Snowboarding & Skiing Class Hits Massanutten Slopes

EMU students take advantage of the winter weather with snowboarding and skiing classes. (Photo: Rachel Mast)

For the past couple of weeks about 45 to 50 students from EMU have been gathering to go “shredding” on the slopes of Massanutten. These students find a ride every Wednesday evening to travel to the ski resort for a snowboarding or skiing class.

For four straight weeks these students, mixed with a few “gnar-dogs from Bridgewater and some brodies from Blue Ridge,” as put by sophomore Stuart Landis, meet in small groups based on their skill level and receive instruction from 7 to 8:30 p.m. For example, in the beginner snowboarding class pupils learn how to stop, stay on their board, and turn. From 8:30 to 10 p.m., the small groups break up and are allowed “shred time” (lingo for “going snowboarding on your own”). After this four-week period students have their remaining two weeks to snowboard or ski on their own. No instruction is given on these Wednesdays. The class is then over for the semester as the snow season ends as well.

Every Spring semester this course has been offered in connection with the Massanutten License-To-Slide Program. The ski and snowboard instructors are from the Massanutten Park, which offers special prices for the course. Sophomore Ellie Hampton said that “[The snowboarding class] is $140 extra, and that covers the ski lift, lesson, and rental.” Each class participant is given a card When their six training courses are over, they are allowed “a free slope-use ticket and rental (if purchased) for any session beginning Monday, March 3, through the remainder of the season,” as stated by the official Massanutten License-To-Slide Program pamphlet. No experience is necessary for this class but there are different skill levels so that more advanced snowboarders and skiers will learn new skills. The class is also very gender mixed, with approximately equal numbers of males and females.

Many interviewed students commented on why they wanted to take the class. When asked why she originally took the class, Hampton said, “I’ve always wanted to learn how to snowboard, and now seemed like the perfect opp-