Reminiscing about the snow-covered mountains and freshly groomed ski slopes, Carly Stremlau, sophomore, is eager to get back out to Colorado and into her skis, ready to shred down the mountain.

Stremlau was first introduced to the sport of skiing in March 2019 when she and her family went on a ski trip to Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado.

A little hesitant at first, Stremlau said it wasn’t what she expected at all, but that skiing turned out to be better than she would have ever thought.

“It’s literally my favorite sport now,” Stremlau said. “It’s just downright fun.”

Stremlau said she instantly fell in love with skiing and with the environment of being in the mountains surrounded by the stunning scenery and the sheer excitement that comes with gliding down the green, blue and black slope runs.

“Some parts I like to do more relaxed skiing, then other times I have an adrenaline rush when I’m going down a harder level slope,” Stremlau said. “I love the fresh feeling, especially when it’s snowing while I’m skiing. It looks super cool.”

Stremlau said she also values the accessibility of skiing for different skill levels as it is an activity her whole family can participate in.

She has since then traveled with her family to Colorado during spring break in 2021 and is planning to head with her family out to Colorado again to ski at Steamboat Resort this upcoming spring break.

Along with Stremlau, many other families in Missouri head out of state to ski and snowboard during the seasonal winter breaks.

Dylan Schoonover, sophomore, originally started out skiing, however, a year later, he went on a trip to Colorado during spring break and decided to try snowboarding.

After his first experience with snowboarding, now two years later, Schoonover still loves to snowboard whenever possible at Missouri’s Hidden Valley Ski Resort or in Colorado.

“Snowboarding keeps me active and it is fun to do with friends,” Schoonover said. “There’s definitely an adrenaline rush during jumps and rails and it’s really fun getting to try new things.”

Over Martin Luther King Day weekend, Kevin Schultz, language arts teacher, went to Cascade Mountain, Wisconsin, to take his three kids skiing for the first time.

Schultz said he was shocked at how fast his kids fell in love with skiing as they picked up the sport quickly and were flying down the blue runs by the end of the day.

“Once they started to get the hang of it, they were not afraid to move onto the next level,” Schultz said. “To watch them overcome that fear as quickly as they overcame it and take risks throughout the day was so fun to watch.”

As Schultz has talked with his wife, Laurie Schultz, language arts teacher, their family hopes to go on a ski trip at least once every year to continue their love of the sport as a family.

“If I could, I would go twice a year. I love it, I absolutely love it,” Schultz said. “My daughter is in seventh grade so in five years she will be out of the house. We are trying to do as many things together as we can right now while we have everybody together because it’s short lived, no doubt about it.”

From Hidden Valley to Colorado and all the way to Bulgaria, students speed down the slopes on snowboards.

Nia Ovcharova, senior, has shredded the slopes in Bulgaria since she was a young kid growing up there. Starting by going to the resorts, her parents would ski, and she would snowboard down the mountains.

“It’s a really fun activity to share with a parent,” Ovcharova said, “Especially whenever you can experiment and try what you want.”

Ovcharova said snowboarding is something fun to do rather than just sit around, but there are challenges with snowboarding besides the cold frigid temperatures.

“One of the biggest challenges, in my opinion, is finding the right equipment because it took me a while to find the right size board and the right pants,” Ovcharova said. “You also grow out of them, and that gets annoying.”

Jordan Stinehagen, senior, started snowboarding this year and said it’s quite similar to wakeboarding. But Stinehagen said that snowboarding and skiing is not similar at all.

They are very different because in skiing you’re facing forward down the mountain, but in snowboarding you’re facing to the side. Its also quiet different because in skiing your feet are on two separate skis but in snowboarding its on one long board.

“Skiing didn’t help me transition into snowboarding, but the best thing that did was wakeboarding,” Stinehagen said. “In both you have to keep the edges of the board down because you need that back and front edge to be down. This is to make sure you don’t fall, and it’s the same in both sports.”

Newport Brandt, sophomore, has been snowboarding since he was a kid at his family’s house in Colorado. Brandt said the biggest challenges for snowboarding is that it’s expensive and that there aren’t many places near here that fit the conditions. It roughly costs around $1000 for the equipment alone and he goes when ever he can.

“I like when it’s sunny out after it snows because when it’s snowing it’s pretty cold,” Brandt said.

Brandt said these conditions make it most enjoyable to him.

“Everyone should try it. It’s a fun hobby,” Brandt said.