In the past, Warren Hills Regional High School offered students an organized Ski Club, which was a big hit due to the accessibility to the mountain provided for students.
The Ski Club was disbanded last year in favor of a new system in which students could ski if they provided their own transportation to and from the ski resort.
But a recent poll by The Streak student newspaper has found that a number of students would like the Ski Club to come back.
About 30 percent of students indicated in the random poll that they would participate in a Ski Club if it were to be brought back again. Of those 56 poll respondents, 79 percent indicated that they would be especially interested in joining a reconstituted Ski Club if the school would offer transportation between the high school and the ski mountain.
The poll was conducted in various English Language Arts classes in late September.
“I love the idea of the Ski Club coming back,” said former Ski Club Advisor Sharon Fretz, a social worker on Warren Hills’ Child Study Team. “Some of my fondest memories of Warren Hills stem from the overnight trips I had with the ski club students, Mr. Slack, Mr. Cuomo and Mrs. Rader.”
When it existed, the Ski Club met on five consecutive Wednesdays in January through February. Camelback Mountain Resort, located in Tannersville, PA, about 35 miles from Warren Hills, provided schools with five-day passes for their ski clubs
The Warren Hills Ski Club also organized an out-of-state, overnight trip once a year. The club went to mountains in New York and Vermont.
After the Coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, Camelback Mountain Resort was sold and bought by a different company that decided to remove the five-day passes for students.
Warren Hills then started to provide season passes that could be purchased through the school. The passes did not have a set day of the week that student skiers would have to go to the mountain.
Thus, the school did not offer transportation because students would go to Camelback whenever they wanted.
Many high school students who want to ski in the winter have found it frustrating that they have no access to a skiing venue because they lack transportation.
“Ski Club is a great opportunity to branch out to meet new people that have interest in the same hobbies, and it’s a good way to keep active without competing,” said junior Meghan Daniel.
She added that a Ski Club could offer many memories for students and also supply a safe space for people to try something new.
Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton, PA, and Camelback Mountain are now owned by the same company, and they do not offer five-day passes for students. Shawnee Mountain Ski Area, a family-owned business, also in Pennsylvania, does offer five-day passes, and could serve as a new option if the Ski Club were to return to the high school.
