Snow is one of the first images that comes to mind when people think of Idaho. Ski hills surround Moscow, and members of the oldest club sports team at the University of Idaho enjoy the slopes.
In 1937, a community of skiers started hiking up and skiing down Elk Butte became a community of skiers, later known as the UI Ski Team.
The UI Ski Team is one of the 11 ski teams in the Northwest Collegiate Skiing Conference of the United States Collegiate Ski Association. The team competes in Slalom, Giant Slalom and Dual Slalom races and has a short season starting in the beginning of January and ending in the middle of March.
Coach and faculty adviser Jerry McMurty is the Interim Dean for the College of Graduate Students and has been coaching the ski team for 21 years. He currently has two kids competing in the club.
“The students run the club,” McMurty said. “My main concern is that they are students first and they peruse the ski racing second. I try and provide continuity between years, between leaderships and legitimacy on campus.”
The season starts off with training camp in the beginning of January at Brundage Mountain in McCall. In the fall, they have dry-land conditioning workouts that the president, officer and McMurty create to help skiers maintain the best shape they can without snow. They focus on agility, endurance and strengthening their leg muscles. Since it is a club sport, they do not cut any members who want to join and welcome anyone wanting to participate, McMurty said.
“The beauty of this club is that everyone gets to participate and the worst thing that happens is you get to be a lot better skier,” McMurty said.
The team has a foundation of a family dynamic and all members strive to help out other members. Members of the team vary through all different majors and career paths such as food science, soils, landscape architecture and accounting, McMurty said.
McMurty’s son Ben is in his first season racing and he’s been skiing since he could walk.
“I’ve really enjoyed meeting people on the other teams as well,” Ben said. “The UI team is pretty close with the Washington State ski team and we pretty much do everything together.”
WSU is the closest competing school to UI. The community extends from schools all around Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Canada. Each team varies in size, with some only having four members and some having 20 members.
With WSU across the state border, the teams take advantage of the extended community by training, lodging and traveling together, Ben said.
“The UI Ski Team is a big family, they are all there for each other, root for each other and are concerned for each other,” Ben said.
The team shares equipment provided by the university, but also share personal equipment within the team. The community is dedicated to making things happen and work to be successful, McMurty said.
President Richard Crookston has skied since he was 5 years old and started ski racing his freshman year. He personally knew the coach growing up in Moscow and came into the club last year.
“The sport itself has a lot to offer,” Crookston said. “There’s such great energy on the mountain with all the other teams cheering for you.”
Co-officer Peggy Beyerlein grew up ski racing from an elementary age until she reached high school and dropped the sport. After 10 years away from racing, she decided to rejoin the ski racing community last year at UI.
“Each race is a community-run event,” Beyerlein said. “Everyone does everything to put the show (together), we don’t have paid people to do gatekeeping or setup.”
A race weekend timeline begins Saturday and ends Sunday afternoon. The teams get to the mountains Saturday morning and help load the gates up the mountain to set up the course. Races start around 9 a.m. and a second flight begins in the afternoon. Sunday teams help tear down and leave the mountain around 3:30 p.m., Beyerlein said.
“There’s two runs a day, and each lasts maybe a minute at the longest,” Crookston said. “You put all this time into training for one minute of thinking about what is next and not getting tired, you live for it.”
The team has required study sessions Saturday nights when they are away competing. The study sessions are two and a half to three hours dedicated to keeping the team members eligible to compete, Beyerlein said.
“It’s a balancing act, you definitely need to stay on top of things,” Beyerlein said. “At study sessions, if you’re ahead of your work that’s great, but if not, be quiet for the members who need that time.”
The team members are required to stay in a good academic standing at a 2.0 GPA or above and take a minimum of 12 credits, McMurty said.
“You’re not here to ski race, you’re here to get an education and the ski team is value added,” McMurty said.
Most members ski all four years, then move forward in their careers and continue to ski. Since the ski team is the oldest club team on campus, they have a large alumni base, McMurty said.
“This year at training camp an alumni that used to race on the Olympic team came and helped train,” Beyerlein said.
The alumni base is all over the Northwest, and they not only help the team by volunteering their time, but they also help fund the team with their donations, Beyerlein said.
“They had such a great time here that they want to give back,” McMurty said. “Our next race is in Mission Ridge, Washington and our Seattle alumni are coming up to support and volunteer.”
The ski team is part of a community that makes their sport happen. It costs about $15,000 a year in costs of transportation, lift tickets, lodging, etc. For each club member it costs around $450 for a season. The team gets some funding from the school, but raise a majority of their money through annual fundraisers and alumni donations. The team hosts a premier of a new ski movie and helps with the ski and sport swap on campus during the fall term, McMurty said.
“It gives you a place to be part of a community,” McMurty said. “To do something that you love and then to be with a bunch of people who love skiing and everybody’s goal is to get to be a better skier. That’s a win-win.”