Helping students gain experience in one of their favorite activities, the Ski and Snowboard Club welcomes everyone to join.
According to junior Tyler Kratz, his love of skiing pushed him to join the club.
“I love skiing, and when I heard that Souderton had a Ski and Snowboard Club and a lot of my friends were interested I had to join,” Kratz said.
According to senior Sumner Hosterman, “We usually have two meetings in the beginning of the year just prefacing the entire club, and that’s usually like the first two months of school. There’s really not a lot of formal meetings, it’s mostly just trips.”
The club goes to Blue Mountain Ski Resort every Monday and Smugglers Notch Resort in Vermont for the annual club trip.
Club advisor Daniel Glatts said this year’s ski and snowboard club attendance is the largest the club has seen.
“We have 57 kids signed up for the Blue Mountain trips, which is great,” Glatts said.
According to senior Blake Clemmer, he loves the trips to Vermont.
“The trip we took to Vermont last year was pretty awesome. Meeting new people was cool and skiing up north was a nice change in scenery and conditions,” Clemmer said.
According to Kratz, the club meets at “Blue Mountain and ski for about 4-5 hours and have a fun and chill time with friends with similar hobbies.”
While having a friend group can make the trip more fun, Glatts said he likes to see students reach out to fellow students.
“I applaud those kids that are willing to put themselves out there in a kind of comfortable but uncomfortable situation, to make an effort to try and meet other people,” Glatts said.
The club departs the school for Blue Mountain at 3:15 p.m., and usually returns at about 10:30 p.m. According to Hosterman, “The Blue Mountain trips are open to any skill level,” while the Vermont trips are more for “members with more experience with long days out.”
The camaraderie of the group is what draws most of the members together.
According to Clemmer, he loves getting to spend time with his friends doing what he enjoys doing. “I get to hang out with a lot of close friends that I hang out with a lot and it’s a fun thing we are able to be apart of in high school,” Clemmer said.
Senior Eric Yoon also enjoys “meeting new people and the fact that I can have fun with my friends.”
Kratz says that his favorite part of the club is the “memories and stories you have from each trip and how close your friendships and bonds with your peers get.”
According to Hosterman, his favorite part of the club is getting to go on the trips the club takes.
“My favorite part is probably the Vermont trip, spending a few days out with your friends, missing a little bit of school is cool too, and it’s just a nice experience to go somewhere with your friends and have a good time,” Hosterman said.
Yoon guarantees that “anyone who joins will have an awesome time in the club.”
“This is my third year in Ski and Snowboard Club and I guarantee people that they are going to have so much fun and make great experiences in this club,” Yoon said.
According to Hosterman if anyone is unsure about the club, they should consider joining. “If they have already skied a lot before, definitely go for it. You can make a lot of friends, or just find a friend to join.”
“If you’re on the fence, just go for it,” Hosterman said.