Slemp Heads VT Snow
May 15, 2012
Nate Slemp, a wood science and forest products major, is president of VT Snow, a student-run ski and snowboard club now in its third year. About 30 of the club’s 70 members compete at local freestyle competitions.
Video: SnowJam 2012
The group practices both indoors — at a gymnastics facility with a foam pit and a trampoline — and outdoors — at SnowFlex, an artificial snow slope and ski training facility at Liberty University in Lynchburg. “Once the snow comes, we take it to the real thing,” Slemp said. “It’s very basic in concept of how we progress, but incredibly elaborate in the steps to learn all that is necessary. It’s a challenge, and every day you can improve.”
In March, the club hosted Virginia Tech’s first-ever stop of the Campus Rail Jam Tour, a snowboarding and skiing performance and competition event. A 60-foot scaffolding hill with ramps, pitches, and rails was constructed on the Virginia Tech Drillfield and topped with 35 tons of snow trucked in from Massanutten Resort. Despite the day’s warm temperatures and intermittent rain, the event drew almost 60 participants from a half dozen universities and a few thousand onlookers. “It’s a way to bring people together in a way that’s never happened before,” Slemp said, pleased with the success of the event, to which the club dedicated “thousands of hours” over the past year.
