Monday, April 15, 2013

Spring 2013 at UAF


With our annual tradition of Springfest coming soon, and finals just a few short weeks away, I started thinking about this semester, and all the awesome things that have happened. First off, what a huge success the Nanook Terrain Park has been! UAF is the first college in the United States that has a ski and snowboard terrain park on campus! Even better, it is still in use, IN MID APRIL! How cool is that?! This semester brought me into the mountains on many occasions and I am so grateful that I’ve had the opportunities to do my first summit ascent, and got to go backcountry skiing for a week over spring break in the incredible Chugach Mountains of South central Alaska. If you enjoy being in the mountains, there is one class that you absolutely need to take here at UAF, and that class is Intro to Mountaineering! The two -credit recreation class has been the best class I’ve taken yet. It taught me safe glacier travel, crevasse rescue, avalanche safety, winter camping, and alpine climbing techniques.  With multiple overnight trips, our class became a tight group of friends, and everybody had an awesome time on our climbs. We were the first class to have everybody summit Panorama Peak, just North of Cantwell.  If you enjoy being outdoors, UAF is a great place that balances classroom education and real-life outdoor learning environments! 

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