Photo by Patrick Leiva-Mustang Daily.
In case anyone was wondering, the ski club isn’t interested in becoming an official campus club again.
The Central Pacific Ski Club, formerly the Cal Poly Ski Club, was kicked off campus in the early 2000s for its well-known reputation of partying hard, but that doesn’t mean the club isn’t alive, kicking and bigger than ever. Currently, the number of members ranges from 800 to 1300 students, club president Bryan Nathan said.
“We have a rebellious image that attracts college students,” Nathan said. “We do not want to be affiliated with campus whatsoever due to all the regulations they have for clubs.”
A lot of people are familiar with the club for its regular partying, but don’t know what it’s actually about, Nathan said, which is to get its name out there and get other people excited about skiing and the trips the club goes on throughout the year.
One step the club took to start the school year right was getting a four-wheel bus, an older model of a Ford E-350. It will be used for travel, marketing and sober ride services, Nathan said, and anyone with a valid driver’s license can drive the bus if there are twelve or fewer people inside. He bought the vehicle himself a month ago, and is letting the club use it throughout the year.
“We’ll be using it because it sticks out in the crowd,” he said. “It’ll be good for mobile marketing and getting exposure throughout town and up in the mountains. Sponsors will have their logo on the side too.”
Vice president Alice Anderson, in charge of organizing the club’s trips and parties, said getting the bus was a spontaneous decision.
“It wasn’t really a planned thing,” she said. “We just kind of said ‘That sounds really great — we’ll use it to go to the mountains and cruise around to parties.’”
Despite the impulsive decision, Anderson said the bus will have a lot of advantages for club members.
“Before, we drove our personal cars,” she said. “It didn’t work that well all the time. It’s going to be a lot more fun to hang out, sit face-to-face and socialize more.”
The bus will be helpful in terms of carpooling, a social environment and room for everyone’s ski equipment and luggage, but will also contribute to a good cause for students around San Luis Obispo, said the ski club’s marketing director Catherine Hasbrook.
“We’re planning on using it for a free sober ride service for all Ski Clubbers, as well as a $5 round-trip sober ride service on weekends for all other Cal Poly/Cuesta students,” Hasbrook wrote in an email. “We’re really trying to improve our image around the SLO community.”
The service is still in the process of getting set up, Nathan said. It will not be a nightly service and will be used mostly for the club’s events, but will still be running during specified times fall quarter.
Since the ski club drives about 10,000 miles to five or six small trips each year to places such as Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain, a lot of publicity is expected, Nathan said. The club isn’t allowed to recruit members on campus as it would like to, and currently uses the word of mouth to get its name out there.
In addition to simply spreading the word through conversation, members have been participating in and planning community events, such as beach clean ups, Nathan said. They also use a social media platform through Facebook, Instagram and the club’s own website. In anticipation of the ski club’s largest annual ski trip, or “Big Trip,” it will be holding the Big Trip Reveal meeting on Oct. 4 from 6 – 9 p.m. at the Fremont Theater. The location of the trip will be announced by board members at the meeting, and attendees will also be able to play games to win thousands of dollars worth of prizes, Anderson said. These prizes, such as outerwear and other ski supplies, are sent by sponsors for the club to give out.
“(The location of the Big Trip) will be kept secret until October,” Anderson said. “The trip is literally one of the best weeks of your life.”