By Angela Bussone and Joe Keisa
Staff Writers
It’s always a beautiful sight for skiers and snowboarders to see snow falling to the ground, because then they can pack up their gear and hit the slopes. But why face the cold and flying flakes? Tal Frieden of Jamesville- DeWitt High School, a skier, does it because he says, “I love to hang with friends and ski.”
Freshman Jack Austin is a snowboarder who loves the thrill of going downhill with all of his friends. “Nothing beats that feeling,” he says. Frieden also enjoys skiing with friends along with sophomore Jordan Vanstry, who says he also likes to go with friends or, “wherever there are girls.”
Unlike Vanstry, most people go to the three closest places instead of going “wherever there are girls.” The top three places to go are Labrador Mountain, Toggenburg Mountain, and Song Mountain. These places are the most popular because they are all within half an hour away.
So, which is easier, skiing or snowboarding? Junior Michael Lee, who has been skiing for 5 years, says, “Skiing is very hard.” Others think skiing is very easy, like freshman Ryan Archer, who has been skiing for about 10 years. According to freshman Julia Vasquez, you shouldn’t try snowboarding if you started skiing first, unless you’re up for a challenge. She says this is “because there are a lot of differences between the two.” However, Adam Fontana, who started skiing first, then switched to snowboarding, says it’s “quite easy” and has done it for 10 years.
Even though many people love snowboarding and skiing, they don’t love everything about it. Butler doesn’t “like the ride up on the chair lift.” Vasquez and junior Sarah Marron both don’t like falling. Austin doesn’t “like going with people that are slow because they slow the whole group down and it takes longer than it needs to take to get down the hill.” Freshman Caroline Darcy plainly just doesn’t like the cold.
Several students over break took their days off as an opportunity to go skiing and snowboarding. Freshman Ryan Collins went to Toggenburg with his friends over break and described his experience as “amazing.” Senior Brad Carr also hit the slopes at Toggenburg but he went with his family. “It was cold and fun at the same time,” says Carr. Many others went and thought the skiing conditions over break were “fantastic.” Even though people went to different mountains, the conditions were all consistent.