By Kieran Pike — Contributor

Originating in 2006, the Bishop’s University Ski Club, also known as BU Snow, is a popular club at Bishop’s known for bringing awareness to fun University-community gatherings, great ski pass deals for numerous ski hills, and hosting as well as creating fun events for the ski community year round. 

Selected through an application process, the ski club has seven members of the executive board who are all responsible for working closely with the SRC to make the annual rail jam at Winterfest a reality, but that is not all they do. The executives are also responsible for making new merchandise items like the BU Snow sweaters and stickers, maintaining tight relationships with ski hill staff and event coordinators, and thinking of fun new events as well as bringing those ideas to fruition. The club even offers ski and snowboard wax and sharpenings for $15 behind the scenes for the Bishop’s ski community with a speedy turnaround time. 

During their weekly meetings, the executives go over the previous minutes from the past meeting, the progress of planning events that were previously discussed, and the current standing of the treasury. Once completed, they then bring up new topics and goals to discuss such as exclusive merchandise for Winterfest, what the process of making new events will look like, how information about events will be effectively communicated to the Bishop’s community and what external companies or groups may be needed to make the event a success. Once they have defined what they need to do and the best way to do it, the executive members divide up the roles among themselves so it is easier to achieve their goals in a shorter period of time. Most projects require many hours of research and collaboration with other brands, companies, and groups. 

Currently the ski club is working hard planning for the upcoming gear swap on Jan. 21 from 12-4 p.m. at the Optimist Park skatepark. They are also making sure that the 2023 Winterfest is going to be a time to remember, with some creative new Winterfest-inspired exclusive merchandise and an amazing rail jam filled with great times and fun memories. Keep an eye out for news and updates about upcoming events on their Instagram and their Facebook group chat @bu_snow.