When enrolling at Texas A&M University, students may not expect skiing and ski classes to be part of the experience. With the help of the Texas A&M Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves as an academic fundraising institution for the university, the return of campus tradition Mount Aggie is possible.
Mount Aggie was a 130-foot-long pseudo-snow ski slope located on West Campus between the Omar Smith Instructional Tennis Center and the Penberthy Rec Sports Complex. Made of artificial ski turf maintained by sprinklers, it’s now fenced off with remnants of what it once was. Kinesiology professor and ski class instructor Mike Hanik said he was disappointed seeing the destruction of the former slope.
“The first weekend in June [2023], there was a wind storm … clocked at 80-90 miles per hour that ripped the turf, foam and the plywood from the base of the slope,” Hanik said.
The Foundation has started a fundraiser to rebuild Mount Aggie. For the estimated cost to rebuild, the foundation is raising $800,000 on its website. Because Mount Aggie is part of the PEAP program and the kinesiology academics, the university’s sports funding can’t be tapped into for the reconstruction. Currently, the foundation doesn’t have a timeline for the rebuild.
“Probably within a year of the money being raised we can have it back open,” Hanik said.
Hanik said the rebuild is very beneficial to the campus and PEAP staff.
“As a class and as a tradition, it’s one of those unique experiences Aggies can have,” Hanik said. “In the state of Texas, we’re the only college that has artificial skiing. That’s the cool thing, that it gives students the chance to learn, get better and get practice.”
Hanik and George Jessup, Ph.D., a retired skiing instructor and professor at A&M, said they have taught 30,000 to 40,000 students how to ski in their classes.
“Just to bring back that tradition … and to get people to where they can manage themself to safely get themselves down the mountain,” Hanik said. “That’s the cool thing about skiing, you’re controlling yourself but you’re getting some speed, just that adrenaline rush and getting connected to nature, it’s an awesome experience.”
The skiing classes taught by the PEAP program were open to students from beginner to experienced.
“I’m definitely interested in taking skiing courses, I’ve always wanted to do it,” engineering freshman Sephehr Salari-Saeedi, who has never skied, said.
“I have been skiing quite a bit,” engineering freshman Alex Panecaldo said. “I am from Virginia and there are a good amount of ski resorts in the state. I think a skiing course would be a fun and interesting class to take … it brings back an option for students to take classes that can offer a fun and unique experience that you might not get anywhere else.”
