MCTThis past winter, senior David Deering was skiing at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, Minn. when he went off a 60 foot jump and missed the landing by about a foot and a half.
“I shattered my heel so I can’t really run that much,” Deering said. “I’m probably going to switch over to snowboarding . I can still ski but I want to try something new and after that jump my hands get sweaty just thinking about it.”
Despite the accident, Deering summed up his love for the snow sport in one word: passion.
“It’s a chance to be super, super free and there aren’t really any rules,” he said. “Basically, you’re alone and you can take any challenge you want.”
Deering is just one of many students on campus who live to ski and snowboard once winter rolls around and the resorts start opening their doors.
On Saturday, both Afton Alps in Hastings, Minn. and Granite Peak in Wausau plan to open the slopes to the general public to kick off the winter season, provided the weather is good.
Granite Peak office administrator Susan Czarnecki said the resort is the largest ski resort in the Midwest with 74 different runs; a 700 foot peak at the mountain top; eight lifts, including a six person chair and a mile long run.
According to the resort’s Web site, www.skigranitepeak.com, ticket prices differ based on their purchase online, the day of the week and how long a person wants to ski. Granite Peak offers different specials on the site and once the regular season starts, it’s open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Czarnecki said the resort caters to all types of customers and offers a wide variety of activities for beginners to expert skiers and snowboarders.
“We have very popular family weekends and sometimes live bands come and play that usually cater to the college crowds,” she said. “We have three colleges around the area and a lot of high schools and are virtually two hours from everywhere in Wisconsin.”
Czarnecki added that programs and lessons are offered for all ages, from kids around 3 years old to senior citizens.
“There are private, semi-private and public lessons,” she said. “Really it is based on the skiers schedule . We’ve gotten a lot of complements that we are one of the best resorts in the Midwest if you can’t make it out West.”
Located in a river valley with trees consistently lining the slopes, Afton Alps includes 48 different runs, with an estimated 30 percent green, 20 percent black diamond and 50 percent intermediate blue. Black diamonds or double black diamonds are more challenging courses; green indicates beginner hills and blue is a novice hill. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and holidays and 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sundays, according to the Afton Alps Web site, www.aftonalps.com.
Like Granite Peak, Afton Alps manager Amy Reents said there are a wide variety of skiers and snowboarders at the resort.
“We have programs for kids starting at (age) four and we have people all the way up to 80, but the bulk are families,” Reents said. “College kids and teenagers tend to snowboard a little more.”
Reents said the resort hosts racing teams as well as “beer league” type teams.
“We host some adult groups on weeknights and we have about 400 people involved in adult racing,” she said.
The most unique things about Afton Alps, Reents said, are its size, variety and proximity to the Twin Cities area.
“We have the most skiable acreage in the Twin Cities area so we have everyone from beginners to experts,” she said. “We have 18 chairlifts to keep everyone moving so no one has to wait in line for too long and offer many different terrain options depending on a person’s preferences.”
Junior Lydia Justman started skiing at age four and has been to Colorado every year since she was six. She is also on the Eau Claire ski team and travels to Afton Alps weekly during the winter.
“It’s kind of a passion,” she said. “I skied down the Eau Claire hill last year and I really enjoy it.”
Sophomore Carlos Gorina has been skiiing since he was two years old. He used to be on the Spanish national ski team, went to the junior Olympics and every summer goes skiing in the French Alps.
“The French Alps are just huge,” he said. “I started skiing when I was so young that I just keep
doing it.”
Senior Hannah Marschinke started skiing in junior high school, but switched over to snowboarding six years ago because she wanted to try something new.
“It was something new and more challenging,” she said, “and I just stuck with it because I love it.”
She said she’s been hooked on snowboarding because there’s a lot of variety and excitement in each run.
“You can try a lot of different tricks on a snowboard,” Marschinke said. “It’s just such an adrenaline rush trying a 360 or new trick someone’s teaching you . it’s a great feeling just flying down a hill.”
Freshman Daniel Auza has only been snowboarding for about a year but said he loves it because he’s always been interested in extreme sports. Auza said he likes trying to snowboard two or three times a week during the winter.
“I like extreme sports and the second time I was snowboarding I was doing pretty good,” he said. “It was like I had been doing it all my life. I’m not afraid to try new, risky stuff and I guess I had some talent.”
He said his favorite place to go in the area is Afton Alps.
“(Afton Alps) is a good place and I’m looking forward to going to Mount La Crosse in January for a week,” Auza said. “I’m going to Afton next Sunday when it opens so that’ll be fun too.”
Another reason Justman enjoys the sport is because she said it is intense.
“I’m not incredibly athletic but skiing is something I can excel at to some degree,” she said. “I just like going super fast and not exerting too much effort.”
Justman has been to Granite Peak and said it is one of the better courses she’s been to in the Midwest.
“I really like Granite Peak; it’s definitely one of the best hills in Wisconsin,” she said, “but it still pales in comparison to the Rockies, even though it’s really nice.”
She also said she likes Afton Alps because it has moguls, which are big mounds in the middle of a ski hill.
“If you don’t groom the hill people can leave big mounds to ski around,” she said. “They’re pretty intense but not very prevalent in the Midwest just because it’s so icy so most people have to groom the hills.”
During the winter, Deering goes to Afton Alps once a week with the club team and usually tries to head out West for a week about twice a year. He has also been to Switzerland and Canada. He said that while skiing at resorts in the Midwest is fun, mountain skiing is amazing.
“Once you go to the mountains … it doesn’t really compare,” he said.
Marschinke has been to Cascade Mountain in Portage and Spirit Mountain in Duluth and said one of her favorites is Afton Alps because of convenience.
“It’s really nice because they have a ton of runs, different types of hills and is right by my house,” she said. “Spirit Mountain has some really big jumps and trails that are really long and that’s really nice when you’re going out for the day or weekend.”
Gorina is a member of the Afton Alps ski team as well as the club team on campus and goes skiing just about every weekend during the winter.
“I might go to Colorado for Thanksgiving because I’ve never been there,” Gorina said. “I take it pretty serious and ski every chance I get . in the winter that’s pretty much all I do.”
