No Snow, No Problem. Hit The Slopes On Mt. Aggie

When it’s 98 degrees on the Texas A&M University campus and the sun feels hot enough to turn your skin into a French fry, nothing says “cool-down” like a quick trip down Mt. Aggie, the school’s 130-foot- long ski slope.

The man-made structure is used for classes in the Health and Kinesiology department, and although there is no snow on the slope, it at least gives the illusion of the white stuff to make things cooler. At least the students feel that way.

“This is one of the neatest places on this campus,” says senior Meredith Oliver of Tyler.

“I signed up for this class because I needed a health class, and it is going to be fun. I do want to be a better skier.”

Mt. Aggie – named of course after the nickname of the university’s 60,000 students, Texas’ largest student population – has been around since 1972 when then-health professor George Jessup came up with the idea of building a slope to teach skiing, a nifty trick since the nearest real ski slopes are about 1,000 miles away from campus.

The original Mt. Aggie was built in Spence Park, and the turf used to ski on was leftover Astroturf from nearby Kyle Field.

The slope has been at several locations since then, and the current site near the Mitchell Tennis Courts was a gift from the Class of 1998. Thousands of students have skied or even snowboarded down its slopes since it opened.  No ski lifts are necessary – students must trek up the slope, strap on their skis and shush down to the bottom according to their skill level.

Instructor Mike Hanik, who teaches the class titled “Beginning Snow Skiing,”  says the current slope is a material called SnowSport Xtreme, “which is very similar to an artificial turf. We wet it down with water to make it skiable, and that helps a lot.

“There was someone in town many years ago who had a snow-making machine and we tried it out here.  It would take thousands of pounds of ice to make this a real snow slope, but the water works just as well.

“This is always a popular class, and the students seem to enjoy it,” Hanik adds.  “Mt. Aggie is a great place for beginners to learn the basics of skiing.”

“I’ve only been skiing a couple of times, and my roommate told me about this class, so I thought I would give it a try,” says Houston junior Lauren Gonzalez.

“They teach the basics here, which is what I want. This is a really cool class and I bet a lot of students don’t know it is offered.  At least now I can say I skied down Mt. Aggie.”