2 How Skiing Serves as a Recreational Outlet for Students

By: Blake Xu, Amy Zeng, Ziyan Huang, David Zhang

The historical records, mainly in the form of photos, from UW Library Collections have revealed a long-standing tradition of student skiing. Dated back to 1930, Ski Club racers, equipped with rudimentary wooden skis and poles, had their skiing adventures at Paradise on Mt. Rainier (image description.).

However, during this early period, skiing was relatively inaccessible to most UW students due to several limitations. The equipment was basic, consisting mainly of wooden skis with primitive bindings and loose-fitting clothing that offered minimal protection and comfort. Furthermore, transportation constraints and the limited development of ski infrastructure further restricted students’ opportunities to ski, and treated it as a recreational activity. Thanks to the development of technology, skiing became more accessible. In 1928, the invention of ski edge “gave skis much better grip on hard snow while still allowing the wood to flex naturally, “which makes skiing safer and more maneuverable, and the development of ski lift eliminated the need for hiking up the mountain.

With the development of technology, skiing has become more available to UW students, and the number of students participating in skiing is surging. More and more ski organizations are founded accordingly. Husky Snow Club is one of these organizations. Through the lens of viewing their Instagram posts, we can see how the club has evolved beyond just skiing to create a comprehensive student experience. We’ve learned that the club is dedicated to fostering a vibrant community. Members wore distinctive purple and gold uniforms on regular trips to local ski resorts, proudly representing UW’s colors on the slopes. They not only organized regular trips to ski resorts, but also organized other social events like parties and watching ski films. This well-illustrates the course theme of “Thick institution”. Students in this community are intimate, they have an idiosyncratic culture(wearing purple and gold uniforms), and they share a common goal- skiing!

Skiing, nowadays, has definitely been a recreational activity for UW students. The quarter system at UW creates an intense academic environment, with students typically facing weekly exams and multiple deadlines, creating tremendous pressure that can affect both mental and physical well-being. While academic success remains crucial, the collegiate ideal argues that extracurricular activities play an equally vital role in developing well-rounded students— a research has indicated that “participation in extracurricular activities has been found to be associated with increased well-being.”  Skiing is one such activity.

It emerges as more than just a sport – it represents a powerful means of maintaining work-life balance, a powerful stress-relief mechanism. It offers mental relief, a physical outlet, and a way to build friendships, which are essential for college students dealing with academic stress. When you stand on the summit of the mountain, enjoying rugged, snow-covered peaks stretching across the horizon and endless blue sky above you, you feel like any distractions haunting your mind fades away. The invigorating sensation of cold wind blowing in your face as you sprint downhill, the heart-pounding thrill of reaching high speeds as you carve down steep slopes, and the breathtaking views from mountain peaks making any stress disappear. Just like what my friend in the interview mentioned “By seeing the beautiful view when you are at the mountain top, all the anxiety just suddenly disappears from my mind.”

AI Disclaimer:

We used ChatGPT and Perplexity for revising sentences and finding related articles.

References:

1. Finnerty, R., Marshall, S. A., Imbault, C., & Trainor, L. J. (2021). Extra-Curricular Activities and Well-Being: Results From a Survey of Undergraduate University Students During COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647402
2. Free. (2017). History of Skiing. Free the Powder Gloves. https://www.freethepowder.com/pages/history-of-skiing
3. Koons, will. (2023, March 14). The History of Skiing: More Than Just a Sport.Curated.com https://www.curated.com/journal/2187001/the-history-of-skiing
4. Lundin, J. W. (2018). WINTER SPORTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: 1934 – 1950. ScholarWorks@CWU. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/local_authors/11/ 
5. When prompted with “revise the following paragraph: Skiing, nowadays, has definitely been a recreational activity for UW students. We study in a quarterly university, which means that it is common that students have exam(s) once a week– the pressure is tremendous.” The Perplexity-generated text indicated that “The quarter system at UW creates an intense academic environment, with students typically facing weekly exams and constant deadlines, creating tremendous pressure that can affect both mental and physical well-being. ” Reference: Anthropic. (2023). Perplexity (AI Chatbot) [Large language model]. https://www.perplexity.ai/
6. When prompted with “revise the following sentence: When standing on the top of the mountain, viewing snowy peaks cross the horizon and blue sky above you, you feel like anything’s haunting on you disappear”. The ChatGPT generated text indicated that “When you stand on the summit of the mountain, enjoying rugged, snow-covered peaks stretching across the horizon and endless blue sky above you, you feel like any distractions haunting your mind fades away. Reference: OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (Nov 27 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat