
